Where To Find Commercial Lawn Mowing Clients In Australia
If you are looking to gain commercial lawn care contracts, personal networks and relationship-building is the top priority. Talk to your existing residential client network to see if they know any businesses needing landscaping maintenance services. Some commercial contracts are posted online for bids, but many are never advertised openly.
Grounds maintenance opportunities with government and council bodies go through an open tender process, so these vacancies are shared on sites such as AusTender and AustralianTenders. However, government tenders have their own rules and processes distinct even from commercial lawn care. Large commercial organisations may also have a public tender process, but this is the territory of experienced commercial
Tenders are extremely time-consuming to prepare, and government contracts come with a lot of strings attached that can be overwhelming to small businesses.
To get started in the commercial market,its best to start by looking for lawn mowing contracts available in your local area. It may be beneficial to talk to your residential client network to see who may know of businesses needing commercial lawn care.
You can also drive around your service area to look for prospective clients. If you notice a nearby business that has a lawn that appears unkempt, it could mean their scheduled lawn mower is coming soon or they might require a new contractor, a role that you could step up and fill with the right pitch.
Use Your Landscaping Website For Lead Generation
If your website isnt set up to capture leads, you could be wasting valuable online real estate. Effective lead gen for homeowners can be as simple as an easy contact form for the customer to request a free quote. If your landscape company targets larger clients, like those with commercial properties, consider qualifying leads by offering a detailed guide or how-to ebook in exchange for the property/facilities managers contact information.
Need more ideas? Follow these landscaping blogs for how to grow your business and developing content for your own blog.
How Do I Write A Landscaping Contract
Typically, the landscaping professional writes the contract, much like plumbers would writeplumbing contracts for a client. However, yourlandscaping service contract should be as detailed as necessary to ensure that it is enforceable and reduces the chance of the possibility of future disputes from arising.
If you need legal advice regardinghow to write a landscaping contract , speak with a contract attorney in your state to help you get started.
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How Do You Bid On A Mowing Contract
A commercial mowing client will first ask you to provide a bid for services. This bid should contain the list of landscaping services your business provides as well as the pricing. If you perform general gardening services like hedge trimming as well as mowing, clients can meet all their lawn care needs with the one contractor.
In the lawn care industry, the basic mowing and edging services will be about the same for all businesses, and its hard to differentiate based on anything but price. For that reason, its a great strategy to emphasise any additional or special services that your business can offer, helping your bid stand out from the rest.
When providing an estimate, be sure to visit the property yourself to inspect it. That way, you can visually gauge the amount of work required, and the client knows you are giving a quote specific to them, not a generic figure. This will also help you understand any unique needs the client has and how to win them over.
You may opt to add a section to your bid that contains references. If you have worked for a previous client who was pleased with the results, ask them if they are willing to take reference calls. This can give new clients confidence in your services, especially if youre relatively new to commercial work.
Is This Business Right For You
The people who succeed in this business enjoy working outdoors in a variety of weather conditions. The temperature varies depending on the seasons. At times during the summer, it may be very hot in certain locations. This work requires enough physical strength and stamina to be able to lift heavy equipment in and out of a pickup truck and to push the lawn cutting equipment around the yard.People who are friendly and like to talk with people usually are more likely to get customers. It helps to have a good eye for details and to be meticulous in the maintenance work in order to do a good job that customers appreciate.
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Determine Your Labor Costs
If youre going to perform the labor for your jobs yourself, you might think you have zero expenses for labor. While you wont have a direct expense, you will have an opportunity cost. If you can make $18 per hour working for a landscaping company and generate only $12 per hour running your own company , you might want to bid your jobs higher when estimating lawn contracts.
If you use contractors to mow lawns for you, their hourly wage is a relatively simple calculation. If you have employees, you must include their salary, payroll taxes, workers comp insurance, uniforms, phones and any other expenses related to them.
Calculate The Cost Of The Materials
As long as you offer only essential lawn care services, such as mowing, edging, trimming, and blowing, your main materials cost might be fuel.
