This is BY FAR the most asked for service in my local area on social media. Like seriously I see maybe 10-20 posts of people asking for lawn care a week on Nextdoor.
80% of thise posts mention that their old lawn guy stopped being reliable or that the guy they hired never showes up.
I know lawn care is saturated because any joe with a mower can do it, but it seems to me answering inquiries in a timely manner and showing up when scheduled to do a quality job would be all it takes to put me about 90% of these guys.
I’ve read from landscapers that mowing alone won’t get you far. Is this true? Will you be unable to become wealthy simply having large lawn mowing business? Is it necessary to expand into further services?
I’ve got a truck, weed wacker, rake, and blower. I’d just need to grab a push mower and some insurance to start mowing some lawns.
I’m thinking $40 or $45 minimum per job and $70-$90 per acre. That seems to be around the going rate for my area.
Think is I’m not quite sure how long these jobs take as I haven’t ever timed myself mowing lawns. It would seem mowing businesses don’t charge by the hour so if you don’t get the job done quick enough you’ll be bleeding time and money.
Anyone got any insight?
I’ve owned 2 mowing businesses in my life. Started one, ran it several years, enjoyed it. Got into some other businesses, got those running themselves and had an opportunity to buy a different lawn care business so I did that.
It can be a great business and for anyone looking to dip their toe in self employment it’s a great place to start. It is not hard in most markets to be the most profession outfit around. Yes it can be saturated but 80% of lawn companies are drunks who do shit work and look like they’ll rob your house. There is a company where I live called “A family thing.” I shit you not that’s the name of their lawn business. They drive around in a beat up truck missing a muffler and the both look like they just got out of prison.
I’d only take contract clients- none of this call when needed shit and I’d avoid bi-weekly people too. They want it done every other week but it gets long as shit and then YOU have to go over it twice to make it look good. As another commenter said, the auxiliary services like hedge trimming, spraying, fertilizing etc can be good money makers.
My neighbor picked up a grocery store complex/strip mall as a client and it’s pretty much his only client. He cuts the grass, plows the snow, picks up trash, prunes trees, basically anything a decent size complex needs.