Upsides and downsides of hiring a summer helper?
I am thinking about hiring someone to help me in the busy season and the idea of a high school kid as a summer job sounds like a promising idea. I wouldn't have to pay them a crazy salary, they are like sponges with information and they are typically more physically full of energy. I wouldn't be able to send them on their own, but they could help me get a few more jobs done in a day. I am wondering if anyone has tried this and what would be the pros and cons of doing it?New, Used, or Lease? And WHEN?
As a small business owner it has been nothing short of challenging to build a business from nothing. I came from nothing and have built this thing from the ground up. I didn't have a lot of money. When I first started I couldn't afford company vehicles. I eventually bought used vehicles in the $20K-$30K range and financed them and that was fine until I unexpectedly slowed down and had to sell off my trucks just to survive. Once I rebuilt from the slow down I decided to buy used vans around $9K to $10K cash. Right now I have 6 vehicles. One of those vehicles needs major work done. And the others are all 100K miles or more and I feel like they are just ticking time bombs. I want the reliability of newer, or leased vehicles but the risk intimidates me after my struggles in 2022. Is there a formula for when you should go from paying cash for used, to financing newer/new, and to finally leasing? Is there a revenue metric, a number of vehicles in your fleet, or some other sign that going one route over the other is more advantageous or less risky? Thanks for taking the time to read this and share feedback!
Starting a New Hardscape Division While Busy with Landscape Maintenance Team
How do you actually start a new division of your business while still managing day-to-day operations? Between quoting, scheduling, and running jobs, it’s hard to carve out time to build something new. Curious how others have handled this without things falling through the cracks. What worked for you? Context: our "bread and butter" as a landscaping company has been in residential maintenance (lawn cutting, care, property clean-ups, trimming, garden care, softscape / small hardscape installs, etc.). My business partner and I are near max capacity with taking on more residential maintenance clients and would like to get into higher earning, longer term, larger projects on the install / design side of landscaping.Delegation & Hiring for a Maintenance-Heavy Landscaping Company Trying to Scale
I’ve been looking into accountability charts and delegation after listening to the Jobber podcast where they talked about this, but I’m not sure where to begin. Right now I’m still heavily involved in day-to-day residential maintenance landscaping operations—quoting, scheduling, managing crews, and even some marketing—which makes it hard to step back and focus on growing into larger/higher earning project work beyond maintenance. For those who’ve gone through this at a similar stage, what responsibilities did you delegate first—and to whom? Also, what was your first key hire that really helped free up your time to focus on growth? Any practical guidance would be great.Transitioning from Landscape Maintenance to Higher Earning / Project Work
For those who started in maintenance, how did you transition into larger projects like hardscaping and design? Did you train your existing crew or build a separate team? I’m trying to figure out the best path forward without disrupting our current operations. Any advice from those who’ve made that shift would be really helpful.Roll Call! Meet & introduce yourself to other Construction and Home Improvement pros
If you’ve ever thought, “How are other businesses like mine handling this?” you’re in the right place! This space is for Construction and Home Improvement pros to connect, compare notes, and talk shop with others who understand the day-to-day realities of running your type of business. 👋 Introduce Yourself Drop a comment and tell us: Your name Business name Industry Years in business Location (City/State/Province) Let us know if you’re joining us for LIVE networking on March 17 (more details below) The more context you share, the better connections you’ll make. 🙌 Pro tip: Search your city or state in the forum to easily find other pros in your area. 📅 Want to connect LIVE? We’re running a pilot to host virtual weekly LIVE Industry Networking starting on March 17, running until April 7. If you’d be interested in joining for the first or following sessions (don’t need to commit to all but you're welcome to join!), make sure to let us know in the comments. 🤝 Culture of this space Think of this forum board like a room full of peers who understand your world. Share what’s working. Ask real questions. Talk through challenges. The goal is to power your success and raise the standard of home service industries together. 💬 Looking for conversation starters? This space works best when conversations are industry-specific and experience-based. You might jump in with something like: “How are other [industry] pros pricing this service right now?” “Is anyone else seeing this shift in their market?” “What’s been working for you when it comes to ____?" 🤔 Why are industries grouped together? We’ve intentionally clustered similar industries to keep conversations active and relevant. These groupings reflect shared business models, operational challenges, and pricing conversations so you can learn from peers who “get it,” even if they’re not in your exact trade. If your question applies to all home service businesses, feel free to post in our broader forum boards. Pro tip: Check out the industry tags to get even more specific Looking forward to seeing this space come to life. 🚀Industry virtual networking starting March 17
Update: We’re bringing all industries together into one shared session for now so there are more perspectives and stronger conversations. We’re trying something new in the community! Starting March 17, we’re hosting a weekly 30-minute networking session for home service pros across all industries. Join one session or all four—no commitment. These will run once a week until April 7 while we pilot the idea. 👉 Link to join: https://meet.google.com/vmf-xjiw-iad 👈 The goal is simple: bring a challenge and get ideas from other pros. Format: • Quick intros • Everyone shares one challenge • Group feedback and ideas • Quick wrap-up 🕒 Tuesdays at 11:30 AM ET ⏱️ 30 minutes Interested? Comment below then we'll invite you and send you a reminder email with the link!
