Am I wise starting this business?

[newstart]

Sorry for long post:

About to start a landscaping/garden maintenance business using existing skills and a few short courses, business including:
Kerbing, paving
Turfing/seeding
A lot of garden maintenance including lawncare treatments
Ususal weed control but adding on Japanese Knotweed specialisim
Suply of small bulk loads of bark much, gravel etc.

But am bothered about winter months about 3 months a year here to bad for most jobs but thinking add powerwashing, gutter cleaning, driveway sealing etc.

Any thoughts mutch appreciated.

I have last minute jitters starting and im not aiming to become ritch but earn a deceant wage may even look at more environmental services in the future aswell.

 

[Phoenix Driving]

If you don't try you will never know, if it doesn't work at least you tryed, that's a lot more than most people do, you can always get a job with somebody else if it doesn't.

Give it a go and good luck !

 

[S-Marketing]

For any decent gardener or landscaper there is just as much work around in Winter as there is in summer.

Remember to register with the environment agency. This is important for any gardener, but essential if you are going to be dealing with knotweed. You will also need much more specialist public liability insurance, and unusually for gardening, professional indemnity insurance too.

Apart from that, making money from this type of business is a doddle, and fun too. Just remember, its all about the marketing.

 

[vvaannmmaann]

Winter + leaves = work for a month!

 

[Super Simon]

Sorry for long post:

About to start a landscaping/garden maintenance business using existing skills and a few short courses, business including:
Kerbing, paving
Turfing/seeding
A lot of garden maintenance including lawncare treatments
Ususal weed control but adding on Japanese Knotweed specialisim
Suply of small bulk loads of bark much, gravel etc.

But am bothered about winter months about 3 months a year here to bad for most jobs but thinking add powerwashing, gutter cleaning, driveway sealing etc.

Any thoughts mutch appreciated.

I have last minute jitters starting and im not aiming to become ritch but earn a deceant wage may even look at more environmental services in the future aswell.

Where are you based?

 

[MancunianCreative]

What about offering a deal where you will grit and clear driveways in winter when you cant cut grass? That would appeal to the older crowd. In fact I'd be down for that too.

 

[anna_idsltd]

Where are you located?

I had three landscaping companies come to quote me for quite a lot of work. NONE of them got back to me.

There is work out there if you want it and want to actually do it!

 

[S-Marketing]

Where are you located?

I had three landscaping companies come to quote me for quite a lot of work. NONE of them got back to me.

There is work out there if you want it and want to actually do it!

You came across as having plans much larger than your wallet, I would guess. Most trades have the ability to sniff out a time wasting client at 100 yards.

 

[anna_idsltd]

You came across as having plans much larger than your wallet, I would guess. Most trades have the ability to sniff out a time wasting client at 100 yards.

I had told them my budget was around the £3k mark (which I can afford). I suspect that the work that was on offer was more than the could handle.

Initially, there were 4 companies I approached but only one of them told me on the day that the job was too big for him.

I don't appreciate you calling me a time waster! \if anybody was time wasting, it was the landscaping companies who didn't get back to me one way or the other.

 

[S-Marketing]

I had told them my budget was around the £3k mark (which I can afford). I suspect that the work that was on offer was more than the could handle.

Initially, there were 4 companies I approached but only one of them told me on the day that the job was too big for him.

I don't appreciate you calling me a time waster! \if anybody was time wasting, it was the landscaping companies who didn't get back to me one way or the other.

I would guess in that case that they saw 3 grand as an unrealistic price for what you wanted done. You don't get much done for 3 grand.

Sometimes people seem to be of the opinion that trades should be grateful to be offered work, and that when they come to quote you are deciding if you want to use them. With decent trades they are just as much deciding if they want you as a client.

Anyway, this isn't helping the op. If you want to know if your expectations of what you can have for 3 grand are realistic, let me know what you planned to have done and I'll tell you.