Your bids need to include seeds and aeration, fertilizing, and shrub care if you provide these services to your commercial clients and you want to charge them.
As you go about your accounting, you may include your expenses for spark plugs, air filters, blades, equipment maintenance and repairs, and any other items you may need to purchase in your materials costs.
For example, say you estimate you will have $900 in expenses for $300 jobs in a year, and you would have to add $3 to each job to compensate for these expenses.
Depending on your formula, you may charge a higher percentage on large projects than on small projects.
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Secure Customers With Landscaping Insurance
Youre just starting out getting customers, so why would you need insurance? You can take every step to make sure accidents arent likely to happy on your watch, but you never know. We may be able to read a trees age by its rings, but we cant see into the future.
Mistakes and accidents happen despite our best efforts. In fact, 36%-52% of small businesses surveyed reported being involved in a lawsuit in a given year. And even if business owners are found not to be at fault, its likely there are still legal fees owed.
Thats where landscaping insurance can come in handy. General liability insurance, also known as commercial liability insurance, typically covers:
- Third-party accidents
If you had landscaping insurance with general liability coverage, it could help to cover costs resulting in an event like one listed above. Lets look at an example.
Youre working to help clean up a customers lawn in the Fall. You leave a leaf blower in the yard while preparing to leave for the day and your customer trips over it. Hes irate, having hurt himself, and sues your landscaping business for the cost of his medical bills.
Without general liability insurance, you may have to pay for his medical fees out-of-pocket, which could put your company into unexpected debt. With coverage though, you could be covered for the cost of his medical bills, as well as legal fees, up to your policys limit.
Build Relationships With Decision Makers
Regular contact with your potential clients can help you earn their trust in you and your business. Not all the people you network with will become lawn care clients, but they might lead a potential customer your way.
Use these tips to build relationships with potential lawn care clients:
- Go door to door. Visit businesses and ask to see the owner or site manager. Then tell them you run a lawn care business and youll be around when they want a change in service. If you cant meet the decision maker, leave a business card at the front desk.
- Create connections on LinkedIn. Follow the clients business on social media so you can like, share, and comment on their posts. Once youve shown genuine interest in what they do, send a friendly message introducing yourselfand continue engaging with their posts to keep the connection strong.
- Join a trade association. Your city or town probably has a small business association, as well as trades associations for other lawn, landscaping, and home service professionals. Many of these groups host events where you can connect with people in your industryand start earning referrals.
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Identify Your Target Clients
To find commercial lawn care clients, focus on specific types or sizes of business as your clientele. Only contacting clients that are a good fit for your business increases your chances of winning work.
If youre just starting commercial work, start with small properties. You need to build up a reputation for doing great commercial lawn work before big clients will contact you for large-scale jobs.
Look for businesses with small properties , or single-business properties. These can include local restaurants, retail stores, gas stations, and bank branches.
If you have commercial experience and are ready to tackle bigger contracts, look for:
- Real estate agencies
READ MORE: How to write a lawn care business plan
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Tap Into Your Residential Clients
Your existing relationships and clients are an easy place to start. If you previously worked with residential accounts, you can use your already established relationships to secure recommendations for commercial clients. Ask your clients if they have any commercial businesses that need your services, or if they can endorse you to businesses they know.
Landscape Maintenance Contracts 101
Five questions to ask before signing on the dotted line
No two landscape maintenance contracts are the same so how do you know yours is right for you? Use the Five W’s as your guide. The famous who, what, where, when, and why method is also a useful tool for evaluating whether a landscape maintenance contract will serve you and your landscape well. Just like negotiating a snow and ice removal contract, knowing what to ask during the process is crucial. Lets break it down:
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Make Your Sales Pitch
Start contacting potential clients youve met and offer your services. Tell them why you have the best team for the job, and that you can send a bid when the client is ready.
If you have a phone number, call the client to make your pitch. If you only have the clients business address, send a customized pitch letter that tells them why they should invite you to bid as a lawn care provider.
