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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Mick Gammage on May 25, 2012 at 19:36

welcome to landscape juice Mark and sorry to hear about what happened last year

I am thinking of starting a garden maintenance company as a lot of the members on the forum make it sound so easy just cutting grass all day and wondered if you could advice on what the best lawn mower would be to buy

I was thinking of the new turbo battery powered lawn mower from B & Q with the hardened plastic blades as the one I have at the moment only has a 10 metre flex and it can be difficult if I am on bigger jobs

do you think fly tipping is the way forward to save money as so many people have jumped on the band wagon and are doing the same theses days

what do you think ?

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Permalink Reply by Mark Glew on May 25, 2012 at 20:13

Hi Mick, thanks for the welcome.
I think you're sorted for ideas with the new company. I think rather than flytipping it would be preferred to bag all of your customers waste into bin liners and leave it for them to get rid of. Afterall its their rubish!

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Gary RK on May 25, 2012 at 20:15

Hi Mark, welcome.

Appreciate your willingness to share what happened to your business.

Certainly would like hear more and gain from your experiences. You might have some valuable insights that would benefit all landscaping business types.

Was it your business or a franchise ?

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Mick Gammage on May 25, 2012 at 20:21

Do you think the Scottish have benefited from having better quality lawns seeing as they stole our turf from Wembley in 1974 and should we rebuild the wall to stop them doing it again ?

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Permalink Reply by Mark Glew on May 25, 2012 at 20:38

Hi Gary
I set the company up. 13 years ago I started a landscaping business as we took on maintenance and completed landscaping work people asked us to treat and cut their lawns. I didn't want to employ anymore people so decided to close it and concentrate on lawns. The company grew year on year customer wise with profit until 2011 when 2 of us shot up to 6. Rapid growth and later poor cashflow became the nail in the coffin.

Mick, I would hate to get political.

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Permalink Reply by 2p6qs98d2phid on May 25, 2012 at 20:40

Keep making that joke  Mick and someone will laugh one day :-)

Mick Gammage said:

welcome to landscape juice Mark and sorry to hear about what happened last year

I am thinking of starting a garden maintenance company as a lot of the members on the forum make it sound so easy just cutting grass all day and wondered if you could advice on what the best lawn mower would be to buy

I was thinking of the new turbo battery powered lawn mower from B & Q with the hardened plastic blades as the one I have at the moment only has a 10 metre flex and it can be difficult if I am on bigger jobs

do you think fly tipping is the way forward to save money as so many people have jumped on the band wagon and are doing the same theses days

what do you think ?

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Brian www.mibservices.co.uk on May 25, 2012 at 20:42

Lmao Mick, would take more than a new Haidrians wall to stop the jocks. We've already put a curse on the new wembley, i got my cousins who helped build it, to bury Scotland tops under your hallowed wembley turf. :-))

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Gary RK on May 25, 2012 at 20:47

Hi Mark,

Cashflow is always a problem. I assume this was mainly residential work then ?

There is a tendancy for productivity to fall off when you employ lots of people as they don't always have the same work ethics as the owner but still want paying a good rate (ie effectively for less work).

Were amy of your issues based around late payers ?

Mark Glew said:

Hi Gary
I set the company up. 13 years ago I started a landscaping business as we took on maintenance and completed landscaping work people asked us to treat and cut their lawns. I didn't want to employ anymore people so decided to close it and concentrate on lawns. The company grew year on year customer wise with profit until 2011 when 2 of us shot up to 6. Rapid growth and later poor cashflow became the nail in the coffin.

Mick, I would hate to get political.

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Pip Howard on May 25, 2012 at 20:49

Just as well Tim doesn't think as much of us from North of the Border as he does for the rogue elements in the travelling community  ; )  I knew a timber man from near Lochgilphead who had a patch of the 74 turf - after all in the absence of a litter tray where else could his cat go!

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Stuart @ Eco Garden Maintenance on May 25, 2012 at 20:50

Welcome Mark. Sorry to hear of the liquidation of Just Lawns Ltd. Maybe you will have more success with your three other limited companies - Darcey's garden products ltd, The grounds maintenance company ltd and axholme wood recycling ltd. You must be a very busy chap. I hope you enjoy LJN

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Permalink Reply by Mark Glew on May 25, 2012 at 21:04

It was mainly residential about 10% of commercial. You're right about productivity with employees. Late payers became a massive problem. We were owed about £20k around July last year. Lack of control is a serious failiure on my part, how long can you spend chasing bad debtors and not being out working. Its a difficult situation that will never happen again. Now we are building extremely solid foundations and managing growth with focus completely on profit and customer satisfaction.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Glew on May 25, 2012 at 21:13

Hi Stuart. Good to see you've done your homework :)
Busy year round. My wife and I working together, her in the office and me outside never been happier.

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