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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 honestly like the first thing that
jumps to mind would just be if it's
really cheap. What is it that saying?
Good work ain't cheap and cheap work
ain't good. If it's $25,
right?
Take a gamble. I mean, if you're just
digging out of the the pages, you're I
don't know how I guess to me your online
presence and reviews are super
important. So, if you're looking at
vendors on Greenpal, absolutely read
their reviews, see what people are
saying. Is it just a fivestar review
with nothing or is there a comment? you
know, um, and you'll get a feel for kind
of this person's how they operate their
business.
Welcome to the Green Pow Lawn Care
Business Growth Show. My name is Jean
Cabillo, one of the co-founders. On the
show, we talk to real landscaping
professionals that have built profitable
and reliable businesses. On the show
today, we have Lucas Krennen with Lucas
Kren Lawn Care out of Charlotte, North
Carolina. Lucas, welcome to the show and
tell us a little bit about your
landscaping business out of Charlotte,
North Carolina.
Thank you, Jane. A pleasure to be on.
Yeah, I mean, my landscaping business
here in Charlotte, I totally credit to
Greenpal in the beginning. I was just
doing a little bit of I was a full-time
glass artist and looking to supplement
my income a little bit with just
something here and there and one of my
buddies old guitar player from a band
does this full time and I was like this
looks really easy. Picked up a few
clients and then I was scoping around
looking for apps or how to get more and
I found this thing Green Pal. My buddy
used one lawn starter which I'm sure a
lot of people are familiar with and I
signed up and it was the end of the
season. And I don't remember which year
at this point, six, seven years, like I
want to say August, September maybe. And
in 30 days, I had probably like 30
regular clients. And so it was just um
that beginning phase was kind of like,
oh, we'll just kind of see if this is
something I can do here and there to
where like, oh wow, like I have a
problem of getting equipment and now
actually be able to satisfy this super
fast growing need and client base. So
that's kind of how it originally, you
know, the very beginning started.
Gotcha. Okay. Yeah. So that's an edge
case that a lot of people probably don't
experience is the opposite of like, hey,
I started this as to see where it goes.
Now I've got to find equipment. Now I've
got to find a trailer. Now I got to find
help. And so roughly today, like where
are you as far as you know revenue or
lawns per week, lawns per month?
Yeah. On just Green Pal or just in
general? just in general.
Yeah. I mean, as far as lawns in
general, I would say it's always
fluctuating, but like right now I'm
maybe 80 to 95 clients that are either
bi-weekly or weekly. That's probably 75%
Green Pal. So, it's mostly on there. And
then, of course, I pick up word of mouth
and I've had some clients all along the
way. So, I have that other roughly 30%
or so. And you know, out of those in
this area, I found more people more of
my clients are on for bi-weekly than
weekly. Um, but I do have probably half
or a third of those on weekly.
Gotcha. Gotcha. Okay. So, yeah, that's
uh And is it just you by yourself or do
you do you have anybody else working
with you?
Yeah, right now I have a full-time
helper. He's been with me pretty much
almost since the beginning off and on
and it's actually my son. So it's an
interesting he's 23. He was same kind of
thing like trying to decide what to do
looking for job here and there and it's
like hey you want to come work a Friday
and just you know we'll throw you 120
bucks or 150 bucks. He's like, "Yeah."
And then it kind of turned into, so he's
like been my regular the whole time.
I've played with running two trucks, I
think two years ago, and then kind of I
was rearended and all of my my whole
everything was totaled on one truck,
trailer, mower, and then just some other
problems with adding an extra crew. So,
at this point, I have him all the time
and then I have like four guys that I
call in if we do a bunch of garden work
or if you know I just have a really
stacked day where it would be nice to
have extra help. So, I have four guys
that are kind of on call that sometimes
I'll get two or three of them at a time
if it's a real big day. But for just
like a steady regular all the time, it's
actually uh my son Eli. So, that's been
interesting, too, because I find a lot
of uh the clients, you know, they meet
us, we're both super tall. He's actually
taller than me, so you can kind of tell.
People like, "Is that is that your son?"
I'm like, "Yeah." I'm like, "Oh, that's
awesome. Family business." And
yeah,
I'm really big into a relationship. So,
to me,
how tall are you, Lucas?
I'm 6'2.
6'2. Okay. Okay.
Yeah, he's 6'5.
So, we're like the giants, you know,
running around. Um, yeah.
Wow. And so I know I think you kind of
touched up base a little bit about this
earlier, but what did your business kind
of look like when it first got started?
