cutntrim
PlowSite.com - Veteran
- Location
- Burlington,Ontario
If you don't already know, you can probably surmise from my username that we are a lawn care company first and foremost. However, we love plowing and want to get bigger in that area. Not every business in town has a lawn but they all have parking areas. Some of those with lawns may cut the grass themselves, but aside from gas stations and garages, most businesses don't or can't do their own plowing. There is a big market out there and we'd love to expand. This season we've got about 20 commercial properties and 10 driveways for three trucks. With all three trucks running we're done our route in about 8 hours. <p>Anyhow, I'd like to hear from those guys who are plowing alot of properties and for whom plowing represents a large percentage of their gross annual profit. When you decided to take the big step-up where did you start? Equipment first, properties second? Other way around? Loan or lease equipment? New or used? Retail businesses or industrial plazas? Municipal sites/schools, or home owner associations? Did you go door to door in the summertime or did you blitz your local media with print advertising? <p>In 10 years I've learned a great deal about running a lawn care business and running a business in general. But by no means am I under the illusion that I know it all. Reading and posting on this forum (and to a lesser extent the commercial lawn forum) has been a refreshing course in the meat and potatoes of operating a successful service business in a cutthroat business environment. <p>Thanks in advance for any and all advise and comments.<p>----------<br>Dave in S.Ontario<br>