Lawn Care?

[Swampy]

Well giving it some thought about opening a small small lawn care business. I'm in college right now for Landscape Architect. And I did join the Army Reserve (I leave in April). But I want to keep it small enough that I can finish college (and by that time should been done with the contract).

Questions:
Business licenses, whats the average cost and where do you pick them up?
Location, can you run/launch/store a business out of a Residental home?
Start up cost, other than equipment what is the cost of starting up a business that I'm not see?
Trailer, Buy one or build it?

[Steelrat]

www.lawnsite.com. That site has a ton of contractors that post there, and quite a few will provide positive feedback. I posted questions there when looking for my ZTR, and got a a lot of helpful responses.

As for the trailer, I think for insurance purposes you'd be better off buying one.

[PyRo]

Well giving it some thought about opening a small small lawn care business. I'm in college right now for Landscape Architect. And I did join the Army Reserve (I leave in April). But I want to keep it small enough that I can finish college (and by that time should been done with the contract).

Questions:
Business licenses, whats the average cost and where do you pick them up?
Location, can you run/launch/store a business out of a Residental home?
Start up cost, other than equipment what is the cost of starting up a business that I'm not see?
Trailer, Buy one or build it?

For business licensing you need to check with your City/County/State. Your best bet would be to start calling some county offices and ask they'll point you in the right direction. I know where I live it's $400 for two years, you need to show proof of insurance, and you need to be "of good moral character". Upstate though in some places you don't need a license.

Here you can run a business like that out of your home. Around you it may be different, they may have restrictions on the parking of commercial vehicles as well. That's another question for the City/County/State.

Aside from a truck and other equipment. How do you plan on getting customers? You may want signs for your truck, business cards, flyers, etc. A business license may cost you. Insurance will cost you anywhere between $600 and $2,000 a year. You need to check with your state to see if you have to charge sales tax. You would then need to get a tax ID number, that may cost a few dollars to set up.

If you're short on cash to start up you can just get rams for your pickup and put the equipment in there. It's a little extra time spend loading and unloading but it suffice until you get a good trailer.


Basically figure out what everything is going to cost you. Then tack 50% extra on. That hopefully will cover all the surprises you run into.


Like Steelrat said though. lawnsite.com is great and they're more than willing to help you.

[Swampy]

thanks for you help I'll take a look into that link. Ramping a walkbehind into the bed is a good idea but then where do I put the rest of the equipment? Thinking of just getting a single axle 4 wheeler trailer.

[PyRo]

Sometimes we would load a 36, a string trimmer, a backpack blower, and either a push blower or a push mower into a full size ford pickup. If you wanted to you could probably stick the push mower on the deck of the 36. Just a suggestion if you're trying to save a little on startup costs. Eventually you will defiantly want a trailer or a larger truck.

[Lohman446]

Wouldn't a light duty box truck (with a ramp) serve you well - under whatever weight requires a CDW where you are. This would give you inside storage, a massive side area for advertising, and the ability to have plenty with you?

Don't know the business, just saying....

[flyboy]

Well giving it some thought about opening a small small lawn care business. I'm in college right now for Landscape Architect. And I did join the Army Reserve (I leave in April). But I want to keep it small enough that I can finish college (and by that time should been done with the contract).

Questions:
Business licenses, whats the average cost and where do you pick them up?
Location, can you run/launch/store a business out of a Residental home?
Start up cost, other than equipment what is the cost of starting up a business that I'm not see?
Trailer, Buy one or build it?

Start within your means. Pay cash for equipment even if you have to buy it used. I know someone that started by himself with a VW pulling a small trailer with a sears pushmower and some other equipment. Now he has several trucks, lots of gear and a bunch of employees. Still pays cash too.

[PyRo]

Wouldn't a light duty box truck (with a ramp) serve you well - under whatever weight requires a CDW where you are. This would give you inside storage, a massive side area for advertising, and the ability to have plenty with you?

Don't know the business, just saying....

We actually used a Ford box van 90% of the time. I don't know if it was 14 or 16 feet. We had a walker, a 48, a 36, a push mower, 2 9hp blowers, a bunch of string trimmers, and backpack blowers, hedge trimmer, hand tools, mechanics tools, green pales, pruning ladders, and some other stuff in there.
We made two ramps each with 2 2*8s, and a metal top pieces.
The box truck worked out well except that it was a PITA to load and unload, the same as a pickup would be. We did have the lock cut and the lighter equipment stolen once so they're not thief proof. The other downside is you have no room for garbage as you would with a truck/trailer situation.

[Lohman446]

Considering you are not carrying *that* much weight you might get away with a non-cargo box truck (similar to what U-haul uses), and get the back of it that much lower. Ramps would of course still be needed.... and I did not fully consider the garbage issue either of course

[Steelrat]

Start within your means. Pay cash for equipment even if you have to buy it used. I know someone that started by himself with a VW pulling a small trailer with a sears pushmower and some other equipment. Now he has several trucks, lots of gear and a bunch of employees. Still pays cash too.

That's good advice too. Commercial equipment lasts a long time if taken care of, so low hour used equipment may serve you well. The Quick 36 walk behind is also a good, low-cost choice for beginners.

What size properties are you looking at, and what services are you looking to offer? That'll help determine what equipment you need, and consequently what kind of hauling capacity you need.

[Swampy]

Residental homes/small apartments mainly. I've been looking at older 36 fixed deck Ferris single drive hydro. We have a old one at my job right now with a 48 which we call "The Dinosaur" cause its been around for the longest time out all the equipment, its been dropped off a trailer on the freeway and struck another car, dumped off retaining walls, romped through drainage ditches as a brush cutter, and its still solid.

For a push mower I got out lucky at the end of this last season my boss tossed his Toro commercial 2cyc 21in just cause it was old, just needs a new blade, spark plug and air filter.

My truck I got is a 94 2wd 1500 Dodge Short bed with a tool box, granted the walkbehind would fit ramped up if I took the tail gate off but its limited in space. I'd like to keep that tool box in there so tools don't walk off the job. Was thinging of making some wood sides to it for those small mulch jobs/fall clean up jobs.

Cube van/Truck would be a good thing to look into for the future though but not right now, trying to keep those costs low.

[PyRo]

That Dodge probably isn't meant to pull a whole lot. You're probably going to want to find a pretty small lightweight trailer. It should tell you right inside the door what it can pull 3,000lbs is probably about what it will take without really punishing it unless it's the heavy duty 1500.

[behemoth]

You Can Use Old Motor Oil to Fertilize Your Lawn.

[Swampy]

You Can Use Old Motor Oil to Fertilize Your Lawn.

LOL nice one behemoth . I'm a Idiot sometimes but not that big of one.

was thinking a Atv like trailer only about a 12 or 14ft plus a walkbehind only weights about 500lbs max.

[behemoth]

Right over your head, eh?