Was it just push mower and that was it
or kind of walk us through that what it
looked like in the beginning?
No, the the very beginning it was a push
mower. No doubt I was a a push mower.
And then at the end of the season and
when I signed up for Green Pal and I got
those 30 clients, I was like, "Oh, this
is never going to work." So I did the
thing that probably a lot of people do
and kind of what I call f around and
find out like I tried some residential
equipment, right? So I got an old
residential husk varna of all things
zeroturn
and you know very quickly realized that
like I mean in my opinion you just
there's no way you can do this work.
Even commercial equipment breaks down
all the time, you know, top of the it's
it's just part of it. I think it's one
of the hard things for some people is
I've learned to become handy in
mechanical, but if I was taken to
mechanic all the time, it's it's it's a
lot. So, I started off push mower, then
I went to the residential, got, you
know, a little trailer, and the next
year things picked up so so much. I was
like, okay, I got to go in and get a
full commercial mower. And I think the
next year I had one. Now I have three
commercial zero turns because I pretty
much like to run with two on the trailer
all the time and then as I was saying if
you don't have a backup for everything.
I mean literally everything it'll bite
you.
You lose money if you don't have that.
Yeah. And it's really hard cuz I mean
some people are really cool with
longtime clients but in this field in my
opinion at least in this area that
they're not really forgiving super
forgiving around like hey I'll be back
in 3 weeks or you know what I mean. It's
typically this is kind of those you kind
of got to I mean a more fastpac business
niche in my opinion.
Yeah, that's that's a very good point.
People are are are very unforgiving when
it comes to their lawn and especially if
it's just bi-weekly. You miss one and
it's it's literally another month and
the grass is tall and by then they have
moved on from you and they're trying to
find somebody else that can fill that
void and get it done as soon as
possible. So, totally understand that.
So, and I know we kind of talked about
this as well in the beginning and a lot
of credit you kind of gave to Greenpal,
which we appreciate, I guess. Was there
something else that kind of pushed your
business to the next level? Was it
marketing? Was it word of mouth? Was it
hiring someone? Was there anything that
kind of helped you push your business
forward as well?
Yeah. Well, that's an interesting
question to answer because it's probably
going to sound a little backwards. kind
of like the story of how it started,
which is because I have a lot of other
wheels turning, you know, I I did the
glass art full-time, now I do it
part-time here and there, building the
decks. I do some men's work, coaching,
and other stuff. So, I built it up to I
was like, I want to build up to three
days of work and just me and Eli, not
try to grow. And so, actually, I did
that for several years. And right before
my divorce, I actually hacked about 30
30% of my clients looking to jump into
something else. And that didn't work
out. And so, you know, kind of like
maybe some of the other stories, it's
another moment where I was actually
super grateful for Green Pal because I
was able to build it back up. And I've
been under tremendous financial strain
since the divorce and the way things
worked out. And so, I was like, "Okay, I
got to put the pedal back to the metal
on that." But I've actually done I mean
I admit I'm horrible at anything like
marketing. I've basically done nothing
just done word of mouth. And last year I
decided okay I'm actually going to
because I've been working on these other
wheels and this was just kind of like a
fill in place. I'm like I'm actually
going to work at growing this business
because Eli may take it over. That's my
son. and if nothing else, he'll have
more and he can maybe step into a
management position and learn how to run
a couple of other crews or even if I
jump into something else, there's
absolutely no loss. But up until that
point, I had mostly been like on cruise
control, like I just want three days and
then leave me time to do my spin my
other wheels.
Yeah.
Um
creative things.
Yeah. But I mean, as far as taking it to
the to me, the taking it to the next
level, it's nothing marketing or well,
maybe it's a I don't know if you'd call
it a strategy, but like I feel like I
don't see a lot of people, but as a
businessman, it's important to me like I
want to provide the highest value I can.
And I feel like there's a lot of like in
the details and like how much money and
I get it like business is
self-interested, but it's also the
relationship really matters to me. So
relationship is a huge part. if I, you
know, like I I say that with all the
clients that I get to know. Let's be
awesome to each other. Like this is a
relationship, you know, and I feel like
that in in a lot of ways sets me apart
because most people are just there to
kind of do the job, get in, get out. And
I'm not there to talk all day about, you
know, your aunt, but I do value
relationship. And I feel like because of
that, that's where like I've actually
had to turn away work for a couple years
when I'm like, "No, I'm just good at
three days. I don't want to take another
truck." So, I was kind of holding it off
for a while, but at this point now, I'm
actually, you know, working on building
it. So, that's actually just been
recently that I kind of shifted. And I
kind of want to go back to something
that you said that I think is important
for people. You said you had to, you
know, cut 30 of your of your customers.