Your pitch letter should include:
- Your name, business name, and address
- A subject line that states you want to offer your services
- The services you can offer the client
- How much experience you have in lawn maintenance
- What makes your company unique
- Any special techniques or equipment that would help you do a better job than your competitors
- Limited-time offers or discounts that sweeten the deal
After sending your letter, follow up with the client over phone or email to find out if theyve looked at it. If they need more time, ask if you can follow up again in two or three days.
Following up frequently ensures you stay on your potential clients mind, and it increases your chances of getting invited to bid. Dont be afraid to keep following upitll feel less aggressive and easier the more you do it!
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Keep Searching For Commercial Lawn Care Opportunities
Winning lawn care and landscaping contracts takes a lot of work and experimentation. Its easier when you know who your target clients are, where to find them, how to build strong connections, and how to ask for the sale.
Start out small and see whats working best for your business. Once you land your first commercial contract, it only gets easier over time.
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Ask For Referrals From Happy Customers
Even with all the different ways to grow your business, word of mouth is still the most effective form of advertising because people trust what their peers have to say about various products and services. This is what makes asking for referrals from happy customers such an effective way to get more commercial landscaping accounts.
While referrals can be a great resource for getting prospects in your sales pipeline, theyre not predictable or sustainable for long-term growth. If you use referrals, make sure you also use other methods to generate prospects and you dont make it your only approach to business growth.
Is Your Small Business Ready To Expand Into Commercial Work
To lighten up your math homework, we engineered theAspire softwares ROI calculator so you can better understand what areas of your business require investment.
This calculator gives you the insight you need to approach pricing in a new field. If you have the room to offer amazing prices, go for it. But if your margins are slim, be strategic.
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How Much Do I Charge For Commercial Lawn Care
The question arises, what could be the right price for commercial lawn care jobs? Should you keep your commercial jobs pricing set or variable?
Depending on the current market situation, a lawn care service can cost between $50 and $250. Prices are affected by various factors, including the size of the lawn, the local economy, and whether additional services are requested, including trimming, weeding, or landscaping.
To ensure your employees get well-paid, handle equipment costs and make your company profitable, you should set standard pricing for each service.
Optimizing your workflow is key to balancing lawn care prices, minimizing expenses, and maximizing profits. If you want to get some high-paying commercial clients, then it is advisable to keep the commercial lawn care contracts prices genuine.
The pricing of lawn care services plays a crucial role in the success of your lawn care company.
To charge for lawn services, you first have to understand how you will be able to charge for them, and this is to figure out what your costs will be. There are three main contractor payment methods: by the hour, by the square footage, or by the job.
Reach Out To Potential Buyers
When youre ready to get more commercial landscaping jobs, its important that you start by reaching out to potential buyers and decision-makers in your target market. Not every business in your service area knows you exist, so you need to intentionally put yourself in front of potential clients and start building relationships with business owners, property managers, and facility managers.
In the lawn care industry, there are two incredibly effective ways to reach out to prospects and get more commercial work, and thats by cold calling and sending sales emails. While both are impactful for landing commercial lawn care accounts, they require different approaches.
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How To Get Commercial Lawn Mowing Contracts
For those who own and operate a small lawn mowing business, it can be challenging to take your venture to the next level. Expanding into commercial lawn care is a great way to line up steady work, but its not always easy. Without an existing network of contacts and clients, its hard to get started in commercial lawn mowing.
Theres definitely no shortage of commercial lawn care contracts up for grabs many establishments have lawns that will need regular mowing year-round. But getting started in commercial mowing is the hardest part: you cant just walk up to the manager of your local retirement home and ask to mow their lawns. There is a process involved in bidding on commercial contracts and a lot of factors you need to consider.
Whether you are a long-time owner of a lawn mowing company, or somebody new to the industry, understanding the commercial contracting process is essential. We have collated information to help you win more lawn mowing contracts, so continue reading below to find out how.
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