How many of you have added this to your business?

[Beth n Rod]

I was wondering how many have adde landscaping or lawn care to your business, or are thinking about it? It is a huge industry, but very populated. How saturated is it?

[GymRat]

I have been doing lawn care for 15 years, now I a'm adding pressure washing to my business. Lawn care will keep you in shape if you walk the smaller to mid-size yards. I use self propelled toro comercial mowers which are very fast (almost a slow jog when in third gear).

[John Orr]

I have established relationships with a few upscale landscapers. One sends me an occasional job and the other is steady. I price for them so they can add 20% and still be reasonable. I enjoy cutting grass myself, but have been paying someone else to di it for a few years now.

I also have a working arrangement with a larger, mainly flatwork, pwer in my area. He sends me the work he can't get to. I pay him a %.

My good work makes other contractors look good. As long as I deliver the quality, they will continue to deliver the work.

[Beth n Rod]

GymRat,
Can you share more with us? I can see how it would be a great add on, but what are some of the basics you need to know about or to offer if you want to add it?
We have bagged leaves in the fall, but that's about the extent of it, and there is a ton of money in landscaping.
Beth

[CarolinaProWash]

I like John Orr's idea - network, network, network

[newlook]

We added landscaping design and landscape maintenance to our list of services. This goes in conjunction with our power wash, concrete and painting services. By having all of these services under one roof affords us a better opportunity to pitch all of our services at one time ~ if needed.

Beth, you are correct by saying that landscaping is a saturated market. I was very hesitant to even think about going in this direction but took the plunge. What we have found out from customers is that they like dealing with one company that can provide a list of services. The customer is dealing with one person and one person only vs. dealing with a power wash company, a landscaping company, a painting company and etc, etc.

[GymRat]

I like to stick with the basics of lawn care. Landscaping can be to time consuming and actually the pay per hour normally is a lot less. In other words I would much rather stick with the grass cutting and shy away from the hedges, mulch, etc.
With any busness customer satisfaction has to be your number 1 goal. Treat every lawn as if it is your own, and keep it looking good all the time. Don't wait for the owner to call asking for service, cut the lawn before this happens and keep everyone happy. Don't let the homeowner dictate when to cut the lawn, some are real cheap and will wait until it is out of hand and you will have to work twice as hard with a lot more wear and tear on your mowers, and of course the lawn will look like crap. If they insist on telling you when to cut, turn the job down, because it very bad advertising for your company.
Buy comercial equipment if you can afford it, and I have found echo brand blowers and trimmers to be very reliable. Mulching mowers are the way to go, not only do they add fertilizer to your yard, they don't leave the ugly lines of grass like the side discharge mowers do. Preventive maintenance on your equipment is very important as everyone in the power washing business knows.

[GymRat]

Very very true Carlos.

[One Tough Pressure]

I picked up a small commercial account that I do parking lot and sidewalk cleaning at, as well as empty the trash cans.
I found out after that I would be mowing the lawn as well. Not the direction I am heading, but because it is small,then I will do it on this one.

[CCPC]

I picked up a small commercial account that I do parking lot and sidewalk cleaning at, as well as empty the trash cans.
I found out after that I would be mowing the lawn as well. Not the direction I am heading, but because it is small,then I will do it on this one.

Alan, what kind of mower do you use for this job?

[Craig]

No. Not at all.

What I will do though, is colored acrylics and 2-part epoxies. Very nice stuff. I'm in Utah through Saturday for training at CCI.

[Jeff]

Ive had at least a few PM's ask me if I wanted to do lawn care, painting on some complexes. I like pressure washing and dislike lawncare & hate painting, Im an expainter.

I want to be known as a PW contractor, thats it. Plus good help is hard to find

JL

[JFife]

Beth,

To big of a leap imo. Landscapers have degrees, etc., in their profession. And you can tell the jobs done by the people that are pro's and the people that have simply expanded their grassmunching operation.

Plus, it doesn't really offer a solution to the ever-challenging "what do I do in the winter?" question. It will be seasonal as well, so whenever you are slammed doing washing, you'd also be slammed doing landscaping.

In your position (since you (beth) asked) I'd make more of a close-to-home move if you are wanting a new challenge: pursue flatwork, or fleets, or commercial work in washing. If you didn't like those choices, my next would be deck construction/high-end outdoor environments.

[JFife]

Note: didn't realize this was a yr old post........oh well

[VanDiesel99]

Hey Alan,

How did you "find out" later that you had to do the mowing? That sounds like something a gm would try to do.