I agree with the trailer... just no room for it and storing it cost to much...

I wasn't trying to say you didn't know what you are doing. All of the money is in bigger jobs. Jobs you can't do without the right equipment.

So you put a tarp in the truck bed and fill it with clippings. Where does the mower go? How many trips does it take?

This post was edited by FMX_89 on May 24 2014 11:01pm

I a several guys in my area that just do residential an they're making 35 a lawn (a lawn that takes about 15 minutes) so if you get 4 in a area from referrals 140 for the hour... commercial is great... but your forgetting about the overhead. ... way more in insurance, trucks, trailers, LABOR ext.... say they make 250k a year and have to spend 175k in over head... While I do 125k and have 50k... we both are making 50k, one just has more moving parts...

So you are running this business completely under the table?

Just sub it out to an illegal mexican for $6/hr.


We would do a church that took 6hrs with 2 people every saturday. They payed $450/cut. 1 location, no driving/loading which makes no money, overhead was 22/hr plus fuel.

Unless you can hit 7-8 yards in a neighborhood at 1 time its hard to make any real money. We made as much off 2 businesses in 4 hrs as we did an entire day of residential.

I think your question was answered on the last page though.

Don't forget the load and unload time. Sure the yard may only take 15 minutes to mow, but it takes another 15-20 to load/unload/refuel etc...

Unless the houses are all on the same street, and if they have small yards, you'll be doing a whole lot more setup and tear down than you will mowing.

most of the time you get several clients through referrals ( so you can get 2-10 within .25 miles)

also it takes like 30 secs to load/unload... not sure why you guys are stressing about that

the longest of the tasks for preping is restringing ( since i grab about 40+ feet) and that takes 2-5 minutes tops

So what's your plan for the winter?

It would be a legitimate business... In my state we don't have a income tax so it would just be paying based on federal tax standards

i live in a area where you get neighborhoods of 100-400+ houses worth 250k+ and smaller neighborhoods for 10-50 of 1 million+

and 6 hours? how big is it 4-6 acres?

plan for the winter would be to flip the house i live in...

Buy it.... live in it/fix it...sell it after 2 years tax free

currently bought a 1750sqft 2 family 4 beds/3 bath for 80k (will sell for around 200k-225k+)

With the softball field it is about 6 acres. We had a 60" cut diesel Kubota Z turn. 1 guy could trim/edge/blow in about the same time as the other guy could mow.

My question about the business was you say you don't want to do any commercial because of higher overhead but that is where the real money is at. What is stopping you from doing a commercial job? You need the same business license, tax id, and insurance that you are SUPPOSED to have for residential. The only difference is the equipment... Which is why I was trying to talk you into a trailer. Throw a couple grand down on a decent used ZTR and with what you already have you could do pretty much anything.