How To BUY For YOUR Lawn Care BUSINESS
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- čas přidán 12. 05. 2024
- The goal with a lawn care business, of course, is to make money. But, once things are rolling along pretty good we have a decision to make. Do we take those funds from the profit and splurge on a nice vacation? Maybe buy something or do some things we never could have done before? Yes, absolutely. Go for it. I think it's a great idea to enjoy the fruits of our labor. BUTTTTT... there will come a point when we need to REINVEST those funds back into our business to continue to grow. We can't just keep sucking funds out of our business and expect our businesses to move forward. We have to push some cash back into the business at some point. Where do you start? Well, here's what I did... In this video I'm showing the evolution of where I reinvested our business profits back into the business. It's a slow approach, and of course, there are other ways to do it... But I can tell you that growing our lawn care business slowly and strategically by reinvesting into the things that I felt were going to give us the biggest ROI has been the KEY to maintaining ever-increasing profit margins without getting too far ahead of ourselves. I've tried to ask myself... what can I put money into in our business that will push the most back. Hope you enjoy this one.
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MY STORY:
In 2016 I had been in law enforcement for 7 years.
I was not in control of my schedule, I was hardly making any money, and I was away from my family working nights and holidays. I was capable of more, and I was silently suffering. I knew I was selling myself and my family short.
I started Florida Turf Pros as a side hustle in 2016 before going full time in 2017.
My lawn business changed my life.
I control my own schedule, control my own income, and I am proud of what I have built; a business that supports me, my family, and some employees.
If you are a lawn care business owner, this channel will be a valuable resource for you.
This really is a great industry to be in, and I hope that by documenting my journey it will help you.
-Jonathan C. Christian
The point I would like everyone to takeaway from this video is that I layered my purchases strategically... meaning I didn't just go and buy lots of equipment without strategically and thoroughly thinking through each purchase with a "money in VS money OUT" filter... How are you doing this year in your lawn business??? I'm getting a lot of feedback that things are a little slow this year???
I cant keep up. Working on shrinking my service area, and im scared to let go of my lawns 10 miles apart and i know its necessary. Any tips? Scared to give up 1500 a month as a solo, but my closer customers are paying for it when it rains. Weekends are coming into play now.
@@Soso-db5gh I did that this season. I got rid of 20 customer's. The goal was 2-3 min average drive time between lawns. Any new customer's nearly had to be the next door neighbor of the exsisting customer. Increased my price of services and that made up for getting rid of the 20 customer's. My goal now is being more efficient on each lawn, from dropping the gate to driving off. Good Luck.
Update. Sent 15 messages on my distant yards. 200/month year round. Got to keep 5 since then I've replaced them all within 5 miles of my hub. Also, make friends with others cutting grass. Sent all 10 my buddy that was needing work. Then his buddy sent me another 4 leads.
Funny story. I was a meat manager for a few decades about 13 years ago. The company I worked at was going prepack and was taking pay from all meat cutters and no more full time. So they were offering buy out to get people to leave. I was already over the work and had been doing lawn care/ landscaping for about 2 years then. I kept saying I had enough work to leave but was nervous to do that. Well when all that came up I said I’m out and they gave me 11 thousand buy out to leave. Bought my dump trailer with that money. Still making money on that dump trailer 13 years later and was the best decision of my life. I always say thanks for buying my dump trailer and making the decision for me to get the heck out of retail business. By the second year I was making double then what I was at meat manager. It’s very hard work but I love it.
Scag offers a great deal to 1st responders and Vets....15% off. That was the deciding factor in my choice of a V-ride.
Great investment... EGO chainsaws... cutting up trees that fell down and removing them are huge money makers vs mowing lawns. I love mowing as well. But NorthEast region has a combination.
I am starting with a push mower and other Ego equipment. I am slowly building up to get a truck and then a ride mower.
FYI. Various states and HOAs are trying to have gas-powered lawn tools no longer able to be sold new or used in some developments.
Gas owners are going to have to slowly adjust, just like the car market.
That's really good info!
Great feed back brother for sharing- did small time many years back but made ends meet raising my son on my own - hustling with 36” Bunton 25hp kohler with velkie , 2 sthil string trimmers and echo edger with a Echo hedger - I am older now and the return and flexibility has got me refocused on returning. I work from home 1099 don’t start till 11:00 am so damn seems I can’t launch something. - need 5k per month to stop other job🤷♂️
The aerator comment is tricky. I’m in central Illinois. I can aerate in spring and fall and make decent money but yeah, it’ll sit 8-9 months.
Renting a stand on aerator is $910 a week. Walk behind aerator is essentially a waste of time for most yards in my area.
Just found your channel. Really good info.
Great tips, as usual. 👍🏼👍🏼💪🏼
Glad you like them!
