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  Philip Blair December 23, 2011 at 5:18pm

  hi. This has only been my second year in business full time but it has been a busy one. I have my pricing about right, all the equipment that i now need and some good customers. The biggest down side this year has been the poor weather here in northern ireland. I had customers with lawns flooded in october and trying to get grass cut what with wet grass and lawns that were too wet to walk on let alone mow was a pain. A lot of them havnt been mown now since the middle of october so the spring may be a challenge. Hopefully the weather will be better in 2012! Merry Christmas and a Happy and prosperous new year to everyone. Phil.
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  phil smith yewtreelandscapes.com December 23, 2011 at 8:13pm

  i must say that this has been the best year that i have had in the past 12 years of working for myself, and people say there is no money about, i hope next year is the same, its looking good so far with work untill mid feb, i hope its the same for everyone, and i wish everyone all the best for next year 
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  andy @Doughty Garden Maintenance December 23, 2011 at 10:25pm

  A very good year for my business with a new large contract starting from existing clients on a new build complex which will be continuing next year along with another contract from them on another new build which is almost finished.
  
  Other jobs have run smoother this year where as 2010 got me very stressed. I'd like to be even more organized next year!
  
  Next year I'd like to have a new van, another chainsaw, a better chipper and a bigger trailer.
  
  I have loved being part of LJN this year, made friends with some great people and feel like part of a community,
  
  As you may have heard I'll be a married man this time next year and I'm looking forward to that.
  
  I hope everyone has a great 2012!!
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  Busy Bee Garden Services Limited December 24, 2011 at 7:15am

  We went into 2011 unsure about the future as the business had to become VAT reg and we exit 2011 more sure of our future and got through the VAT process.

  VAT caused us to lose 12% of customers who cancelled due to the rise but we now finish 2011with fewer customers but each spending more with us as clients with large gardens of many acres have contacted us throughout the year filling up the slack left, overall we are financially better off than this time last year with sales 23% higher than last year after the VAT effect is taken into account.

  We used less advertising this year, one magazine, no yell/thompson, no newsagents, no newspapers but plenty of web and WOM. We had used our own designed website but got two built for us this year which I hope will be our number one way to promote the business into the future.

  Going forward we aim to grow the business in two major directions, namely grounds maintenance contracts to larger sites and to grow our lawn care market, we have picked up may ex GT clients who say our service is superior to them for not much more money. We will have another van, tools and the part timers will become full time as business allows. Finding good people to work with us is our major barrier to growth.

  I think 2012 looks rosy but of course there are unknowns but i'd hope we leave 2012 with 2 vans and 4 chaps working full time and we have set a plan to do this.

  Have a good christmas.   
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  Dan Frazer Gardening December 24, 2011 at 10:30am

  2011 has been busy. Once the thaw started I have been working 5 days a week (only one or two saturdays) from then until this week and I am very grateful for a holiday at last.

  I have a new property manager on board which happened after a bit of persistence and proactive marketing, and I have a few more rumblings in the pipeline. The 50-50 split in the business between domestic work and commercial work has been quite even right through the year. I had to stop a couple of both types of job for various reasons but generally they were jobs that took up too much admin time (chasing payments) so became less worthwhile.

  I didn't make any major investments, just a couple f new mowers and other wee machines. Spent a bit more on smaller basic items such as better first aid and PPE, just the small things that make work that bit more comfortable.

  I also invested around £1000 in training.

  2012 - my plans are to have 2-3 new property managers on the books in order to help me raise the business to me, 1 full timer and 1 part timer. I want a full timer that I can learn to fully trust so that he/she can run a second van eventually with a part timer and do a round unsupervised.

  I want a lot of new domestic lawn cutting clients, in addition to other lawns owners such as golf and bowling clubs. I will be offering more in the way of lawn treatments and want this side of the business to grow. The work I have done so far has been well received and I have been very pleased to see the results.

  I will be investing a fair bit in 2012, including a new van (larger and more capable for towing), new honda roller mower, tree climbing and chainsaw from rope courses, leading to a range of tree equipment (perhaps a large chipper, ropes and harnesses, top handled saw, insurance and PPE). This will hopefully lead to a new line of work so the website should be getting revised, or indeed supplemented by a new one.

  I'll also be upgrading some of the lawn machinery, and (contract depending) be on the look out for some small tractor mounted gear to make aerating and scarifying large areas more enjoyable.

  I'm getting married in April 2012 and there will be a holiday after this, plus the good lady is looking at a holiday in November or December (Thailand was being mentioned) so that's something that will create a bit of a logistical headache but has to be done.

  General thought - I need a genuine, serious and honest wing man/woman in 2012!