Founded in 2008. The Landscape Juice Network (LJN) is the largest and fastest growing professional landscaping and horticultural association in the United Kingdom.
LJN's professional business forum is unrivalled and open to anyone within within the UK landscape industry
LJN's Business Objectives Group (BOG) is for any Pro serious about building their business.
For the researching visitor there's a wealth of landscaping ideas, garden design ideas, lawn advice tips and advice about garden maintenance.
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The best way to get new work is by referrals from existing customers - nothing is more valuable than a good recommendation from someone! How have you gone about finding work so far?
A really good book for starting off is 'how to run a gardening business' by Paul Power - it's been very valuable to me....
....and the threads, knowledge and expertise of some of the experienced guys on here is worth it's weight in gold
Have to say John, if you have gone from zero to 50 regular customers in 2 years, there's not much we could teach you! However it really depends on the quality of the customer and could they become your 'contracts'? 90% of our private customers are on an annual contract, paid monthly, which includes all garden work, grass cutting/treatment, shrub/hedge trimming, sweeping/tidying keeping paving weed-free and of course garden waste removal.
An ad in local parish magazines magazines are very cheap and useful.
When you drive past other gardening firms working on a site stop get out, say hello, ask how its going, ask if they are busy and tell them you are called John and are looking for extra work. Ive done this loads of times also tree surgeons and landscapers. Swap cards and pass unwanted work their way. I have at least 4 local firms that pass work on to me when they are too busy or uninterested. I do the same for them.
You might also meet some nice people.
Hi John,
Don't be put off contract pricing. You might not want to sell it to existing clients, but always go in with it for new ones. So long as you explain it simply most will go for it: it's cheaper for them (if you price it right), and better for you as you have a regular income (so you can afford to price it cheaper).
One thing to consider is capitalising on being under the VAT threshold if you plan to keep the business to a certain size. You are immediately 20% cheaper than larger operations when working for clients who aren't VAT-registered, and that includes some commercial work. A small niche, but it's worked for me.
Hi John,
Sorry, getting confused between "contract" and "commercial".
If you're looking to get in to commercial the first thing is to ensure you have all the legal stuff in place. I'd say the minimum would be public liability insurance, a waste transfer license and spraying certificate. You will need to have a proper terms of business, and be able to communicate well with businesses: it's a completely different world from domestic clients!
I've said before that I think you need to find the right person to talk to, not just randomly contact companies. These days it's not hard to find the lettings manager, building maintenance manager, site manager or whoever, and you are only going to get anywhere if your introductory letter or email goes to the right person.
Local authorities are a massive step up, and someone like Gary could give you an idea as to what hoops they would expect you to jump through.
We have contract (fixed) pricing for a majority of our domestic clients. Works well for all involved.
Paul McNulty said:
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