General Lawn Maintenance/ trash removal

[winniboy]

I was thinking about summer jobs this summer when i came up with the idea of this. My dad runs a construction company and people spend full price to have them to this type of work. I was trying to see if my friends and i started a little business like this who would be interested.

1. mowing lawns
2. trash removal
3. spring clean up
4. light carpentry
5. delivery service to/from mainland
6. cleaning
7. raking
8. etc etc...

Please leave your comments along with an hourly wage you might be willing to pay for such services.

[TOAD]

Well in the litegeous society we have today the first thing you will want to do is get liability insurance that covers everyone in you business.

[dmjr]

Getting general liability insurance is going to cost you alot more than it has in years past. My insurance premium went up this year over 20% for no reason since I have had no claims against me. if you are going to get into contracting, property checks etc you are going to need an errors and omissions insurance, which is very expensive and also went up 20% as well. I would talk to several different insurance companies before purchasing any insurance. Good luck in your adventure

[garysanfran]

I know everyone is going to say that in today's litigious society everyone wants to hold someone at fault and sue. I paid for my first year of college from years of mowing neighbor's lawns, picking-up their trash and doing general stuff a 14-18 yr. old kid could do. INSURANCE? I am glad I am not that age today. Very, very, very sad. I certainly grew-up in another era, if not in another universe!

[dmjr]

I hear you on that! Being a general contractor & property manager, I am subject to the EPA's lead paint rule. I had to take a class to get certified ($200.00 for the class) and register my company (paid $300.00) with the EPA. What happened to the good old days!

[RailroadJoe]

Would a kid (12 to 16) need a license to shovel snow at a neighbors for cash? If so, this country is going to the dogs. Maybe we should start with changing the court system that allows people to sue for being stupid.
Go get the jobs kids, and to heck with the legal crap.

[ACutAbove]

I think there is a big difference between shoveling snow and mowing a lawn. What happens when a teenager mistakenly cuts a hand or foot off while mowing a steep slope and the mower rolls over and they try to stop it, or just doesnt pay attention and goes to clear a clump of wet grass from the chute and gets hurt that way. Who is going to be the one to get sued then? Or a young person has a friend helping him and he is paying him as an worker with no workers comp insurance. Then who pays the hospital bills?
I understand the father has a construction company and he should be able to ask him for some great advice, but over the summer do you think you could make enough to cover the costs of these insurances and still make it worth while?
THis society has changed so much in these ways that it is a cover your own butt type of world...sad but thats the way it is now...

[RailroadJoe]

Acutabove - - Your right. In my days it was too bad if you hurt yourself doing odd jobs. Nowadays all people think of is sue. Maybe they should just try Mcd or Burger King.

[tis]

Originally Posted by RailroadJoe

Acutabove - - Your right. In my days it was too bad if you hurt yourself doing odd jobs. Nowadays all people think of is sue. Maybe they should just try Mcd or Burger King.

It is true and it is very sad. It has changed our whole society for the worse. It is always someone else's fault. I think it needs to change back.

[RLW]

Originally Posted by dmjr

I hear you on that! Being a general contractor & property manager, I am subject to the EPA's lead paint rule. I had to take a class to get certified ($200.00 for the class) and register my company (paid $300.00) with the EPA. What happened to the good old days!

Yep, now you have to pass that all onto your customers and you have to include all the plastic, tape, suits, booties vacuum, filters, bags and excellent mask. It just never ends. How does one explain all this extra costs to the customer for per 1977 work areas renovations. Jobs can be lost because of EPA and in MA the state took it over as they saw a good way to make more money.

[winniboy]

Lets take the lawn mowing out of the equation. NO INSURANCE. under the table pay for general island clean up. Through out the summer the people living on the islands are forced to fill up their nice boat with stinky trash bags then drive in to the marina, load up their nice cars or trucks with the dripping trash and drive it in to the dump. round trip for some island dwellers could take 2 hours. Me and my friends were thinking if we took rounds around say Bear Jolly Birch Pine..mostly Meredith Islands and pick up the trash would that be helpful/ what would some of the residents be willing to pay for such a service? pre-scheduled pick up times etc etc..