What was kind of the strategy behind
that? Was it they weren't profitable?
Was it they didn't fit in your route? Or
somebody in the landscaping industry
hears, "Hey, I had to cut 30 clients."
They're like, "What are you crazy?"
Like,
it was kind of crazy. Admittedly, I'm
admittedly like I have the
entrepreneurial spirit. I'm always like
doing new things. And so, I been
involved in men's work. I've involved
with the rights of passage group for
young men 18 to 21 and elder men and
other groups. and had had a really kind
of deep experience and that year and was
like I'm going to basically get out of
landscaping and just get into men's work
doing the courses retreats and so it was
more like I'm going to cut this to go do
that and then literally I got like my
marriage fell apart and divorce ensued
like the like right after I decided
that. So then I was like reel them back
in and uh
I was just kidding. Yeah, sorry about
that. Didn't mean it. Um,
so it was more I was looking to get out
and to do something else
and and was like, but I didn't want to
like burn all my bridges, which I thank
God because and I'm still do some of the
coaching and men's work stuff, but
that's kind of more of one of my another
one of my side wheels that eventually I
would love to get into full-time, but at
this point I'm doing what I want to do.
And I I genuinely like I've kind of I
think because of that in 2022 when I was
like I'm going to get out and do men's
work. I think I had a little bit of a
bad attitude cuz the divorce and
everything and like I've kind of come
back around again to cuz it's one of the
things I'm like this is a very simple
business. Like we're cutting grass
making things look beautiful. There's
some complexity but for the most part
it's very simple. I'm outside. I like
working with the elements. I like making
people happy. I like to be my own boss.
So, I was like, actually, this is, you
know, I like this. This is good. And
this is where I'm like, okay, I'm going
to grow this, you know, while I instead
of kind of just on cruise control while
I'm working the other wheels, I'm like,
I'm actually going to grow this. And for
Eli, too. So,
well, that that's a good way to put it.
It is kind of in a holistic sense, it is
a very simple simple business. You know,
you show up, you make things look
better, and then you leave. I love that.
I love that. It is a very simple
business. So, what specific areas do you
service? Like, I know you're based out
of of Charlotte. So, do you do like
Matthews, Mint Hill, Huntersville, any
work in Concord? walk us through the the
specific neighborhoods, areas, or
specific areas that you mow and you do
your landscaping in.
Yeah, I'm in Waxaw, which is South
Charlotte. So, I kind of work my way
from down there up to Noda. So, I'll
definitely be in the Waxaw area, Marvin,
Weddington,
Indianland,
Fort Mill, Matthews. If we go over to
the east side, Mitt Hill, even out to
like Will, Mitt, Harrisburg area, and
then up to Noda, and I'll kind of go a
little bit north of Charlotte, but for
the most part, like Noda is about as far
north as I go. So, I don't go to
Huntersville or any on the other side of
town cuz I'm like I kind of like to keep
it to an hour drive home at the longest.
So, that way, you know, I kind of have a
east side and a west side of Charlotte.
Typically, I work on different days. And
then I guess I don't know what that area
is right down on South Boulevard. Right.
Yeah. I'm not sure what that area is
called, but going up South Boulevard all
the way into Charlotte. We have quite a
few in there. So you have a you cover a
very large footprint. And so what
specific neighborhoods have you come
across that are better for bi-weekly
mowing or weekly mowing? Are they any
specific neighborhoods that you service
that are just, you know, hey, I'm got
this customer weekly for the year?
For me, I mean, I guess I could think of
some of the neighborhoods. It's mostly
the people that have tall fescue and are
getting treatments. If they're getting
treatments and getting fertilizer and
weed treatments, then their grass grows
faster. And so, that's a lot in the Wax
on Marvin area because that's a little
higherend area. So, I see a lot more of
that there. some in the Matthews and
Mint Hill area and then like Bermuda if
you know most of those are bi-weekly and
and if it's not raining I mean they
could even go longer and cuz that it
just doesn't grow a whole lot here. So,
I don't know like as as much Well, and
subdivisions typically are divided up
into fescue or Bermuda, but I would say
as a rule of thumb, if it's a fescue
subdivision and they're getting any kind
of treatments, then it needs to be
weekly or it's going to be, you know,
thick and overgrown for sure.
