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they are obviously contacting you because the quality of your work is good.. The issue with sub contracting/outsourcing it to someone else miles away is quality control. if you can keep on top of that and not charge more than you already are then i don't see why it wouldn't work to a certain degree.. The only other way would be the franchise route..which could end up doing your reputation more harm than good if done in the wrong way.
Unfortunately it won't work........ the subcontractor, if he's got a bit of intelligence, will rapidly realize that he can make more money working for himself and will nick all your customers.
surely the same applies then for all subcontractors in all industries and makes the whole definition of sub contracting redundant. if this was the case nothing would ever be done in any industry as things stand.
I had been a sub contractor for 10 plus years and yes i could have quite easily taken it all for myself. I wasn't in the position to take on my own work until a year or two ago. so having the comfort of being my own boss and others passing work on was perfect.
Its down to the subcontractor you choose and if you can establish a trust worthy working relationship with them. The same applies if you employ people directly.. there is nothing stopping them taking on private work gained from working under your name apart from honesty.
It's not quite the same though. In this case the work is of a personal nature, clients will often spend time speaking with the person doing the work. It is of a low value, and there is a chance you won't EVER do a site visit to see the garden or meet the client. You are therefore a faceless corporation. The sub contractor is a local business, he will meet the client time and time again, and the client has every right to ask them to provide their own quote. Grass cutting isn't the type of work you can contract a client in to with penalties for get-out... they can cancel your service at any time and use the local guy.
And, in my opinion, rightly so. I find the concept you are suggesting a bit immoral. Gaining work from local companies simply by having a more highly ranked website. There is a company based in Scotland doing something similar. They are not gardeners; they are a marketing company. They advertise grass cutting all over the country, and then contact local businesses to try and get people to do the work. I cannot imagine what the client experience must be like, especially when it comes to asking technical questions. I don't know if they are still operating, but I imagine if they are it won't be for long as ANY client with sense would see who the genuine business is and cut out the needless middleman.
That is why i brought up the whole quality control issue in my first post. and as for the second i was merely defending sub contractors from all being tarnished with the same dishonest brush. Don't get me wrong there is always going to be dishonest companies and subby's out there.. however were not all stupid for being honest and honouring the initial contract regardless of if you earn a few less quid per lawn!
If you have got the marketing, knowledge and know how to do mowing and expand due to demand why not look into setting up a franchise starting with a pilot scheme work from close to your area and slowly spread out nation wide.
If someone from Australia can do it over here I am sure you can
When you say hits on your website do you mean actual enquiries ?. Our website gets hits from all over the world, but its web spyders. I cant honestly see how you could make a business of this idea doing domestic lawn cutting on a national basis, commercially yes but on £20 domestics, cant see it working never mind being viable.
Very few landscapers or garden maintenance contractors 'make it big'. If you are good(and competitive) the work should increase year on year. Now, this is when you find out if you are a businessman or a 'jobber'. Do you stay as a one man band, two, three.......four or more? Scary stuff!
We exploded in the early 80's and I thought we were of to a good thing. Then I caught one subbie handing out his cards on my job! That was enough for me, decided there and then to slow it down and only take on employees when I could really could afford them. 30 years later, never did 'make it big', but we have a sustainable business employing 4 full time staff - it's been(and still is!) a great career!
Couldn't have put it better............. the old lady who pays £20 a fortnight will much prefer to pay directly the "nice" gardener whom she can chat to over a cuppa rather than posting off a monthly cheque to the "faceless corporation" that Dan mentions. Personally, others will disagree I'm sure, I feel that subcontracting a complete job.... fair enough if its a part of a job you can't handle......is extremely unfair to the person doing the work as he should receive all the money for it.
Dan Frazer Gardening said:
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