[fatlazyless]

Trying to find paying work from the islanders is probably a losing battle, insurance or no insurance, because the islanders are a big bunch of do-it-yourselfers whose summer hobby is doing repairs and maintenance like painting, masonry repair, dock repair, water pump repair, landscaping, tree work, etc. Basically, if you are stuck out on an island and the old cottage needs some work, and you are there, then who you gonna call? Islanders just do it all themself and generally can con a brother-in-law or close relation for repair labor while they are visiting and shy away from calling in any outside paid help.

"Hey there brother-in-law, welcome to this beautiful island, and did I mention that I just picked up a brand new paint brush!"

[dmjr]

I would think you would want insurance on the boat you are going to use to haul trash/debris, whos repsonsible if something happens out there? Something to think about.

[fatlazyless]

Originally Posted by dmjr

I would think you would want insurance on the boat you are going to use to haul trash/debris, whos repsonsible if something happens out there? Something to think about.

Using a boat for a business most likely increases the premium for a liability policy because insurers always ask the question: Will this vehicle/boat be used for a business?

Say, to keep your costs down what with gasoline and insurance, maybe you want to go with a sail workboat. Something like what gets used in Viet Nam or Egypt? Believe it is called a sailing scow, has a flat bow and stern, gaff rig, and one very long rowing oar that is mounted on the stern. Been in use for the last thousand years or something! Could be good for business having some type of distinctive and unusual sail scow that could be it's own self-promoting business advertisement. People would say: Hey, look at that, what the heck is that thing?

[Winnisquamguy]

Originally Posted by dmjr

I would think you would want insurance on the boat you are going to use to haul trash/debris, whos repsonsible if something happens out there? Something to think about.

He is talking about business liability insurance, he is just looking to make some pocket money with his little Boston Whaler thats it!!

[ACutAbove]

Originally Posted by winniboy

Lets take the lawn mowing out of the equation. NO INSURANCE. under the table pay for general island clean up. Through out the summer the people living on the islands are forced to fill up their nice boat with stinky trash bags then drive in to the marina, load up their nice cars or trucks with the dripping trash and drive it in to the dump. round trip for some island dwellers could take 2 hours. Me and my friends were thinking if we took rounds around say Bear Jolly Birch Pine..mostly Meredith Islands and pick up the trash would that be helpful/ what would some of the residents be willing to pay for such a service? pre-scheduled pick up times etc etc..

I think with the right marketing at the right time you could get some people that would give it a try. And then if you are on time and do what you say people will spread the word and help you out. Just also check in withteh town dump before you show up with a truckload of trash from different properties espicially if they are outside of the town you are bringing it to.
Good luck and post how you make out....

[nvmbr9]

People need services year after year and all year long. It's incredibly expensive to get locals to help with second homes. The professionals must do extremely well. They take care of 50 to 60 homes and I'd say charges average 350 to 500 a month. Yes...do the math...that's 20000 a month. Forget college...that's more than doctors make. I think you can buy some insurance.

Ps. You don't need any skills. They outsource everything. Need to turn on the water...they call in plumbers. Need to put in mousetraps...they call exterminators Oh. They add a 20 pc surcharge and likely also take a kickback. It's sweet work. And yet you can't even find any but a couple

If u were actually good and honest and reasonable....you could do 100 properties in no time.

[MarkinNH]

Originally Posted by nvmbr9

People need services year after year and all year long. It's incredibly expensive to get locals to help with second homes. The professionals must do extremely well. They take care of 50 to 60 homes and I'd say charges average 350 to 500 a month. Yes...do the math...that's 20000 a month. Forget college...that's more than doctors make. I think you can buy some insurance.

Ps. You don't need any skills. They outsource everything. Need to turn on the water...they call in plumbers. Need to put in mousetraps...they call exterminators Oh. They add a 20 pc surcharge and likely also take a kickback. It's sweet work. And yet you can't even find any but a couple

If u were actually good and honest and reasonable....you could do 100 properties in no time.

What Fantasy world do you live in ?

[jmen24]

Originally Posted by MarkinNH

What Fantasy world do you live ?

One without: Overhead, Payroll Burden, vehicle expenses, schedules, weather constrants and seemingly an overall respect for what it takes to run a business that cashes 20K a month in Revenue.

And Nvmbr9, before you jump down my throat about not knowing what I am talking about. The company I run, dropped your mark of 240K annually LAST Month YTD. The sixth year of my employment and it has been the slowest two years of the companies history. While staying busy for every single day of the year!

