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25$ grass cuts

12K views 32 replies 15 participants last post by  madxtreme01 
#1 ·
So after leaveing **** guard i have been aking a good loving doing landscaping and yards etc... aaw on a facbook add a local company is charging 25 a cut... come one! And landscape packages as low as 100$.. who the hell can compete with that.. i know this isnt vendors etc.. but migjt as well be. Iight as well gonget my state job back and become lazy.. cause im not lowering myself to 25$ not when i have 16k mowers..
 
#8 ·
Yeah i guess i had that coming, as i you cant edit on this site and my otter box gets in the way all the time.. Oh well!! not on here for a spelling bee.

there is a hwy near me that is down to 1 lane and i was stuck in traffic for a good hour so im sorry for the message "and yes i know not to text and drive"

so here is a screen shot of there stupid ad. Text Font Software Screenshot Line


Again since there are only a few people ever talking on this site i want to keep people talking about our line of work.. so its a little off topic but still similar...
 
#9 ·
I have a friend that used to tell me he didn't see how I made my business productive with all of the picture I have to take. He went out on his own and started his business by buying a new kubota mower, new trailer, then buying the test of his equipment used on Craigslist. After buying all of that, then he began advertising trying to get lawns. He starts his pricing at $25. Yet he doesn't see how my business could be profitable?
 
#10 ·
Kubota..Yikes Nothing like going out and buying a Bmw on a mcdonalds salary. I have 3 toros all diesels and 2 58" gravleys.. the best machines ever.. only reason im pissed is how is there money here? truck, trailer,gas, leafblower etc.. I mean it would take 3-1/2 mows just to buy the striping kit for one of my machines. 10 gallon tanks on each side so that 2-1/2 yards there, plus your truck and extra fuel tanks etc.. the eniter day would be working for free.. Blah.
 
#13 ·
i like

I like my toros but since they are diesels i baby them cause well they cost a lot to fix. my gravley is a monster and will go over anything. just the blades are 95$ for 3 so they get pricey.. but i have got perty good sharping them myself.

I had hustler mowers b4 and those were just JUNK>>>>
 
#24 ·
I have asked to see it. They will say they are "unable to invoice their client".

Yea right, that invoice goes straight out with the regular stack and we we all know it.

I get it, if the client won't pay cause I stunk up the job, then I don't deserve a dime, but if the gnat gets paid and I don't, that is a deal breaker for me.
 
#27 ·
I have a 36in wright stander, and a 61 scag cheetah which i carry on a 16ft dual axle landscape trailer, 2 weed wackers (an echo 225 for light stuff, and a 266 for higher, thicker stuff) and an echo 755 blower all pulled by a F350 diesel. So I know exactly what you mean by how can you make money on a $25 cut. Lets face it we don't trim and edge the way you would if it was your house. I just get as close as I can and trim every few cuts on a rotating schedule so I don't spend 3x as long on the road. I also have a little 5x8 trailer that I pull my 36 on with an explorer for when I go into areas that have tiny lawns. SJPI you would know what I mean when I say Keansburg and Union Beach lawns. I am in NJ also. As far as a blower, it's there for pictures, the mower does most of the cleaning. I also go alone and do a minimum of 20/day with the 36 alone bc everything is so close, and 10/day when I need the 61. So if small laws were $25 and big lawns were $50, I'm still making $500/day no matter how you look at it. Minus expenses of course. There is money to be made, and if the nationals or whoever you get your work from are paying the going landscaper rate, your doing good. Remember landscapers have 3-4 guys in the truck and are doing a perfect job. So cost wise the travel outweighs the need for extra people on your crew. I have done 40 in a day with a 2nd guy. We pull up, he gets out and starts taking pictures. I unload the trailer and start cutting, he gets the trimmer and takes some during shots. By the time I get to my last pass with the mower he is finished cleaning up and we are on to the next one. It's more about close proximity than volume.
 
#28 ·
I wouldn't say that there aren't scenarios where this model "COULD" make money. However you are leaving out the returns, the no pays, the occupied properties, the uploading, the phone calls and emails, the tracking your money to make sure you actually get paid.

In closing I say even if I could make money with this I wouldn't. It's not worth the headache when there is so much good work out there. Even in preservation there is better work to be had.
 
#30 · (Edited)
Had a regional calling us this week wanting a padlock installed on a door and an initial grass cut on a rural property 2 hours away. $25 for the lock and $40 for the mow. We declined. They wanted to know why, like it has never happened to them before. Well, because it is 170 miles round trip, you have no info on the lot size or how high the grass is, and we have never done business with you . "Oh, well just take pics and submit a bid when you get back." Lol. Sorry, no.
So the woman's boss calls and asks if they bumped the price for the lock and mow from $65 to $200 would we do the job. No. I won't send a crew in a truck and trailer with equipment and risk a half a day so they can change a padlock and stare at grass over their heads. If anyone is willing to offer you three times their original price for work almost immediately and claim to have no other information, well....
 
#33 ·
must have been MSI or AIM.. I get a weekly call from them.. start out low and call back a hour or so triple the price.. :vs_OMG::vs_worry:
I get weekly calls from AIM asking if we can complete work by 3pm the following day and have it submitted. I am constantly turning them down. I don't understand how a company can operate like this. If I am sitting around waiting for my phone to ring to get work for that day or the next then I am failing in business. Occasionally I happen to be going to the area that they are requesting the work in anyway so I accept, but I tell them that 3pm isn't going to happen. They don't offer a mobile app that I can submit from the road, so who is going back to the office or home in the middle of the day so they can have their results. For a while they had a lot of decent work like bush and tree trimming and leaf cleanups. I had a check from them in 1 month of over $10k and it was only a week worth of work. These turn around times are getting shorter and short so what that means is that we as the contractors end up driving all over the place to get work in on time instead of making close routes that are efficient.
 
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