Start A Lawn Care Business

Make money with a lawn care and landscaping business.

Archive for May, 2010

Stolen Weedeaters, Trimmers, and other Lawn Care Equipment

May 25

Posted by Lawn Care Business in enclosed trailer, equipment, lawn business strategies, lawn equipment, lawn mowers, leaf blowers | No Comments

by: http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

As you begin to acquire new lawn care business equipment, take into consideration that your equipment needs to be protected not only from the weather but it also needs to be protected from thieves.

One of our readers sent us an article on a lawn care equipment company that was targeted by thieves earlier this month. This article makes me want to remind you to keep and eye on your equipment while you are servicing your lawn care customers. I have heard many stories of string trimmers mysteriously vanishing while the lawn care business owners are in the back yard cutting grass or blowing off the back deck.

If you can’t keep your equipment within eyesight, consider buying locks for the equipment, keeping it in a locked van, or use and enclosed trailer to keep your equipment safe.

It is very disappointing to work hard making money, pouring that money back into your business by buying expensive and reliable equipment, and having that equipment stolen. Not only is the equipment expensive but it takes time and effort to buy the correct equipment. Being without your lawn mower, trimmer, or blower can cost you a lot of money in down time and you might even lose customers as a result of not being able to service them properly and in a timely manner.

So, do yourself a favor and lock your equipment when it is not in use at your job site. Also, lock it at night when it is stored at your home or place of business.

Be safe out there.

Be a Professional. Our “Start A Lawn Care Business” training manuals and business software will help you develop a professional lawn care business strategy for your business. Want to make more money this year with your lawn care business…check our our course: http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

Tags: , , , , ,

Protective Landscaping

May 21

Posted by Lawn Care Business in customers, landscaping, landscaping photography, start a lawn care business | 2 Comments

http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness

What are your selection procedures when choosing landscaping plants and materials?

As landscapers, we have great opportunities to make significant positive differences in our customers’ lives.  It goes without saying that one of the differences we make is for the simple aesthetic beauty of their properties.  We also make nature areas for increased wildlife and song birds, properly prune shrubs and trees for better health of the landscape, and clear scrub brush and over grown shrubs to give an open feeling to the yard and better views of surrounding landscapes.

Using pathways, watergardens, and sitting areas, we help our customers enjoy their property with areas to relax after stressful days in their jobs.

You may have never thought of it before but landscapers can also help our customers feel safe within their homes.  There are certain landscaping techniques that can help protect a home and make its occupants feel safe. 

According to the National Crime Prevention Council, homeowners should trim shrubs and trees that might give criminals a place to hide or climb to second stories.  Thieves often hide behind dense or tall landscape plants that hide windows or other entrances to homes.  Lowering the height of and thinning these shrubs reduce the invisibility that robbers seek.   Planting prickly shrubs is also a great idea.  Plants such as this Adam’s Needle will help deter people from snooping close to windows.

Protective Landscaping for your Lawn Care Business

Knowing your landscaping customers’ desires for their landscaping will help you make suggestion on types of landscaping.  The Adam’s Needle pictured above was planted for a single female who was living on her own.  The deterrent offered by the plant makes her feel safer in her home at night as it offers some protection against people trying to spy through her window.

Do you want to make money with your own landscaping and lawn care business? We have developed a very detailed account of how to start and operate a successful lawn care business. You can read more about the course at:

http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

Tags: , , , ,

Refillable Propane Tank Debate Rages On

May 12

Posted by Lawn Care Business in lawn equipment, propane, start a lawn care business, weedeaters | 10 Comments

http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

Judging by the quantity of email we received last week on our recent post about the viability of propane powered weed trimmers and their taking over the lawn care 2-cycle engine market, we feel we are correct in thinking that propane is making a strong toe-hold into the lawn care market.

There is one question we are continuously asked; “Is it legal to refill and transport 1 lb. propane canisters in the use of my Lawn Care Business.”

To be quite up front and honest, we are not 100% sure of the answer to this question. There is lots of debate to this question and without a clear understanding to the answer, our stance is that you should research the correct answer yourself. If you find a complete and easily understood answer, please let us know.

We have heard differing theories on this law. A commenter on www.Instructables.com posted this information:

There is no federal (U.S.) contraint whatsoever on refilling a tank, nor for that matter on transporting such a tank whereever you want (provided it is not a federally-controlled road with restrictions on hazardous materials, which is a section of the CFR that nobody here has bothered to point out). There could not possibly ever be any such global constraint on your right to do so under the 10th Amendment. The cited regulations and laws deal specifically with transport in commerce, that is, transport across state lines for the purpose of selling the tank or using them in support of a commercial enterprise (and, under several federal court cases dating back to the 1930s, commercial transport on federally controlled roads – the so-called “implied commerce” argument that gave us the FDA and EPA). The second item is this talk about it being illegal to transport, even in commerce, REFILLED tanks. That is nonsense. It is not illegal to transport a refilled tank, it is illegal to commercially transport improperly LABELED tanks – if you read the citation for 49 U.S.C. 5124 (that’s the one with the prison sentences and all) you’ll see that it establishes penalties for violation of 21 U.S.C. 5104. Section 5104, in turn, is not a REFILLING statue, it is a LABELING statue. The moment you refill a tank you may or may not have created a fire hazard, but you a very definitely created a mislabeled product – and that’s what is illegal.

