It is a fantastic small business. The pitfalls I see:
hiring/ keeping labor is tough, and the work is seasonal so you’ve got to plow/rake/whatever if you plan to keep your staff year around
a lot of the labor pool for this kind of work can be unreliable and prone to blowing through money when they’re flush and running into trouble when they aren’t
large capital investments can be easy to justify until the weather fucks you over for a couple months, I see lots of landscape company owners towing with $100k trucks and buying big equipment because they’ll “save money” versus renting
Underestimating the costs of maintenance. It is expensive to keep all the mowers, trucks, etc… in working order and you’ll need to figure out how to fix/maintain them or lose every dime of profit in paying a pro
Lack of financial education/ accounting knowledge. It is easy to collect money and mow lawns, it is hard to pay taxes, track depreciation, save for repairs, and keep liquid through dry spells
If you’re going to be successful, save a cash reserve, learn to maintain your equipment, hire carefully, keep good accounting, and diversify your services. Make sure you’re not just charging for your time, but your overhead too. It is easy to mow a yard and count your money, but when the truck needs a major repair or it rains for two weeks, you’ll be thankful you planned ahead.
It is a fantastic small business. The pitfalls I see:
If you’re going to be successful, save a cash reserve, learn to maintain your equipment, hire carefully, keep good accounting, and diversify your services. Make sure you’re not just charging for your time, but your overhead too. It is easy to mow a yard and count your money, but when the truck needs a major repair or it rains for two weeks, you’ll be thankful you planned ahead.