Archive for category lawn care equipment

How To Buy a Lawn Care Business Vehicle

lawn care business truck van

How to buy a lawn care business van

A lawn care business vehicle needs to fulfill the particular needs of your lawn care business.  A specific truck or van that is perfect for one lawn care business might not fit the needs of your lawn care business.

In my lawn care business, I have used vans, large pickup trucks, and small Ford Rangers.  None of these individual vehicles fulfilled all the needs of my lawn care business.  Vans are good work vehicles because you can lock your weedeaters, leaf blowers, and other equipment inside the van.  Trucks are versatile in their hauling capacity.  Small pickups can be kept looking nice and they offer gas mileage that helps with running around town doing mowing estimates.  All my vehicles have been rigged with tow hitches to facilitate pulling a trailer.

I have been shopping for an additional vehicle this summer.  I need versatility in hauling capacity but this vehicle is not going to haul particularly heavy equipment.  I also need this vehicle to get good gas mileage and be able to keep my gear safely locked away.  Also, since this vehicle will not be a “heavy work” vehicle I need it to look good and offer a comfortable ride.  One more thing, I have a limited amount of money to spend.

In my search, I found a 2012 Dodge Grand Caravan.

Although this style of van is normally for passengers, this particular van has been outfitted as a utility vehicle. 

lawn care equipment van

Lawn Care Equipment would be protective with an inner cage.

The seats and carpeting have been removed and a protective inner cage has been installed that will help protect any equipment and gear locked safely inside.

It comes with the 3.6L engine that Dodge puts in some of its heavy duty vehicles.  Though 3.6L Dodge engines have some issues reported online, this engine seems to not have the rattling that affects other engines.  In addition to the positives, this van is affordable enough for immediate purchase.

When I started my search for a new vehicle, I never thought I would consider a Dodge Caravan.  I started by looking for a standard work truck or work van like I have purchased in the past.  However, I believe it pays to be flexible and purchase the equipment and vehicles that “fit” into your particular need.  This vehicle will fit nicely and perform the “non-heavy duty” tasks that will be asked of it.

In your lawn care business, how do you make purchasing decisions for your lawn care equipment and vehicles?  Do you simply purchase whatever comes along at the cheapest price or do you have a structured plan in your purchase strategy to help you make purchases that “fit” into your lawn care business?  I see many lawn care business owners purchasing the wrong equipment and the wrong vehicles.  This costs them money in the long run and negatively affects their business.

If you would like to learn how to make better buying decisions in your lawn care business, our Lawn Care Business Strategy Guidebook & Estimating Software package includes a very handy equipment buying guide that will help you buy the RIGHT equipment for your lawn care business.





To learn more and purchase the program at this month’s sale price, please click here: 

Start A Lawn Care Business

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Ethanol in your Lawn Mower Engine?

As an increasingly larger number of lawn care business owners are growing weary of the rumored effects of 10% Ethanol, gasoline stations are continuing to offer 100% gasoline. We have previously mentioned in this blog post our concern with possible effects of ethanol so much so that we are willing to visit gas stations that sell 100% gasoline.

Just this morning, I visited a new gas station in our area that offers 100% gasoline.  Instead of selling “No-Ethanol Gasoline” station wide, it offers one nozzle at each pump that dispenses 100% gasoline at an additional charge of 10 cents per gallon.

100% No Ethanol Gasoline for Lawn Mower Engines

100% No Ethanol Gasoline For Lawn Mower Engines

Have you experienced troubles with 10% ethanol gasoline in your lawn mower, leaf blower, and weed eater engines?

The recommendations of lawn mower repair experts to use 100% gasoline is enough for us to spend an extra 10 cents per gallon to offset possible increased rates of engine damage.   Even if ethanol does not contribute to lawn mower engine damage, the increased resale value of our equipment when we are able to tell purchasers that we used only 100% gasoline during the life of the equipment will be enough to repay us for the additional cost of 100% No-Ethanol Gasoline.

Please tell us your thoughts with a comment below.

AND….if you are thinking about starting your own lawn care company, please read over our website to learn about our Lawn Care Business training course.  Included in the course is a “Lawn Care Equipment Buyer’s Guide” which will help you determine the correct equipment to purchase for your lawn care company.

Buying Commercial Lawn Mowers
http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com





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Lawn Care Equipment Purchasing Decisions – Cost Benefit Analysis

Buying Lawn Care Equipment vs. Starbucks Coffee

Starbucks - Just another business cost-benefit analysis.

So, here I sit in my local Starbucks with my laptop computer and a tall, piping hot, Mocha. Outside, rain pours as the thermometer drops. As far as weather goes, today does not fill me with the desire to work (or play) outside. Here I sit, in comfortable surroundings, hoping to complete as much “office” work as possible.

Though I like doing my paperwork at this Starbucks, when compared to working at home doing paper work here is an expensive proposition. The Mocha cost me $5.00 and the parking meter was another $1.50. Add the cost of gasoline and the inevitable fudge brownie to my total and the cost of this work session is over $10.00.

How can I justify such a cost? Well, I hope to be efficient here and complete my work quicker than I would at my home work station. In other words; the benefit of this work session outweighs the cost.

As I swig another sip of Mocha, I am reminded of similar Cost-Benefit Analyses performed each time I have purchased lawn care equipment for my business. Every single time I have purchased a new commercial lawn mower, leaf blower, weedeater, or other lawn care equipment, I have calculated the cost over the life of the equipment and made sure it would pay me back with a substantial profit to my business.

There is a big problem in the lawn care industry. Too many new lawn care business owners purchase equipment that does not provide profitable cost-benefit for their businesses. It is easy to understand how a new lawn care business owner can get drawn into buying improper equipment. New equipment is exciting. The salesmen are high pressure. And if you buy new (and expensive) equipment it will surely help your business become successful, right? RIGHT???

No, that is not always right.

One of the things that helped make my lawn care business successful was the cost-benefit analysis I did on each and every lawn care and landscaping machine I have ever bought. So, if you are in the early stages of your lawn care business (or even if you have been in the business awhile and are expanding) I invite you to purchase our lawn care business guidebook and software package. The package includes an “Equipment Buyers Manual” that will greatly help you determine the best equipment selections for your lawn care business. You can learn more about the lawn care business package on our main webpage.





Lawn Care Equipment Buyers Guidebook
StartALawnCareBusiness.com

And now back to my Mocha.

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