 

[Salt & Paper]

Sorry for long post:

About to start a landscaping/garden maintenance business using existing skills and a few short courses, business including:
Kerbing, paving
Turfing/seeding
A lot of garden maintenance including lawncare treatments
Ususal weed control but adding on Japanese Knotweed specialisim
Suply of small bulk loads of bark much, gravel etc.

But am bothered about winter months about 3 months a year here to bad for most jobs but thinking add powerwashing, gutter cleaning, driveway sealing etc.

Any thoughts mutch appreciated.

I have last minute jitters starting and im not aiming to become ritch but earn a deceant wage may even look at more environmental services in the future aswell.

Surely winter won't be a problem if you include things like clearing leaves, gritting, snow clearing, winter pond maintenance, etc?

Assuming you are doing residential jobs, a good market to target in the winter would be the kind of middle- class families who live in houses surrounded by big trees. I can tell you from experience they are a nightmare for anyone, as they drop leaves which rot in the grass, branches, etc that clog up drains, flowerbeds, gutters, ponds... I know of many people that would probably be up for having someone come around a couple of times a month with a few large bags and clear all this away.

 

[Rufford]

Winter + leaves = work for a month!

+ a month cleaning the garage out, painting the garden furniture and the general palaver of Christmas. My gardener is pretty good at all this

Feb/March we're off again; where's the power wash.....

 

[jon1984]

I have properties which i rent out and and have employed a number of landscape teams to do the work over the years. One issue which i get all the time as i have had to hire them over the years is some get comfortable and try to over charge.

One tip to you from a customers point of view is charge per job not per hour and as a principle stay the 10 mins more rather then leave 10 mins early.

Thanks

 

[Mike tells it like it is]

Sorry for long post:

About to start a landscaping/garden maintenance business using existing skills and a few short courses, business including:
Kerbing, paving
Turfing/seeding
A lot of garden maintenance including lawncare treatments
Ususal weed control but adding on Japanese Knotweed specialisim
Suply of small bulk loads of bark much, gravel etc.

But am bothered about winter months about 3 months a year here to bad for most jobs but thinking add powerwashing, gutter cleaning, driveway sealing etc.

Any thoughts mutch appreciated.

I have last minute jitters starting and im not aiming to become ritch but earn a deceant wage may even look at more environmental services in the future aswell.

Target management companies for leasehold properties.

 

[serasan]

If you are a grafter and go the extra mile and give your customers a better experience than they are expecting you will soon have a very good business. Regardless of the competition.
Good luck

 

[S-Marketing]

Target management companies for leasehold properties.

It's a common misconception that those kind of contracts are worth chasing. It's the same as those who will tell the op that he should be networking with letting and estate agents. My advice would be to market to clients who will happily pay a premium for a better service.

 

[mobyme]

It's a common misconception that those kind of contracts are worth chasing. It's the same as those who will tell the op that he should be networking with letting and estate agents. My advice would be to market to clients who will happily pay a premium for a better service.

Tell that to Benchmark!

 

[newstart]

Thanks very much folks for the replies im based in NI, the knotweed idea came as an add on to the pesticide treatment for weed control after working in a garden full off it.

Im not trying to get rich but make a deceant fair living to be comfortable but trying to ascertain portential earnings is near impossible.

Yes I would and can turn my hand to anything so would adopt what I offer clients on a seasonal basis based on a good job at fair prices per job not per hour.

 

[blueprint]

Do a business plan and base it on people who already do what you want to do. Also ensure that you have a detailed marketing plan and start securing clients now.

But definitely worth trying as in the worst case you will learn a lot and be much more employable.

 

[S-Marketing]

Tell that to Benchmark!

What has that got to do with this thread?

 

[mobyme]

Well I thought that the clue might be in that Benchmark a company started only few years ago by a husband and wife team who concentrate solely on this type of work; have from their humble origins working locally in the Worcester/Stratford area, gone on to become one of the market leaders employing dozens of people the length and breadth of the country.

http://www.benchmark-gm.co.uk/

 

[Mike tells it like it is]

It's a common misconception that those kind of contracts are worth chasing. It's the same as those who will tell the op that he should be networking with letting and estate agents. My advice would be to market to clients who will happily pay a premium for a better service.

