Lawn Care Biz on Steroids
What’s up, folks?
I got my annual renewal letter today from the fertilizer company that keeps my grass nice and green all summer.
And it got me thinking about how much of a pain it is to have so many separate companies handling the exterior needs of my home.
Most people have:
A lawn care company that mows their grass
A sprinkler company that adjusts heads and handles spring start-up and fall shut-down
A fertilizing company that keeps the grass looking nice
A pest control service that keeps bugs away
A power washing guy or company that sprays the house down every year or two
A snow plow company (in northern climates)
A window cleaning company
A tree trimmer
A gutter cleaner
A holiday light installer
A landscaper — when needed
Some of you may not use all of these services. Maybe you do some of this stuff yourself.
But some people use all of them.
I would imagine the low end of what homeowners spend on this stuff is $3,500 per year.
Mid-range, $5,000–$6,000.
The folks who don’t do any of this themselves? $8,000–$10,000 per year, for sure.
How nice would it be if you found ONE company that did ALL of it?
Handled every single concern on the outside of your house…
You wouldn’t even necessarily need to save money for it to make sense.
Wouldn’t it just be great to have ONE point of contact in charge of everything?
You could log into your account and see the upcoming schedule for all of these things.
Like this:
Hmmm…
What could we call this operation?
How about… TOTAL HOME EXTERIOR?
Sounds pretty solid, eh?
Their website:
You would obviously need to invest in some equipment to provide all of these services, but not a ton more than what you’d need to provide just one of them.
If the average customer is already spending $8k per year on all of this and they switch to one single source (you), how many clients do you need to make this worth your while?
Well…
$8k × 12 clients = $96,000.
Not bad.
But if this is your sole focus, it seems like you could handle more than 12 clients, doesn’t it?
Especially if you hire a couple of 20-year-old punks to help out during the busy times.
20 clients?
That’s $160,000.
You’re busy now, but nothing you can’t handle with the right systems in place.
Maybe you slog away at this level for a year or so, build up some true fans and rave reviews, and then move your price from $8k to $10k per year.
A couple of your customers are 62-year-old, wealthy, recently retired folks who like to travel and feel really good knowing the exterior of their home is in trusted hands while they’re gone.
Heck, maybe you roll out a new “Home Watch” program for these folks where you grab their mail every couple of days, do property checks, and pop into the basement to confirm the sump pump and furnace are both operating correctly.
That’s peace of mind worth paying for, in my opinion.
And there are plenty of people out there who, once trust is built, would find you absolutely invaluable.
Maybe that price jumps to $12k per year for folks who opt into the “snowbird” package.
So now…
80% of your clients are on the standard package at, say, $9,500 per year.
The other 20% are on the “snowbird” package, which includes all the normal stuff plus the added benefit of watching over the property while they’re living the retired life down in Florida.
If you build up to 50 total clients, that pencils out to:
0.80 × 50 = 40 clients paying $9,500
0.20 × 50 = 10 clients paying $12,000
That puts you at $500,000 per year in top-line revenue.
Sure, you’ll need some hired help to keep up with all of this, but I have to believe you can find a way to provide this service and pay yourself a healthy share.
And that’s the point, ain’t it?
You get to pay yourself.
If this model works to get you to $500k per year, there’s no reason you couldn’t push it to $1,000,000… or even $2,000,000.
Maybe not the greatest idea I’ve ever barfed out — but definitely enough to get the ol’ brain juices moving from ebb to flow.
C-ya tomorrow.
Kurt — the man with some ideas that suck and some that don’t