Gotcha. Do you have any of those uh
neighborhoods that you could mention
like the names of the neighborhoods?
Yeah, Providence Plantation, Chris is
one that's huge in the like Indian Trail
area. That's, you know, I would say that
one most of those are going to be
weekly. There is some Bermuda in there
section, but that's uh in Chrismark,
Weddington Ridge, those are all tall
fescue. You know, most of those people
are getting treatments on their lawn.
So, those that's a good weekly
neighborhood for sure. Yeah. I'm trying
to think what else comes to mind.
Okay. And while you're thinking about
that, how do you do your pricing? So,
somebody's watching this that's wanting
to start a landscaping business or a
lawnmowing business, how do you price?
Is it a square footage? Is it by the
minute? Or is it, you know, like, hey, I
know in this certain part of Waxaw that
it's going to be $45. Kind of walk us
through your your pricing methodology.
Sure. Yeah. But now, if it's through
Green Pal and I see the bid, I'll
obviously the first thing the most
important thing I look at is the square
footage, which sometimes it's not always
there, which is fine. I understand. So,
I kind of do a combination of the the
square footage and the picture, but for
the most part, I'll kind of more or less
go off square footage. And then, of
course, there's always the time where
you show up and then you find out, oh
wow, they have this really complicated
thing and no wonder why they're coming
to Green Pal because they couldn't get
anybody else to do it. there's a steep
hill like into the pool in the backyard,
you know, and for some of those I've
I've had to be like, hey, you know, I'm
honestly for me to do this, I'm managing
a lot of liabilities, so like it's $75,
you know, and or if there is a ton of
weed eating because they just happen to
plant these things right here. You know,
some people are happy to cover that and
for a little bit I am like here and
there like I don't like getting lost in
the details. Meaning I think a lot of
people get hung up on some of that and
it's a better approach to be like at the
end of the day say I did 18 yards I made
x amount of money like what you it's a
little who cares. So I definitely factor
that in and if I get to meet the person
I factor in the person's energy
absolutely and I don't work for for
buttholes like and you can pretty much
tell right away. So, I've I've kind of
gotten
absolutely
and I'm like I used to and I used to try
to satisfy, but at this point it really
like feels like a waste of my time and
energy and there's so many good clients
and customers that will appreciate good
work, appreciate the communication,
appreciate the reliability, and are not
going to haggle over everything and try
to take advantage and all the little
things that everybody deals with cuz
it's it's everybody deals with it. So,
to me, it's mostly square footage, and
I'll factor in like other stuff. If
there's certain things in the yard that,
you know, or if like, hey, we can't get
in the backyard and it's pretty big and
we have to use a push mower, I'll raise
the price for sure. I like that's 65
now. And pricing has gone up. I'm I'm
curious to kind of see like cuz you
know, I don't know on Greenpal. I don't
talk to a lot of other people like what
they're doing. But with the cost and
inflation, I feel like everybody has got
to be going up or you can't survive. Um,
so I've definitely I try not to raise my
clients, but uh, my Greenpile clients,
I've done it for sure two and three
times and I usually just keep it to
like, hey, $3 like you're going to, you
know, more per client and then just do
it to everybody. And so far, I've
actually never lost anybody with that.
So
I think that clear line of communication
with them is like everything around us
has gone up in price. You know, there's
nothing that you can buy today that was
cheaper than, you know, 10 years ago
other than maybe a TV. You know,
right?
Reason I know that is cuz I just bought
a TV. And, you know, you asked me 10
years ago how much a 60-inch TV would
have been, I would have told you it's
probably going to be 10 grand, not you
know, $600. But yeah, you know, I think
that when you have that clear line of
communication with them and say, "Hey,
gas is a little more expensive. My labor
is a little more expensive. My insurance
is a little more expensive." They kind
of understand. I think most of the time
when it's a surprise and they see an
invoice that's $10 more than it was last
year, they kind of question that. But I,
you know, obviously what you're doing is
working and uh your customers seem to be
happy. So, I want to kind of switch
directions here and kind of answer some
questions that probably a homeowner may
have for you. That would be some, if I'm
a new homeowner, just moved into a new
house, I need somebody to come mow my
lawn. What are some red flags that any
homeowner looking to hire a lawn mower
or a landscaping company, what are some
red flags that you would tell a
homeowner, hey, look out for this? Yeah.
I honestly like the first thing that
jumps to mind would just be if it's
really cheap. What is it that saying? Uh
good work ain't cheap and cheap work
ain't good.
