The Grass Doctor

I want to start a lawn care business with some friends, what do i need to know?

Hi im 16 and i live in Connecticut. Me and two friends are loooking for a way to make some cash during the summer and probably the fall as well. we were planning on doing basic residential lawn care like mowing, weed whacking, fertilizing, multching, weeding, and raking. We already have mwers and rakes, shovels, weed whackers and stuff like that and one of my friends has a truck. What do we need to know before we start this and do you have any tips or suggestions? How much do you recomend we charge and how?

Public Comments

1. Firstly you need to know how all your tools work and what they are capable of doing. This saves time and mistakes. Secondly, ring around other local lawn and garden care services and ask for quotes. Base your prices on those quotes so that you are in a competitive market and not under or over charging customers you'd like to have you come back. Consider discounts for long term regular customers ... something like, 'Use our services six times and the seventh service is free', etc. Learn all you can about the different sorts of lawns and grasses that people have. Learn to spot the ugly weeds that grow in lawns and learn how to ' weed and feed' affected lawns. I wish you and your mates the best of luck, it sounds like you have a good plan, but it should be a long term plan that carries you through for years as most people get to know their gardeners and really appreciate being loyal to good service providers.
2. sounds like a great idea i did the same thing with cleaning houses and could not keep up with customers,make colorful fliers put them in your area,call around to see what others are charging,and just make sure you do a good job, if you do people will tell their friends,and that is how you make contacts!!!once you start getting customers get a planner to keep up with day to day,start early,cause it gets hotter as day goes on,definatley is a good business to get into,tell them to keep you in mind in winter months for shoveling and plowing...spring clean up,good luck!!!!
3. Well i did this also with a couple of my friends too. We charged 15 bucks a lawn. If it was a small lawn then we'd charge 12-15. We had to split the cost though. For fertilizing i would charge 15 bucks. But weeding and raking would be 20 or 25. The total for all of your services should be hmmm...50? i should be all good.
4. start with a set of rules for your selves. all work at the same time. be polite figure out how long it will take to do a certain type of job and charge accordingly based on an hourly rate. and don't forget insurance.