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  Claire Brown April 30, 2011 at 12:02am

  yes.

  With maintainance and design.

   

  Took difficult decision 2 yrs ago, - put up my prices, - lost 3 maintenance clients, picked up designing projects in their place, and have been profitable since then.
• PRO

  Stuart @ Eco Garden Maintenance April 30, 2011 at 7:15am

  I had the same choice to make. I decided to go down the maintenance route but i do landscaping in the less busy months of the year (Nov-Mar). Its usually work i have persuaded regular maintenance clients to leave until that time.
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  David Bloomer April 30, 2011 at 10:14am

  I have the same decision to make

   

  I much prefer the landscaping and find it more rewarding but the maintenance keeps things ticking over,

   

  I currently need may to have 7 weeks in it and june about 6....

   

   
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  Steve Sonic Grounds Maintenance April 30, 2011 at 11:38pm

  I made a decision a year ago to stop landscaping, and concerntrate on my maintenance. At this present time is the best thing i have done so far. It gave me the chance to totally work on building up my client base for maintenance (much of this is commercial)

  I always struggled to fit in landscaping and maintenance jobs. Being a smaller company it is hard to arrange things on a week-week basis. This is why i chose to work on the commercial maintenance side of things first.

  In time, once things are more established i will once again offer landscaping and more domestic maintenance clients.

  But in the mean time i will concerntrate on one part of my business, build it, then start to build another part of my business.

  Regards.
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  Lawncare-4u.co.uk May 1, 2011 at 11:33am

  use some help for the bigger jobs and keep both sides . i do as paul above . if i get asked for fence/ deck / pateo /drive /gravel etc they may need to wait or it can take time as i have many regular maintenance customers to keep happy.  its a tough decision.  i find part-time workers are the answer ;  ie  temporary/ casual labour or experienced family in need of work.

  www.gardens4u.co.uk

   

  robin ainsworth

   
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  John Cooke May 1, 2011 at 1:00pm

  Have you got a horticultural college close?  Maybe you could get a part time student to do the 3 days a week.  That way you could set the standards but get someone who has some knowledge but needs the flexibilty to do the college work.
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  Colin Hunt May 1, 2011 at 2:04pm

  If you pack one or other up, who is to say that in a years time you wont be posting a similar plea of 'too much work, shall I....etc'. 

   

  You probably need to decide if this glut of work is a 'blip' or an upward trend.  Work tends to generate more work(providing you are good and I'm sure you are!), so I wouldnt leave it too long before you get some help in.  Having run a 80% landscaping outfit for many years, we started pulling in maintenance and find it invaluable, so my advice would be to run the two side by side, this really isnt the time to be turning work away.

   

  Not a bad problem to have though is it?!
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  RICHARD BICKLER May 1, 2011 at 2:31pm

  Agree with Colin, we have 6 on landscaping and 2 on maintenance, 1 or 2 days a week the maintenance guys piggy back the landscaping jobs..it's all about juggling things around to suit...well worth it though.

   

  Working 7 days a week is a no no as there must be at least 1 day a week for the guys and girls to rest up, also you can't be making noise whilst people are out enjoying there gardens.

  My guys want to work May day but we have to be considerate to others as we are using diggers and dumpers and lots of noise...
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  Shadow Hall May 2, 2011 at 2:03pm

  I offer both and I am lucky in that my father helps with the landscaping side of things and I design everything we build.

  I have just had two build jobs in a row and this did make the maintenance side difficult making it a very long working week and long hours.

  Now the landscaping has dried up again though and the maintenance side is keeping me going. If the landscaping side picks up again I will seriously have to consider taking on a part time maintenance person but until then I will just have to work all the daylight hours there are as I want to build both sides of the business up.

   

  I am more interested in design and landscaping but maintenance will always be there keeping the money flowing so to important to give up.

   

  You just have to ask yourself can you honestly keep going at this rate, is there someone you could trial as a part timer and if not then something has to give.

   

  Good luck with your descision.
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  Paving & Landscaping May 2, 2011 at 2:08pm

  I am employing a part timer for the maintenance and getting myself a new van, i hope it works out.