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The GreenPal Lawn Care Business Growth Show features real lawn care professionals sharing how they build reliable, profitable landscaping businesses in cities across the United States.
I always walk the property first before
I as I'm giving a quote to make sure if
there's any hazards or anything else,
what you expect of us to do and what we
expect when we come out or if you have
ornaments and some people have
trampolines.
Liability wise, we don't touch them. If
you want that area cut, what we suggest
is you move it for different spots each
week so the whole yard gets cut
continuously. But other than that, just
asking questions. If that guy doesn't
ask you anything and he's just going to
give you that same flat price, because
not every yard's the same. The lot might
be same. They might have gates. Is that
guy's equipment going to fit in there?
Did he even ask you what size your fence
was? Making sure that guy knows how you
want your yard.
Welcome to the Lawn Care Business Growth
Show presented by Green Pal. My name is
Jean Cabillo, one of the co-founders. On
the show, we talk to real landscaping
professionals who have built profitable
and reliable businesses. On the show
today, we have Paul Kleser with K1
Reliable Lawn Care out of Claremont,
Florida, a subdivision out of Orlando,
Florida. Paul, welcome to the show. Tell
us a little bit about your business in
Claremont, and how you got started.
All right. Thank you, Jean. We started
back in 2017 just as a little part-time
gig on couple nights and weekends to
help my habit of beers and cigars and
it's just been steadily growing since
then. So, I left my full-time job and
been doing it now full-time for about
three and a half years.
That's great. So, give us a little bit
of insight into like the revenue numbers
and volumewise that you're at right now.
Right now at peak season, we're about
132 properties a week. Two trucks, two
solo trucks I should say. No helpers for
the last season. And this going to be
our second season just running two solo
trucks to see how it goes.
Profitabilitywise, it's a lot better. A
lot less hassle and stress dealing with
many personalities. And so it's been
good so far. So, when you first got
started three and a half years ago, you
know, in the in the in the Claremont
area, what did those early days look
like?
It was a real struggle with the heat
mainly. I've always been in a service
industry, but was not used to that heat
until uh that first summer of 2018,
working after work and on on the
weekends. And number one thing was just
hydration and getting off drinking big
gulps during the day like I used to and
just coming down to just straight water
and Gatorade.
That'll get you through the day. So what
really kind of pushed your your your
business to that next level? What did
you do as far as were was it pricing?
Was it hiring? Was it marketing? What
kind of took your business to that next
level?
For us, the main thing was just talking
to people and um pretty much word of
mouth. I didn't do any advertising.
People would just see me over and over
every week next door or in the
neighborhood, drive past me. I'd always
wave, say hello, and it's just been
growing from there. So, basically just
communication and answering the phone
and being personable.
So, what neighborhoods in the Claremont
area do you service specifically? Most
of the neighborhoods are like uh Greater
Hills, Greater Pines, Palisades, and
other than that it's it's uh couple
properties here or there in certain
neighborhoods, but those three
neighborhoods we have the most
properties in.
And do you do anything in like Winter
Garden, Windmir, or do you even go into
the Orlando area?
No Orlando area at all. Just strictly
Claremont, Minnola, and Groveland.
Gotcha. Okay. Are there any certain
communities that are better for like
weekly service or bi-weekly service?
Yeah, most of the uh newer communities,
they set them up pretty good with
irrigation, so it's always year round
instead of the other oneoff knockoff
homes that are not in a HOA or or a
subdivision where they might not
irrigate. So, you might only do 8 months
out of the year there. So, the newer
ones with the Zoa and the St. Augustine,
we have a lot of golf communities out
here. So, getting in there is real good
cuz it's all St. Augustine and it has to
be done every week. So there you get,
you know, uh 12 months of income,
good and thick.
Yeah.
Yeah. So how do you keep your lawn, you
know, your business so reliable in the
the Florida summer and and during storm
season?
Well, with that is just routing and
optimize your routing where you're not
driving around a lot. So on an off day
where you get a lot of rain, you'll be
able to catch up easier. And for us,
what works the best is routing yourself
to the furthest property and working
your way back to home base. So if you
miss one, it's easier to do the next
morning instead of trying to, you know,
drive 20, 30 minutes away first thing in
the morning is a killer because by the
time you get there, you're already just
tired and you don't really want to get
out in that heat. So we try to do as
little drive time between properties,
keeping them in the same area, no more
than maybe 2 to 5 minutes between
subdivisions, and try to get as many
homes on the same street as we can. So
we're not moving a truck that much. And
how do you go about pricing the jobs in
the Claremont area? Is it typically lot
size or is it typically do you charge
about a minute? Kind of walk us through
that.