No.

The management company work is ongoing and longer term.

Its true the decoraters and gardeners who do my flats are note exactly concientious.

That does not mean a good margin can't be made though.

You make money when you buy not when you sell... think a bout that one?

Think about different pricing strategies also..

Charge a premium you have to use premium products and take longer to do the work.

It's not about selling price it's about the margin.

There is no reason why one could not target both.

 

[S-Marketing]

Mike and Moby.

It seems to me that you are both missing the point in exactly the same way. These kind of contracts are ok if you are wishing to grow a company, but not if you are wanting to work on a self employed basis.

 

[Mike tells it like it is]

That is not true at all.

 

[Mike tells it like it is]

"But am bothered about winter months about 3 months a year here to bad for most jobs but thinking add powerwashing, gutter cleaning, driveway sealing etc."

Target management companies.

 

[S-Marketing]

That is not true at all.

There is no point in us even discussing it. I am giving the op good advice based on vast experience in this specific industry, and you will simply disagree just because that is what you do. Arguing a point even when you know you are wrong is not helping anyone.

 

[Mike tells it like it is]

Lol I am not wrong at all stretchy.

The fact that he want's to work self employed is irrelevant.

And don't be so arrogant as to try to tell me what I know or think.

You said you disagreed with me and another poster and that we were wrong-I simply said I disagreed with you and that you were wrong.

 

[S-Marketing]

Lol I am not wrong at all stretchy.

The fact that he want's to work self employed is irrelevant.

And don't be so arrogant as to try to tell me what I know or think.

You said you disagreed with me and another poster and that we were wrong-I simply said I disagreed with you and that you were wrong.

If i were having this conversation with any other member I would take the time to explain my point and why I'm right. With you there really is no point. The fact that you don't understand why your advice is not suitable for the op demonstrates my point perfectly.

 

[Mike tells it like it is]

If i were having this conversation with any other member I would take the time to explain my point and why I'm right. With you there really is no point. The fact that you don't understand why your advice is not suitable for the op demonstrates my point perfectly.

Whatever you reckon stretchy.

 

[JMRidley]

There are obviously a lot of different types of gardening businesses so any advice of likely customers, marketing etc. will be different depending on what you are hoping to set up.

My husband had some clear criteria for his business, he didn't want to employ anyone, he didn't want to set up a big business (so running a national garden maintenance company employing lots of people was definitely not an option!), he wanted to do private gardens, not get caught into formal contracts with letting agents etc. (their hourly rates of pay were all a lot lower than he is getting from his private customers anyway), he didn't want to do heavy landscaping - his expertise is in gardening - what grows where, what to prune when etc. - and he was looking to make a reasonable living, not a fortune.

He started by putting cards in newsagents windows in some of the villages around our town. After that he has got all the work he has wanted through word of mouth.

He does less work in the winter but still does quite a few odd jobs for his regular customers. The rest of the year he fits his hours in during the school day but he could do more if he wanted to.

 

[NaijaBizCom]

Friend, don't let the winter month bother you. If you have enough customers that patronizes your business, you will be surprise that during winter months you have enough money to take of yourself. You can also diversify into related businesses.Ojo

 

[S-Marketing]

There are obviously a lot of different types of gardening businesses so any advice of likely customers, marketing etc. will be different depending on what you are hoping to set up.

My husband had some clear criteria for his business, he didn't want to employ anyone, he didn't want to set up a big business (so running a national garden maintenance company employing lots of people was definitely not an option!), he wanted to do private gardens, not get caught into formal contracts with letting agents etc. (their hourly rates of pay were all a lot lower than he is getting from his private customers anyway), he didn't want to do heavy landscaping - his expertise is in gardening - what grows where, what to prune when etc. - and he was looking to make a reasonable living, not a fortune.