That's it.
I mean if it's $25,
right?
Take a gamble. Uh and you know, as far
as on Greenpal, if you're just digging
out of the pages, you're I don't know
how I guess but to me your online
presence and reviews are super
important. So, if you're looking at
vendors on Greenpal, absolutely read
their reviews, see what people are
saying. Is it just a fivestar review
with nothing or is there a comment, you
know, and you'll get a feel for kind of
this person's how they operate their
business, especially if there's a
substantial amount. So, I feel like
that's the really positive side of Green
Pal is like if you have a good platform,
you know, good stats, then but as the
homeowner, absolutely look at that
because those stats reflect something.
Uh, you know, a lot of that is is 100%
true. And um, you know, I think every
time I've asked this question to a
vendor, it's like, hey, if the price is
too low, you may get it one time, maybe
two, but that's it. Because that $20 guy
is not going to he's not making money on
your property, and he's not going to
continue to do it at that price. So, you
know, if you want somebody consistent,
check out his his equipment, you know,
meet the guy, check out his ratings and
reviews, and then you can kind of go
from there. So, so, so great advice to
Hey, Keeper is not always the best when
it comes to finding a landscaping
company to come and cut your grass.
And if you can check their equipment, I
don't know if there's a way to do that
on Green Pal, but absolutely. cuz I mean
some people are very particular like
they're like I only want a push mower
for my and I'm like oh okay you know you
need to find someone that has one then
you know
yeah good luck
but for other stuff you know like in my
opinion like a tall fescue yard in
Providence plantation if you show up
with a push mower it's almost
embarrassing like it should it should be
you know what I mean
yeah it should embarrass yeah somebody
let just die in.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, equipment does, you know, is is a
thing for sure.
No. Okay.
If there's a way for I don't know if
there was a way for clients to see what
people have as far as equipment, but
Yeah. U not yet, but you know, it it
could be down the road. Um, you know,
there's just a lot of ways to gain that.
I know.
So, it's always tough. We just kind of
try to set the expectations for the
homeowners like, hey, and not a lot of
people carry a push mower because going
to take more time. More time means more
labor. More labor means more money. And
you know that that's not conversation
that these people want to hear, but uh
all right, Lucas, last question. Save
the best for last. I know you've got
some good pent up points here. So,
what's one piece of advice that you
would give to a guy that wants to start
a landscaping business in the Charlotte,
Mint Hill, Waxaw area? What's one piece
of advice that you would give him to
say, "Hey, uh, this was awesome. This
this helped me." What's that one piece
of advice you would give to that guy?
Well, I mean, from my story, I and I'm
not paid to say this, but like the first
thing is get a Green Pal app because
it's going to make it so much easier to
be perfectly honest. And then you know I
mean my general rule is kind of like if
if I'm looking to provide value as much
value as I can and make money doing it
like that come from kind of sorts out
all the details but to get a little more
specific I I mean to stand out in this
field to me it's three things two of
them communicate communicate with your
clients like so many I get so many
secondhanders and third-handers the guy
didn't come didn't show up didn't tell
me I don't know comes one take 3 weeks.
I don't I I hear that literally like
almost every time I get a new client. So
like communication, consistency or
reliability. So if you're not going to
show up, you just text them. I've had
I've had stuff break down. I've been
rearended. I've had my father die. I've
had everything happen. And it's all I've
never lost a single client because I
just get out the phone and text them.
And so to me that reliability,
communication, and then just do good
work, which is kind of back to the like
if you're looking to provide value, not
looking to just skate by with the least
possible and still get paid, then you'll
just naturally want to make things look
nice and do a good job and have a good
relationship with the client and so
forth.
It's just a simple business, isn't it?
Just a simple business. Yeah,
simple business. Just show up, Mo. If
you can't make it, it's just a simple
text message. a simple phone call and
everybody everybody stays happy, right?
It's in some ways it's that it's that
simple like do what you say you're going
to do. I mean just a little I feel like
integrity is I don't know it's it's very
important to me but um that kind of
covers all those bases too. So,
well, Lucas, thank you so much for all
the sound advice you've uh you've given
everybody. And thank you everybody for
for watching the show. And any
landscaping guys, uh anybody starting uh
check us out. We've got few episodes
before this that gives pretty concrete
advice on how to how to grow and how to
maintain your customers and and how to
keep your routes tight and everything.
So, Lucas, thanks again. All the guys
out there, keep mowing, keep going, and
keep growing. Until next time.
Sounds good. Thank you, Jean.