People think these industries are making more money than God. I beg you to jump in and try it, the water is rough and will scare you stupid at times.

Its one thing to make (insert whatever crazy number you wish) a month in revenue, but it is entirely different when you HAVE to make that to keep the lights on. Sure we could do without many of the things that cause overhead costs to run high, but it is not a service to our customers that would like to be able to call the person that performed the work in 5 years if an issue comes up.

Honestly, to the OP that was looking to perform some work this summer to make some extra cash. Go about it anyway you want to, but understand one thing. A customer that feels that they have been mistreated will give you more free marketing than you could ever pay for.

If you choose to operate as many fly-by nighters do than you will quickly gain a reputation as such, both in the professional circles and the consumer ones.

Good luck.

[lawn psycho]

Originally Posted by nvmbr9

People need services year after year and all year long. It's incredibly expensive to get locals to help with second homes. The professionals must do extremely well. They take care of 50 to 60 homes and I'd say charges average 350 to 500 a month. Yes...do the math...that's 20000 a month. Forget college...that's more than doctors make. I think you can buy some insurance.

Ps. You don't need any skills. They outsource everything. Need to turn on the water...they call in plumbers. Need to put in mousetraps...they call exterminators Oh. They add a 20 pc surcharge and likely also take a kickback. It's sweet work. And yet you can't even find any but a couple

If u were actually good and honest and reasonable....you could do 100 properties in no time.

If it's that easy, go for it. Your numbers are way off to the point of making me chuckle I am a white collar dude who has thought long and hard about going into property and lawn care. As in having a business plan, start-up costs, already owning a lot of professional equipment, the whole nine yards. I still work for the "man"...... Done right, property care ain't cheap. The equipment needed to do 100+ propertie (just the mowing and trimming) carries a lot of expense. It's not zero cost to get machines and staff to each site so you lose efficiency from the word go. Have you priced a commercial Walker zero-turn or equivalent mower? Sure you can buy a used walk behind z-turn but even then to get something that's not beat to crap you'll need a good $1500 and that's for a 33 inch one. You ain't doing 100 yards/week with that I will assure you.

For more fun, go here: http://www.lawnsite.com/ and check out how "easy" it is

To the OP, doing a couple neighbors lawns is one thing, but when you start branching out your liability risk increases. Don't even think about applying fertilizer, herbicides, etc to any property. Your long-time neighbor may be forgiving to damaging a lawn, hedges, or the inevitable rock into the sliding glass door/siding/screen house/car door from the trimmer or mower but the guy next door who is not paying you may not be so kind.

Business is about charging a fair price and covering your costs plus profit, not taking what a customer will give you. My advise if you want to make money is stick with a few items that you can do quickly and not a lot of start-up costs. Buy a use commercial walk behind zero turn if you really want to make any money doing lawns. You'll also need good trimmers, edgers, backpack blowers, brooms, and a lot of miscellaneous stuff you don't think about. Time = money

Light carpentry, I would stay away from as there are landmines all around. Permits, code, and the whole bit.

If you have access to trucks and trailer then stick with yard clean-ups. Don't underbid yourself. Bottom dwelling is where a lot of people fail in the landscape business.

[ACutAbove]

very well said Jmen24 and lawn psycho,
I do infact run a landscaping buisness here and it is everything you said and more. Just the equiptment,labor and insurance costs are enough to give you an ulcer never mind making any profit after that....it all about survival and doing good work for a fair price and making enough to keep a roof over my familys head and a little food on the table... 20 k a month that would be great...and 100 properties that would be awesome.....send them my way I could always mow a few more......

[Happy Gourmand]

Winniboy,
Don't be discouraged by all the above posts. I commend you for your industriousness.
Personally, I would love to show up at our cottage in Meredith and not have to mow the lawn before we even get settled in. I bet many of our neighbors in our association would feel the same way too. I think if you keep it simple...mowing lawns, general yard cleanup...and maybe a few simple chores, you would be kept busy.
Nothing against all the professional advice from the pros in the business, but I would guess that most of them started out the same way. When I need a pro, I wouldn't hesitate to call any one of them, but I would love to find an ambitious young person who is willing to help out with doing some of the chores I just don't want to have to do up there every week.
Good luck to you, and keep us posted.

[escaped from NJ]

Winniboy,
I sent you a private message.
escaped from NJ