He started by putting cards in newsagents windows in some of the villages around our town. After that he has got all the work he has wanted through word of mouth.

He does less work in the winter but still does quite a few odd jobs for his regular customers. The rest of the year he fits his hours in during the school day but he could do more if he wanted to.

It's nice to have another poster talking sense, based on actual real life experience, rather than something they have heard works.

 

[apacarada]

im not aiming to become ritch but earn a deceant wage

If you just want a wage than keep your job, much easier.

You have to want to earn more than just a wage and be very dedicated and persistent in your goal. This will make you more successful in your business.




True accountancy is understanding your business.

 

[mobyme]

It's nice to have another poster talking sense, based on actual real life experience, rather than something they have heard works.

Oh give over! JMridley is talking about a particular set of circumstances that happen to suit her husband. Most domestic gardeners struggle to make a living especially when they are self employed; they cannot service the demand in the Spring and scratch a living in the Winter.

A couple of commercial contracts with retail parks that include for keeping the place tidy during the winter when there is little to do has too make sense and I do not give a damn how much "vast experience" you have. It's plain common sense.

 

[S-Marketing]

Oh give over! JMridley is talking about a particular set of circumstances that happen to suit her husband. Most domestic gardeners struggle to make a living especially when they are self employed; they cannot service the demand in the Spring and scratch a living in the Winter.

A couple of commercial contracts with retail parks that include for keeping the place tidy during the winter when there is little to do has too make sense and I do not give a damn how much "vast experience" you have. It's plain common sense.

A self employed gardener has a certain amount of billable hours each week. One with any business sense will use those hours to do the most profitable work, which is for domestic customers. Commercial contracts are for those who either employ minimum wage labour, or who don't know any better.

Luckily for me and my clients, most trades rely on what they see as common sense to make their marketing decisions. This makes it nice and easy for me to help my clients enjoy an advantage over the competition.

 

[mobyme]

Most of the retail parks take a gang of two a day; which equates to two days for one man.
The national companies have spent more getting to these jobs than your average "domestic" gardener will make in a day.
If a self employed man can get one local retail park on contract he will make a very good wage and still have three days a week to pick and choose the "domestic"work that he does.
I'm bleeding glad you're not my marketing man.

 

[S-Marketing]

Most of the retail parks take a gang of two a day; which equates to two days for one man.
The national companies have spent more getting to these jobs than your average "domestic" gardener will make in a day.
If a self employed man can get one local retail park on contract he will make a very good wage and still have three days a week to pick and choose the "domestic"work that he does.
I'm bleeding glad you're not my marketing man.

We are just going to have to agree to disagree aren't we.

I would never advise a client to go for these type of contracts unless they had a plan for a decent operational advantage.

Don't worry, in my position I can afford to be incredibly selective about who I take on as a client.

 

[JMRidley]

I think for my husband he would view some of these commercial contracts as no better than working for an employer (which he used to do). He doesn't want to be tied into working low pay for a set number of hours doing some gardens for tenants who couldn't care less what their garden looks like. He gets most job satisfaction from transorming a really overgrown garden into something that looks great for his private customers who really appreciate it. He wouldn't agree at all with the comment "if you want a good wage keep your job". He hated working in an office and earns more per hour now doing something he loves!

 

[jakef78]

I think there have already been some really good responses, but what the hell.

1 person said the key is marketing, which is completly true. The only real thing I can add to this thread is to suggest some ideas for winter. If you set your buisness up right, and have decent clientel, then winter can be a very busy time indeed. Theres plently of things like lawn aeration, raking leaves, clearing weeds, and so on. Just do some research find out what other people are doing, and try and spot a gap, but for the most part this buisness is very straight forward.

 

[newstart]

Thanks for replies folks apart from the bit of ranting that ransacked my thread, any further opinions greatly appreciated.