how to start a home-based Landscaping Business

Compared with most businesses, getting into landscaping is a snap. There’s no store to rent, no fixtures to install, no inventory, no fancy corporate offices, often not even any employees. Just borrow some money from the folks, buy an old truck, throw the family lawn mower into the back, and off you go. Because of this, most people choose to start their own business rather than buy an established business, but sometimes buying a going concern can be a wise choice.

The advantages of starting from scratch are many. You can design everything the way you want, from the letterhead to the tool shed to the public image of your business. You don’t have the sins of the previous owner to account for, or that owner’s debts. You get to do things your way. I started from scratch, and I’ve never regretted it.

But starting from scratch isn’t for everybody. You’ll make a lot of mistakes, and any one of them could be fatal. It’s a little like the legendary explorer John Wesley Powell canoeing down the Grand Canyon for the first time with no idea of what was ahead and only one arm with which to paddle. He made it, but what a ride! Not only will you have to build a clientele from scratch, but compared with buying a business, you’ll also probably spend more on advertising and work harder to convince people your new company is as good as the one they’ve been dealing with for years.

If you can afford it, buying a healthy, well-respected business might be just the thing for you, especially if your horticultural or business experience is limited. People have many reasons for selling their businesses, and not every sale comes with the rattle of skeletons in the closet. When you buy, you step quietly into the driver’s seat. You take advantage of the reputation, the client list, and the momentum of a going concern. You purchase a billing system, tools and equipment, an advertising program, the whole works. And you usually get a mentor for a while, the seller, who has years of experience to pass along to you.

However, if you fail to thoroughly investigate the background of your potential business purchase, you may be buying disaster. When you buy a business, you buy the liabilities as well as the assets, and the seller may be working overtime to conceal some of these. The worst nightmare is finding out you suddenly have a few lawsuits on your hands, but there are plenty of other things that can be wrong. Has the seller cooked the books to falsify profits? Is the equipment in good shape, or does it just look that way? Are there disgruntled employees? How many of the people on the customer list are truly happy, and how many are fed up and ready to go elsewhere? Is the owner planning to open up again down the street, taking the established clients along? Are there unpaid bills? Taxes? Well, don’t buy any business without a full audit from a certified public accountant (“CPA”) and a darn good attorney to look everything over. Remember, too, that paying for your new business is going to cost you plenty; some up front and the rest in regular payments for many years. A good business is worth it; a bad one is not.

Maintenance routes are often for sale, sometimes at bargain prices. In some cases you buy just a list of weekly mowing or gardening clients. If the price is right, this can be a good deal, but consider the cost of developing the same dollar amount of business on your own. Make sure the jobs are bid at realistic prices, and the clients are happy. Buying a good route can be a way to get up and running fast. Often this type of sale is advertised informally—ask around at your suppliers, nurseries, and so forth. (Tip: Be sure the route is being sold only to you, not to six other gardeners as well. What a shock when they all show up on the job! This happened to someone I know.)

Working Out of Your Home

I’ve been in business for over forty-four years, and I’ve always worked out of my home, even when I had several crews and an office manager. I love it and hope I’ll never have to have an office downtown. Now, this would sound crazy to a lot of people who, perhaps mostly for ego reasons, lust after a fancy location in a prestigious office building on Main Street. To each his own, but I like to work from home.

Consider all the good things about working from home: The best one is the short, usually peaceful commute to work. A close second is the opportunity to raid the fridge at any time. It’s easier to set your own hours and maybe spend more time with your family. And it’s really cheap because your overhead is so low, an especially important factor if business slows down. You can even deduct part of your house expenses as a cost of doing business, perfectly legally (more information on this later in the chapter). The idea of journeying downtown to the office every day like most poor suckers do gives me the willies. I just stumble in to the converted garage (aka World Headquarters), often wearing my funkiest clothes, usually not awake enough to drive, and I get right to work. The time savings alone adds an extra hour to my day. It’s the greatest.

Disadvantages? Of course there are some. The biggest potential problem is that the zoning ordinances of your community may prohibit you from running a small business from your home or may limit the kinds of activities you are allowed to engage in. If you’re planning to have twenty laborers show up every morning at 7:00, load tractors and mowers and equipment into a bunch of trucks, and then hang out in the backyard and drink coffee for half an hour before they noisily depart in a blue cloud of exhaust, you’d better think twice. That kind of activity is not only inconsiderate of the neighbors, it’s probably illegal in a purely residential neighborhood. The same may be true if you’re planning to open a retail nursery in the front yard.

