Established Two Businesses, IT & Pokémon, Pivot to horticulture?
Hi everyone, I’m looking for guidance from people who have successfully started and grown lawn care, gardening, or outdoor service businesses. I already operate two businesses, one focused on IT and AI consultation for local small and scaling businesses, and another in the trading card and collectibles space. Even with those ventures, one of the things that brings me the most peace in life is working with plants and the outdoors. Gardening has always been one of my most relaxing and rewarding hobbies. I genuinely love cloning, grafting, rooting plants, learning how different species grow, and seeing something thrive because of patience and care. I would love to build a manageable outdoor, exterior, lawn care, or gardening service that I can grow responsibly over time. I am also very interested in training to become a Master Gardener so I can better serve my community with real knowledge and long term value, not just basic maintenance. For those of you who have built businesses in this space, what would you recommend for someone starting out? What services are the smartest to begin with? What equipment is essential versus unnecessary at first? How did you price your work, find your first customers, and keep the business manageable as you grew? I am especially interested in building something sustainable, community focused, and well run from the beginning. Any advice, lessons learned, mistakes to avoid, or encouragement would mean a lot. Thank you in advance. Tldr: have so much inherited and basic equipment as hobbiest, I should mention my entire childhood consisted of 6 am wake ups on weekends and during summer to do yard work and or mulch acres on acres for my dad/grandparents. Definitely instilled the work ethic in me... as well as freckles from sun poisoned shoulders time over haha! Respectfully sent, Joshua D. Ostrowski Tomi LLC DBA Tomi Vincent Trading Co.What’s one thing you changed in your business that actually moved the needle?
I’ve been really focused on tightening up my systems this year—everything from estimating to scheduling—and I’m starting to see how much the small stuff adds up. Curious what’s worked for you guys. Was it pricing? Hiring better people? Systems? Marketing? Looking for real answers, not the generic stuff.Pricing Advice & Client Management Tips for New Landscaper
Hi everyone, I’m fairly new to landscaping and trying to get a better handle on pricing my work and managing clients. Right now, I mostly check local prices and try to go a bit cheaper, but I’m still confused about charging per hour versus per job. For example, sometimes a job might be tougher but I get it done faster because of experience or efficiency. If I charge hourly, I worry I might be punishing myself by charging less for harder work done quickly. So I usually price per job and just guesstimate a fair rate. I’d love advice on how you set prices fairly and consistently. Also, what tools or software do you use to manage your clients and jobs? Are there any good free or low-cost options for someone just starting out? Any tips regarding profit, couting in gas, time, etc I'd love to hear thanks so much! I’m based in Lima, OH, if that matters for local pricing tips. Thanks so much in advance!
Question
Hello everyone, I need some advice regarding a concern of mine. What to do if a customers asks to pay 2 months late but still wants services completed bi-weekly each month? Yard is 2 acres or so. I just want to make sure I am going about this the right way before responding. What would be a good way to respond as well? Thank you in advance.
Additional Services-what to charge
Good morning, I am a new business, about two years old. I have mostly stuck with my basic services of Lawn Mowing, edging, trimming and blowing everything clean. However, i recently rebranded and updated a list of new service. Mulch jobs and flower bed weed clean out, so Weed and bed Maintenance. My question, how do you all quote mulch jobs or weed clean out like this? I have searched only and see so many different ways, figured i would ask here. Just looking for tips and tricks.
