Ok, I will post on this one....ARE YOU NUTS???!!! You tell the customer, which is off site from your property that you will drive your vehicle, trailer and tractor with implements on their property, run your machine on their property and if something happens and someone gets hurt or property is damaged, that you have no insurance and it is their problem???!!!
OK, hold me back here. I am a professional landscaper. I own my own company. I own my own equipment. I pay thousands of dollars a year in insurance to have my own company and the "privelege" to be my own boss. I can tell you this, and I am not picking on you in general, leave your tractor at home on the farm. You have absolutely NO business taking your machine off your farm and doing jobs for hire. Infact, if you check with your local city business ordinances, you will find you are breaking the law.
1. To do business for hire, you need to be licensed as a business in the county where you live. That means you need a business license.
2. To do work as a business, part time or full time, you MUST have equipment liability insurance, company liability insurance, commercial vehicle liability insurance, workmans comp insurance, your vehicles and trailers must have license plates that are designated as "commercial". This also means that your trailers must have electric brakes on them and equipment be properly fastened to them.
3. As a business, you need to find out what the local competition is charging and stick close to that rate. Don't be a "low baller" or a "weekend warrior" and stiffly underbid the competition. You think it will get you ahead of the game, but you will be labled as a low baller and will not be respected in the local industry.
The biggest problem we face in the professional landscape industry is low ballers who do not have any idea or experience in what they are doing. These people mess up more jobs by not having the right equipment and experience in the line of work they are doing. I, as a Professional Landscaper, have had to come in and clean up more jobs done by these people then I can count.
If you are going to do dirt work, do you know the EPA rules on properly containing disturbed soil? Do you know how to compact the dirt you just spread or tilled to keep errosion down? Do you own a "transit" or a visual horizontal sight level and know how to properly use it? Do you know how to grade dirt so that water flows properly and not create a pool of water in someones yard? If you don't know how to do these things yet, stay on the farm and practice there. Do not practice your technique on a customers site. If you do, they will be your customer only once. They won't call you back again. They will call me to come in and fix the problem and then I will be getting their business from here on out.
Yes, insurance is expensive. My customers are always surprised by my quotes. But, when I show them( and yes, on occasion , I do show them) what I pay per year in insurance, business licenses and a long list of very happy references, they are happy to pay the price, because the higher price is long forgotten when they can enjoy quality craftmanship for many years to come. And, when this happens, they are happy to tell other people about your company and the services you offer. I should know, I have not had to advertise in over 2 years now, and my business has, at least, doubled each year.
As I said before, I am not picking on you in general. The Professional Landscapers of America are just getting sick and tired of our industry getting a bad REP from people who don't have any business doing this type of work, confusing the general public with low balled prices for sub standard work and leaving the job site a mess or something damaged and not claiming responsibility for it.
OK....I am done now.
Dave Bonner
Wilson Lawn & Field Maint. INC.