How not to like the truth! 😉
I am wanting to get rid of my push mower. I have a yard just a few hoses away from me that I have to pushmow. I would like to get a zero turn mower that can get through a 42 inch gate. I need a 34 or 36 inch zero turn. If I can't afford a stand on wondering if there is a good riding zero turn to get. If you know of one please let me know.
How do you deal with small backyard gates?
As bad as interest rates are right now, capital won't be this cheap for a long time
Question, I have an opportunity to buy about 30 clients from another business that is taking another job opportunity, how do you buy clients from another business?
Just this past Thursday switched from a regular riding mower to a residential zero turn. I have just used it for 2 days and I can already tell that I will be able to do 8 to 10 yards a day. It is a John Deere Z325E with a 54 inch deck. Did I make a good investment with that? Should I be able to handle a lot of yards with it. I have been getting a lot more yards which is why I got it.
Nice work!
just keep it maintained. when I bought my personal zero turn, the sales person (yeah, i get the irony here) said that the entry commercial zero turn had better spindles to the blades. it's still going after 9 years.
@@jetah50 Thanks for the advice. I wanted to get a commercial one because starting to get alot of lawns. But the riding mower I had went to unfixable and had to get something right away. I couldn't afford a commercial one but one day if I keep growing going to get one. I went from 4 last year to 10 this year in 2 months time. So if I keep this pace by either sometime this year or next year residential won't be good enough.
@@michaelrivenbark1010 look at the used commercial market too. you dont always need new.
What size deck does the stand up mower you have? 36”?
In this video I'm on a 52, but we have 36" decks as well for getting in back lawns.
Do you have any practical advice on how to scale or get away from being a solo operator?
yes, I can make a video on this. In the meantime I would say put out an ad on social media contractors groups in your area... your area or town will have a facebook group for contractors for your area... there is a learning curve and you have to kinda stumble your way through an awkward hire or two... If you're maxed out as a solo guy it's really the only option left... hiring.
Off topic....Jonathan, who builds your videos and does all the editing? I am thinking of building a CZcams channel and I am looking at ways to do it. Use my time or hire an editor. Thoughts? BTW I been with you since the beginning my man! lol
I do my own… 😬 but I should probably outsource it 😂
I almost wish I would have bought my ditch witch before the mowers! Not gonna lie that 980/ month stings but our production rate is so hard to beat and we are charging more per hour and getting more work done.
I got a call from another landscaper telling me I’m hurting the market by doing unprofitable work. When I told him he can come by the office anytime and I’ll show him our ytd 22% net profit margin he piped down very quickly!
I’m really thankful to have this machine. It is already saved me so much trouble.
I currently feel like my entire lawn schedule is solely based off of having my 2 employees. It's a scary thought if one or both call in sick/leave. And finding employees doesn't seem easy these days. Anyone have any advice or encouragement on what to do? Thinking about scaling back a little bit next season - there's just no room for error right now and I don't like it! Is that common for a lot of you guys (no room for error)?
Hire 6
How many lawns are you mowing a week? I would say pay them well. Buy them lunch once in a while. Maybe hiring a 3 employee to substitute if one quits or is sick.
I agree with ORLawnandlandscape, surprise lunches, treat then well, LISTEN to their concerns and suggestions, and show them that they are important. If they do find something better, have faith and be supportive. Oh and we throw in some fun things to keep stuff interesting. I sold Harleys for a while and our GM would offer sales spiffs. So I’ve adapted the concept for us. We have friendly competitions….I let them see who can guess the closest to how long it takes one of us to cut a certain area, or whoever walks the most steps as verified by each persons cell phone, or some kind of trivia like different grass or weed type recognition…and then I pay out an extra $20-40 depending on what it was. Oh and one more tip, I always give any tip money that customers add in straight to my crew and don’t keep any of that. They earned it and it’s good they know I appreciate them and our customers appreciate them. Maybe there’s something in my response that you can implement. I hope you stay safe, prosperous, and cool this summer!
- Trae
Kiss My Grass Lawn Care
@@ORlawnandlandscape We are mowing anywhere from 12-20+ lawns a day depending on property size. We have small residential up to larger commercial properties. I do occasionally buy lunch if the day or week is going smoothly with no broken windows, late starts, etc. Thankfully, I did just hire a 3rd guy that starts tomorrow, bringing us to a 4-man crew. Once he finds the groove with us, I feel like we can tackle our schedule even more efficiently!
@@TheLayinLo Thanks for the feedback! I do buy lunches occasionally, treat them well, give out cash bonuses after a hard day or long week. I do like the friendly competitions to make the day more fun!
How about saving your money!
If you’re saving money, you’re still investing it, but with zero returns on it. Why not save what you need then put your surplus money to use?
@@FloridaTurfPros build up your surplus money first! And buy equipment only when absolutely needed
Lava rocks stink.