For us, we normally do monthly pricing.
If it's maintained and irrigated,
generally between 150 to uh 180 per
month. If it's just per cut, like most
beayas and stuff like that where they
don't irrigate, but in the summer it
grows like crazy, we'll do a per cut.
Anywhere depending on a regular cookie
cutter, you know, a quarter acre and
below, it might be 35 to 45 per cut.
Anything that includes maintenance of
shrubs, bushes, spraying for weeds and
stuff, that would all be extra. So, it
would be added on, you know, that
month's service. And um what do you
think kind of separates someone that
runs a profitable business from someone
that's struggling
trying to a short change the next guy
and be the $25 guy and you're running
through properties. Most of the times
you end up making mistakes, destroying
stuff. A lot of those guys, they only
cut the grass at one length. No matter
what grass type they're cutting, it's
all going to get cut short cuz they
think that's what the customer wants.
But, you know, when you're spending, you
know, half million dollars on a property
and you got St. Augustine, you want it
to look good all the time, not just when
it's cut. You want to make sure it's it
it's the best it can be for you so you
can get more business.
Yeah.
Nobody wants to see the the lawn with
patches and it, you know, it's cut to an
inch of its life and I want that guy to
cut my grass.
Nobody wants that.
Scared.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And so, I know you you touched on this a
little bit earlier. So, you know, you
have two crews, one man each truck. How
do how do you handle hiring in the area?
Previously, I guess what's your biggest
lesson you learned from managing people
just in general?
Previously, I would try to stick with
someone that knows someone and it's a
lot friendlier that way. But in the
past, we've had some huge warehouses
that came out here and opened up Kroger,
Amazon, and they're paying 18, 20 bucks
an hour. So, you really can't compete
with that. And for me, just having to
deal with the personalities and not
wanting to work or want to get paid
early, it just became too much of a
hassle for us. So, um, I end up hiring
my son to work with me. So, that way at
least I have more reliability and that
way I could trust him. You know, other
than that, I would always be terrified
of who's driving the truck. Is he
careful? Is he letting the the backup
guy drive the truck cuz he's tired that
day? And just on that standpoint alone,
I think I made the right choice just to
do two solo trucks and keep it that way.
If it's not broke, they certainly don't
need to fix it. So, when a homeowner is
looking to hire a lawnmowing company,
what are some things they should look
out for? What are some red flags that
they should avoid?
Guys, showing up in a busted up truck,
and a busted up trailer, really not
asking questions about how you would
prefer your yard being maintained, not
walking the property. That's always a
big red flag cuz you know I always walk
the property first before as I'm giving
a quote to make sure if there's any
hazards or anything else what you expect
of us to do and what we expect when we
come out or if you have ornaments and
some people have trampolines liability
wise we don't touch them. If you want
that area cut, what we suggest is you
move it for different spots each week so
the whole yard gets cut continuously.
But other than that, just asking
questions. If that guy doesn't ask you
anything and he's just going to give you
that same flat price, cuz not every
yard's the same. The lot might be same.
They might have gates. Is that guy's
equipment going to fit in there? Did he
even ask you what size your fence was?
Making sure that guy knows how you want
your yard cuz no brainer.
Yeah.
Yeah. Right. No, that's that that's
great for any homeowners. Uh you know,
that that's great advice. Somebody that
that cares what they're going to do,
what they're going to do to your lawn.
You don't want to have that lawn cut too
short and be the laughingtock of the
neighborhood. So, uh so, so last
question, Paul, what's one piece of
advice for someone that's trying to grow
a landscaping business in the Claremont,
Orlando area? What's one piece of advice
that you would give them to make sure
that they uh that they can grow and and
and be a reliable business?
Number one thing would be um it's okay
to be nice. It's okay to do favors, but
know that that might lead down a path of
never getting paid. If you're going to
do something, let them know firsthand,
hey, I'll do you a favor this time and
take care of it. But normally, if you
want that done, it's going to be X
amount
added on to your bill. Because once you
go down to I do favors, you know, that's
a good way of doing free work.
Set the expectations early.
Yes. I have a couple customers that are
elderly I take care of, but I keep it to
a few and I let them know, you know, so
they don't go tell the neighbor, oh, he
doesn't charge me for that. I know it's
just you and that's the only reason. So,
be careful with that.
Gotcha. No, that that that's great
advice. Well, Paul, thank you so much
for uh for joining the podcast and uh
you know, if you're trying to grow your
business, trying to grow your
landscaping business, keep going, keep
mowing, and keep growing. Until next
time. Thanks, everybody.
All right. Thank you, Jean. Appreciate
it.