Junebug
JAFO
When, I tried lawn care a few years ago, I used to read the Lawnsite.com forum. You know what the number one complaint was from landscapers was (is)? Scrubs! Those Bubba's with Murrays and Pedro's working for beer money and pesos. Why should Joe Homeowner pay you 60-75 bucks to "mow, blow and go" when the kid down the street does it for 10? Oh sure, you can talk about lincensed to apply chemicals, insured, plus added services like clean-ups and such, and still, the majority of customers just care about the bottom line. Now, this stuff is my second job, I've worked for 24 years in the electrical business, past 10 have been in service, selling service contracts on the equipment we sell. Believe it or not, but companies will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on our back-up systems and then go to third party maintenance instead of factory trained engineers - due to price! Go by the Auto Spa's and you'll see high dollar Lexus and BMW's going through the tunnel of swirls for 20 bucks a pop then a few bucks for the boys wiping down the car afterwards and they're happy as teenage boy in a "gentleman's club w/$1000 and a fake ID" Detailing, I want to be a success at. I'm still learning and as such I don't feel comfortable about charging like the full time guys do. My customers are aware of my set-up and understand that. Once I have my equipment and supplies paid for, and I feel that I have enough experience that I can do a job like it should be done then the price goes up. Let me clarify that - if it takes me 5 hours and an experienced pro could do it in 3, then I should not charge more just because it took me longer. I'm getting much better estimating jobs now, boy did I work my butt off for 8 bucks a hour one time! My ultimate goal is to have all the equipment/chemicals etc to do paint & interior detailing.