Restarting a 25-Year Landscape Business in a New City — Best Marketing Strategies Today?
Hello everyone, I have owned and operated a landscape and irrigation company for about 25 years. I originally started the business with my brother, who is a landscape architect. We launched the company in a smaller town in Idaho in the late 1990s and it grew quickly thanks to strong word-of-mouth and my brother’s design expertise. About five years ago I moved to Draper, Utah for another job. Recently I decided to restart the landscape and irrigation company here in my new location. Because our company in Idaho grew with very little advertising, I now find myself a bit behind when it comes to modern marketing and advertising strategies. One area I recognize as a weakness in my business experience is staying current with the newest and most effective ways to advertise and market a service company. While I have many years of hands-on experience in landscaping and irrigation, I am essentially starting fresh in a new market and looking for the best ways to build a strong customer base. My background is also in technology. I have a bachelor’s degree in computer software engineering and specialize in website design and e-commerce development. I am currently building a website for the company and have already listed the business on Google Maps. For those who have grown service businesses in larger metro areas, what marketing strategies have worked best for building a customer base and attracting new clients today? I would really appreciate any advice or insight from others in the industry. Thank you in advance for your suggestions.Industry virtual networking starting March 17
We’re trying something new in the community! Starting March 17, we’re hosting a weekly 30-minute networking session for lawn care, landscaping, pressure washing, and other exterior service businesses. Join one session or all four—no commitment. These will run once a week until April 7 while we pilot the idea. The goal is simple: Connect with other pros and help each other work through real business challenges. Format: • Quick intros • Everyone shares one challenge • Group feedback and ideas • Quick wrap-up 🕒 Tuesdays at 10:00 AM ET ⏱️ 30 minutes ***👉 Link to join: https://getjobber.zoom.us/j/84430607237?pwd=NZQ5Nl1FxN3hO9b4XVEIn1ToHJrAV7.1 👈*** Interested? Comment below and we'll send you a reminder email with the link!Roll call! Meet & introduce yourself to other Green & Exterior Service pros
If you’ve ever thought, “How are other businesses like mine handling this?” you’re in the right place! This space is for Green & Exterior Service 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. 🚀What Should Home Service Businesses Automate First to Save Time?
Small manual tasks start stacking up, catching up on follow-ups, re-adjusting scheduling, invoicing, review requests, the list goes on and on. Sound familiar? What’s one task you’re still doing manually that you know could be automated? What’s stopping you from setting it up?How Much Should You Really Be Charging?
The number one question I receive is tied directly to the fact, most contractors are still guessing when it comes to pricing. Overhead. Profit. Labor rate. Trip fees. They think just because they throw a number they hear their competitors use, thats all that they need. It may work, but how and what do you divide these funds is just as important for your business health. If you don’t know how to do the math, you’re not building a business. You’re surviving check to check and think you need more work, when you do not. So here’s the plan: This Tuesday & Thursday on IG, I’m walking you through our Contractor Price Builder Worksheet FREE on instagram live. We will cover: - How to calculate your real hourly rate - The difference between markup and margin - Why profit is a non-negotiable - And how to price with confidence Join the session. Bring your numbers.
Financial Dashboarding
Hello! Thought I would share a useful tool our landscaping irrigation company started using recently. I am one of the co-owners of our business and handle all the accounting. Being in the industry for a while, I have found that many small companies struggle making financially-informed business decisions. I think the cause is that business owners may feel lost when looking at their books/margins/KPIs. I recently stumbled upon a tool called Reach Reporting which does financial dashboarding. You can connect it to Quickbooks or other major accounting softwares. It pulls all relevant financial data from your books and then gives you the ability to create your own financial dashboard or even has templates already made. It has been incredibly helpful for us to see our financials beyond a Balance Sheet and P&L. It slices, dices, graphs, and plots anything you want it to. This has helped other owners or managers in our company who do not have a financial background to understand our financials more clearly than ever before. This is just one of many examples. Hope you find it useful!How do home service businesses fill their calendar before busy season?
When work slows down, most service businesses feel it fast: stress, cash flow pressure, and last-minute scrambling. Sound familiar? What’s the one thing you rely on most before busy season to keep your calendar full? New leads Repeat customers Referrals Deposits or upfront payments Booking weeks in advance Something else? (do tell!) Bonus: What used to stress you out about slow periods that doesn’t anymore?