If you are considering refilling 1 lb. propane bottles, using them in weedeaters or other lawn care equipment, and/or transporting them as a due course of your business, our main fallback answer is to tell you to read the label of your 1 lb. propane bottle. It clearly states:

Never Refill This Cylinder. Refilling may cause explosion. Federal law forbids transportation if refilled – penalty up to $500,000 and 5 years imprisonment (49 U.S.C. 5124)

Look at #5 in this picture:

refilling propane bottles is dangerous and against the law if transported

If you are running propane powered lawn care equipment, we would love to hear from you.  Leave a comment.  Also, if you are operating a lawn care business and want to learn about the latest lawn care equipment, check out our lawn care business guidebooks and estimating software located at our main website:

Start A Lawn Care Business

http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

Tags: , , ,

Celebrate Mother's Day with a Beautiful Lawn

May 5

Posted by Lawn Care Business in advertising, lawn business strategies, start a lawn care business | 1 Comment

If your lawn care customers are tired of buying a potted plant or a pretty scarf for their Mothers on Mother’s Day, tell them to pay for lawn care service for their Mom’s instead.

Mother’s Day is this weekend May 9, 2010. At this very moment, millions of sons and daughters (and husbands) are scrambling in search of ideas for their mothers. You know very well that most of them will buy something lame at the last minute to give to their Moms. “It’s the thought that counts” she will exclaim as yet another figurine gets placed on the shelf as a dust collector.

Instead of buying something silly again this year, tell everyone you know that they should buy a lawn servicing or a landscape project for their Moms this year. When you think about it, lawn care is an ideal present for Mother’s Day. She won’t have to nag her husband about it and the grass will finally look good for a change.

In fact, why stop at one lawn care servicing job. If all the kids pool their money, they can buy lawn care service for the entire year and their Moms will know that they never have to worry about the grass again. If they don’t have big yards or if their husbands insist on doing the grass cutting, landscaping projects such as a large planter installation or a flower bed make over make ideal gifts.

If you operate your own lawn care business, don’t miss out on marketing your business during Mother’s Day weekend. You should be able to pickup quite a few new clients.

Also, if you are still unsure about how to price your jobs and how to make the most money for your lawn care company, check out our lawn care business guidebooks and estimating software at: http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

Tags: , , , ,

What can your Lawn Care Business learn from Cinco de Mayo?

May 5

Posted by Lawn Care Business in bidding lawn care, competition, customers, lawn business strategies | 3 Comments

Your lawn care business can learn a lesson from today’s Cinco de Mayo celebration. Cinco de Mayo celebrates the Mexican defeat of a larger French army on May 5, 1862 at the Battle of Puebla.

New lawn care businesses are often intimidated by larger, well-established landscaping companies. Relegated to small and low-profit customers, new lawn care business owners feel that without the proper equipment and experience they are unable to target large and highly profitable clients. Being pragmatic about equipment capacity and personal ability is a good for a new lawn care business owner. However, abandoning hope of getting the best lawn care customers in town at the very start of a new lawn care & landscaping business is a big mistake.

Being unable (or unwilling) to bid on the best accounts will trap you into forever cutting grass for those lousy customers who pay the minimum amount for their lawn care work.

We believe in knowledgeably and aggressively marketing a lawn care business. Acquiring the best lawn care customers in town is the only way you will make the money you deserve in this business. If you are tired of spending all your time mowing those low paying customers while other lawn care companies are making great money mowing mowing highly profitable clients, just remember Cinco de Mayo and the small Mexican Army’s ability to defeat a much larger competitor.

Do you want to learn how to be competitive on the best lawn care jobs in town. Take a look at our Lawn Care Business Guidebook and Estimating package http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

Tags: , , , ,

Lehr Propane Powered Lawn Equipment

May 1

Posted by Lawn Care Business in lawn business strategies, lawn equipment, propane, weedeaters | 4 Comments

Propane powered trimmers, lawn mowers, and other lawn equipment are slowly, but steadily, becoming a dominant force in the green industry.

If you keep up with our lawn care business blog, you know we believe that propane-powered equipment will gradually overtake the use of gasoline powered equipment in the industry. This won’t happen overnight but during the next 5 to 10 years this trend will continue to strengthen.

You’ve probably seen our video review on the Lehr propane powered string trimmer. Though Lehr is a major player in the residential propane trimmer industry, there’s a bigger point here on which we want to focus. Lehr is a specific instance in an industry wide trend of a move toward propane powered equipment. With each new trade show we attend, we see progressively more companies introducing propane powered equipment. Ferris Industries, Dixie Chopper, eXmark, and others are testing propane on their commercial mowers.

2-cycle engines are notoriously dirty. Yes, propane string trimmers use oil. But, unlike traditional 2-cycle motors, propane engines use that oil for internal lubrication only. Oil is not burned with the fuel source in a propane engine. The statistics I’ve seen state that propane emits 98% less evaporative emissions and ozone depleting hydrocarbons than an oil-fuel mixed 2-cycle trimmer.

The strongest reason that propane will become a dominant force is a series of EPA pollution regulations taking effect the next two years that govern small engines such as 2-cycle engines and lawn mower engines. Manufacturers are being forced to reduce their evaporative emissions by 35%. Propane power is a very viable alternative to gasoline powered equipment and the lawn industry is embracing it.

As we’ve noted before, Lehr knows that the current state of propane powered engines is not yet completely ideal. The difficulty in using refillable 1lb. tanks in a commercial operation and the need for commercial quality units are two issues they are trying to tackle. The CEO is a very genuine guy and his company is making great headway in the industry.

Tags: , , , , , , ,