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Biggest business issue for 2020 will be implementing new pricing which I know may not go down well with some, but needs to be done, and that’s before a telling off from an accountant.
Answer the phone when it rings rather than having to follow up messages or missed calls. May take up a virtual landline
new bigger van perhaps, it will help for certain aspects of the job
am still sitting on several existing jobs from currently vacant/unsold properties partially due to clients passing away, this year has seen a higher number of cases. Also some moving away
For me the question for 2020 is whether I should buy a fully pro machine like a Ransomes 3300 or a similar machine form John Deere/Kubota/Toro or maybe even a batwing mower. Also which dealer to buy from?
The other issue is one of cutting performance. Not all manufacturers give these figures and when they do, how accurate are they? The idea is to be much more efficient thus freeing up much more time.To be under much less pressure time wise and from bad weather. I would like to have enough time in 2020 to go on holiday as I couldn’t afford the time in 2019.
Deciding if I put a 2nd van on the road.... I'm thinking "no" at the moment. Finding good people and ensuring the quality of work they do is up to it, is so difficult - or it costs so much to get that "good person" at the end of the day it is not profitable... so what's the point?
I have just done this so can share what its done me. I bought a Landy 110 tipper for 3k, spent 1.5k fixing the issues, spent 1.5k having the body and toolbox built, I then send 2 lads out doing utility tree cutting at £160 each a day (£1600 PW), I pay for the fuel at normally 2 tanks a week £140pw, they take my 230 timberwolf which costs 280pm + fuel.
Off the back of this at the rate that I charge, taking into account business overheads etc, I do not make anything more than £50 a week off these guys and I initially swallowed to cost of the truck. Saying that though I have had them out working, advertising with their skills and my logos and we have since won 5 site clearance contracts from these lads being out which has paid off the truck 10x and we've been invited to get another team out doing the additional works which pay better.
Sometimes it's about playing the long game but I do appreciate that gardening and grounds maintenance is different from arboriculture works.
Catch is Im 62... not sure I want to end up with more hassle. If I was 10 years younger though I would be going for it :)
Surey you could get that two-man team earning £450-500 a day rather than 320?
Back at the start of the 1980's I worked for a contractor that sub-contracted work building new houses for a large regional house building company.
They did all the groundworks including the hard landscaping, employed the brick layers and roof tilers with the materials supplied by the main company, supplied and erected the scaffolding and did the mastic pointing around the windows.
I worked for them when they started building houses themselves, I was in the office of one of the directors talking to him and he said that they aimed for an overall profit of 5%, but lost money on some aspects of the work, in fact they often only returned one or two percent. However, the turnover was never less than a million pounds per month and was often several million.
He said to me that I needed to remember a basic principle: "A small percentage of a lot is a lot, but a small percentage of f*** all is f*** all"
The director then went on to say that if the housing market dipped and they could not achieve a high turnover they would just close the firm down, which is exactly what they did, the house building company announced that they were reducing production and the contracting firm closed themselves down leaving many people without work and the house builing company without anyone to actually build the houses for them. It took a year or so for the house building company to establish new sub contractors, but none could or would work for the rates that the original contractos did, because the turnover was not there. It all dragged on for several years, then a larger house building company bought out the house building company to acquire their land bank.
If you are trading on a very small percentage of turnover as profit you need a big turnover to stay in business and if there is a downturn in trading you will; be out of business overnight. Which is fine, if you know that and have a plan B.
Andy
We're scaling back on regular customers to those gardens we enjoy working in where we can also provide added value work like lawn care, spraying, planting, mulching etc. This frees up more time for projects, tidy ups, one-offs, design etc. where there's a better mark up. We're also looking to invest in a couple of new pieces of kit to make life easier and jobs more efficient. It's an ongoing learning process based on constant review.
Ive been attempting to do this for the last couple of years, i now do 3 days one week and 4 days the alternative week for regular clients, about 95% of which are gardens and clients i enjoy working for.
That leaves the empty days for adhoc stuff for existing regulars, repeat work for once or twice a year pruning/trimming type jobs, plus any one offs that come along that i can fit in and actually want to do, as opposed to having to do!
This year though I'm thinking i may lose another day of regulars, as 2019 was busy for the extra, more profitable work and i was turning jobs down because i couldnt fit all those in that i wanted to do. I doubt i would drop below 3 days per week of regulars though, as it's nice to have that known monthly income stream.
I think 2020 will be a good year because we have had so much rain and all the water tables are full, so once the sun comes out in March everything will grow fast, and everyone will want everything done at the same time, which is a good reason to keep prices up and not to discount.
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