Open Association of Landscape Industries
Sales growth for new business
I'm planning on setting up a new garden maintenance business in the New Year. Having found lots of advice on here I will be using cards in newsagents, a signed van and flyer drops to neighbourhoods with suitable properties.
To help me with financial forecasting I am wondering at what month I can hope to be getting 35+ hours each week.
Obviously a lot depends on pricing and word spreading about the standard of my work but assuming I research the local market and set my hourly rate appropriately and carry out professional work.
I am thinking May will be when I have a full order book and setting February, March and April at 40, 60 and 80% respectively, for cash flow forecasting.
All advice appreciated,
thanks
Justin Hemming
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Greenlawns on -
Yes Justin , Paul is right, a bit optimistic, even with heavy advertising, I dont beleive you will have a full diary,
sorry to be brutal but i specialise in maintenance and you will be lucky to have it full in one season, theirs just too many people out of work trying to make a living, new gardeners cropping up everywhere, most of them disappear come the first winter though.
Might be better if you do a bit of landscaping if your capable, while you build it up, thats what i did.
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Permalink Reply by Greenlawns on
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Yes Dan, made me laugh when i read it back, but I did say, ''if your capable,'' which I was more than capable of. so maybe he is too, suppose depends on what background he has.
Turfing ,flagging , fencing, ponds, water features, etc.
Dan @ ad landscapes said:lol a bit of landscaping to fill in the time, i might try a bit of plumbing, sorry that did make me smile.
Greenlawns said:Yes Justin , Paul is right, a bit optimistic, even with heavy advertising, I dont beleive you will have a full diary,
sorry to be brutal but i specialise in maintenance and you will be lucky to have it full in one season, theirs just too many people out of work trying to make a living, new gardeners cropping up everywhere, most of them disappear come the first winter though.
Might be better if you do a bit of landscaping if your capable, while you build it up, thats what i did.
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Permalink Reply by Greenlawns on
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Justin , What is your background.
Greenlawns said:Yes Dan, made me laugh when i read it back, but I did say, ''if your capable,'' which I was more than capable of. so maybe he is too, suppose depends on what background he has.
Turfing ,flagging , fencing, ponds, water features, etc.
Dan @ ad landscapes said:lol a bit of landscaping to fill in the time, i might try a bit of plumbing, sorry that did make me smile.
Greenlawns said:Yes Justin , Paul is right, a bit optimistic, even with heavy advertising, I dont beleive you will have a full diary,
sorry to be brutal but i specialise in maintenance and you will be lucky to have it full in one season, theirs just too many people out of work trying to make a living, new gardeners cropping up everywhere, most of them disappear come the first winter though.
Might be better if you do a bit of landscaping if your capable, while you build it up, thats what i did.
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Gardens4u.co.uk on -
june for 35hrs + , and ive been at it for 8 yrs. 6yrs in one market town ,with broad scope of work and contacts up to 20miles away (and london)........
if your lucky and will do ANYTHING ..... MAYBE U WILL GET the same
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Permalink Reply by Justin Hemming on -
Hi
My background is as a tree surgeon, 5yrs. I have a NC in horticulture so understand horticulture principles, just lacking wide plant knowledge. To deal with this I'm studying an RHS level 2 certificate in garden planning establishment and maintenance and am reading lots of books!
cheers
Justin
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Rowly Hill on -
Good for you Justin and good luck.
I agree with Paul and ( not wanting to knock back your optimism...that's good) I think you ought to temper your expectations a little.
Don't forget that positive reaction to your advertising will probably have delayed results if you start it in the New Year. By that I mean that the majority of people will probably actively want to source a service such as yours when spring comes and when things start to move in their gardens.
It's not easy to predict uptake but you have to make your best guess ( because that's what it is) and be realistic.
I remember my first business plan and I worked on what I thought were realistic figures ( probably pessimistic ones) and the end of year fugures surpassed my expectations. That felt and looked good. Hope you have the same results and feeling.
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Permalink Reply by Greenlawns on
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Yes, Justin I too wish you all the best in your new venture,
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Permalink Reply by Matt Brown on -
i must have been quite lucky as within 6 months i was doing between 8 and 10 hour days 6 days a week. it does seem to be more competitive at the moment, a relative of a friend of mine lost his office job and decided he would become a gardener, he had a mower and thought thats all he needed. he had no experience whatsoever. when he comes across something he doesnt know he phones his wife to ask her. he charges something like £20 an hour or £30 to cut a postage stamp sized lawn and he gets tips!
it seems thats what we are up against.
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Permalink Reply by Fenlandphil on -
If you are doing a leaflet drop why not add an offer on the leaflet this may encourage people to retain your leaflet to use when the season starts.
You could consider talking to a local garden centre to offer a free plant voucher for use at their garden centre, the garden centre may give you a discount off the face value of the voucher.
So you could pitch an offer something on the lines of, "Free £5 voucher for Blogs garden centre when you use our services for the first time (minimum spend of £25 required)."
Most importantly the very best of luck.
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Permalink Reply by Andy Lawrence on -
Hi Justin,
I wish you well. Sounds like you are v keen and genuine.
However, I have to say your figures sound a little optomistic. Certainly for where I am in Glasgow we had deep frost until middle of March this year. V little could be done in Feb for the same reason and only really a week and a half in March was workable due to weather.
Personally I started my business part time and if I'm honest I would have gone bust if I had gone full time straight away. Don't want to put a downer on your plans but I don't want to give you unrealistic expectations either.
All the best
Andy
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Permalink Reply by Matthew Amos on -
Good luck Justin. The gardening busness is tougher than ever with the recession with everone getting made redundant taking up gardening. Im quite lucky being in the game for many years i seem to sail through the winter. This is only because off my planning in advance, earning the money in the spring and summer. All the companys i cut lawns for pay for there work over 12 months on strict contracts and direct debt payments, so the work i do over 8 months of the grass cutting season gets spread over 12. With a bit of searching on the net get contracts set up to spread your costs to bring an income in over the dormant months.
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by David Cox on -
Justin, I started early this year - and carried out much the same as you plan, with the exclusion of sign-writing (for various reasons). I think you are being about 2x optimistic, and as the new guy, from my experience (may be different in your area), alot of time wasters, and difficult customers will contact you, there are certainly many who jump to each new start up to try and get a bargain.
If you want more details on my workload (im doing a "biopsy" on my work this past year, not an autopsy!) and how I got there PM me.
For the record - at the end of Sept, I was working on a fortnightly visit basis, with week 1, 25 hours, and week 2 20 hours. These are rough hourly figures, as my jobs are on Fixed price - so each week could vary by 0-10, depending on how I have planed the work thru the season.
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