If you’ve got an entrepreneurial spirit and you enjoy working outdoors, you may have considered starting your own lawn care business. Lawn care offers a variety of benefits as a professional pursuit, including flexible scheduling, low start-up costs, and the ability to work on large and small projects. Starting a lawn care business is not without its drawbacks, though.
For many, the main question is: is there money in the lawn care business? Fortunately, despite the many considerations involved with starting a lawn care business, there is still plenty of room for profit.
Finding Your Niche
Before you get started in your lawn care journey, you have to decide what kind of services you will offer. More importantly, you have to be aware of how you will stand out from the competition.
For example, are you just going to mow lawns, or will you offer leaf cleanup services in the fall? Will you also provide other landscaping services such as weeding, planting, and pruning? A more comprehensive lawn care company can attract more clients, while a more specific company that only cuts lawns can keep equipment costs low while also focusing on repeat customers.
Investing in the Right Equipment and People
Unless you are planning on working as a one-person operation, you will probably need to hire some employees either to work with or for you. Likewise, you need to determine what kind of equipment you will be using for your lawn care business: riding mowers, walk-behind mowers, string trimmers, trailers, and even a truck (to pull all of the stuff). Knowing what size properties you will be mowing and what kind of equipment you will need can determine how many employees you will need and how much you will need to charge.
Creating the Right Pricing Structure
Once you’ve decided what kind of lawn care services you will offer, you need to determine what prices you will charge. This step requires some research regarding what other lawn care companies are charging for similar services. Sometimes, you can call and ask the companies directly, but if they aren’t willing to share their information, you can find prices online or ask former clients. You will also need to determine what kind of income you are trying to generate, which is important in determining what kind of equipment you will need and how many people you will need to hire.
Marketing
Once you’ve determined your costs and your targeted price structure, you can start marketing your services. Simple marketing can be as easy as going door-to-door within a specific neighborhood and talking to clients directly, allowing you to describe your services and see what people need. You can also leave flyers or door hangers if residents aren’t home.
For large-scale or commercial operations, advertisements in newspapers or online and targeted emails can help promote your services, especially if they stand out from the competition.
Bonus tip: Buying a franchise gives you an advantage with marketing materials, helps develop pricing structures, and other help to get your business off the ground.
Maintaining Clients
Maintaining clients is an important part of the lawn care business. Since you will likely be trying to mow lawns regularly, you want to have repeat customers from week to week and year. If a client has concerns, make sure to address them promptly. If a client asks for other services, such as leaf cleanups or mulching, see if you can provide these services too. If a client isn’t happy, is too demanding, or isn’t paying promptly, you should also consider finding new clients rather than wasting your time on clients who don’t appreciate your services.
Lawn care is a fairly straightforward business proposition, but there are some tricks to staying profitable. If you’ve been wondering if their money is in the lawn care business, the strategies above will help you to keep the green coming into your business.