Many communities do permit a small home office, providing you don’t engage in odious behavior. (You may eventually need to rent a storage yard for your trucks and equipment and have your workers show up there, not at your house.) So before you go any further, get a copy of the local regulations from city hall or the county offices (or from their website), and be sure you can comply with them. Now’s the time to find out, not later when you’re kicked off your own property, maybe with the local newspaper reporter on the scene. By the way, if you’re renting, check with the landlord, too.

There are some other problems with operating out of your home. One of the worst is that you can never get away from your job. Sure, go ahead and close the door; see how much good that does you. You’ll still hear the phone ringing, and the stack of unfinished paperwork will cry loudly through the thin walls. You eventually grow used to this, though. If you have kids, it’s not easy to make them understand that you’re working. That’s also true of friends who plop down in the chair next to your desk and proceed to visit, as if you had nothing better to do. After all, you’re home, right? I finally made a sign that says, “WORK IN PROGRESS. PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB.” It might be offensive to some of my visitors, but it usually does the job. I also suggest you keep regular office hours. It’ll be easier on you and everyone else.

Some types of businesses could never operate from a home, but because gardeners and landscapers do business this way more often than not, it’s seen by the public as an acceptable approach and shouldn’t hurt your image. Eventually, people will figure out where you live, so you’d better landscape your place pretty nicely and keep it spotlessly maintained, at least the part everyone can see. This brings up a final point: Somewhere you’ve got to have a mess—trucks, equipment, soil amendments, plants that haven’t made it to the job yet, leftover materials. If this mess is in your backyard, you’ll have to look at it every day, even on your days off. Take a look at your yard and make sure it will accommodate your needs.

Tools and Equipment

You’ll need two basic kinds of equipment: the tools of your trade and the tools of the office. Fortunately, you can start out simply and expand as needed.

One important rule for all purchases: Always buy the absolute best quality of everything: Nothing fancy, just solid good stuff that will perform well and last for a long time. I’ve never regretted buying a first-rate tool, but many times I’ve kicked myself for buying a so-called bargain. Remember that you’ll be using your tools every day under severe conditions. They need to be more durable than if you were going to haul them out of the garage only once every few weeks for an hour’s use in your backyard. Buy industrial-rated tools and equipment at places where the pros shop.

The standard array of tools and equipment will vary, depending on the kind of work you do and, to a minor degree, on where you live. You’ll need certain basic “starter” tools right away.

A maintenance gardener working alone or with a helper will need the following tools:

Cutting tools: Pruning shears and holster, loppers (for big branches), a folding pruning saw, a pole pruner (for trees and tall shrubs), hedge trimmers, a large pruning saw, a small chainsaw, perhaps a machete and sheath.

Cleanup tools: Leaf rakes, bow rakes, a push broom, a utility broom, a blower. (However, blowers are not popular with customers because they make noise and pollute. Get brownie points for doing without if you can.)

Lawn-care tools: A rotary mower for cool-season lawns, a reel mower for warm-season lawns (where applicable), some kind of edger (most often a string trimmer, which serves many other functions), grass shears. There’s a huge and legitimate backlash against gas-powered garden machinery. Consider swearing off the power equipment and sticking to hand tools when you can. Clients will love you for having respect for the environment and for their peace and quiet.

Digging tools: Square- and round-point shovels (avoid the short-handled kind; they’re too hard on the back), a spade, a scoop shovel, a cultivating fork, a trowel, a mattock (the head has a pick on one side, a digger on the other) or pulaski (an axe/digger combination), a snow shovel in cold climates.

Hauling tools: A contractor’s wheelbarrow, a garden cart, a heavy-duty hand truck, a couple of trash cans or plastic tarps, a brush hook, a manure fork.

Pest control equipment: A tank sprayer, a backpack sprayer, a dust applicator, a couple of gopher or mole traps.

Weeding tools: You’ll want various kinds of hoes (including an “action” hoe and a heavy-duty eye hoe), an asparagus knife, possibly a flame weeder, and whatever other weeding implements you like (it seems like every gardener has a personal preference).

Watering equipment: Heavy-duty 5⁄8-inch hoses (the rubber ones don’t kink and last longer in heavy use), a pistol-type hose nozzle, a couple of soaker hoses, a hose-end sprinkler or two, a watering can.

Some special things: A soil sampler tube, a gas can, oil, a big tarp for covering loads of brush, at least 100 feet of heavy manila rope, some bungee cords, a couple of 50-foot extension cords, and a box of rags.

For climbing: An 8-foot tripod ladder; it’s much steadier on uneven ground than the regular four-legged kind. A regular four-legged ladder if you work on paved surfaces.

Equipment for safety and comfort: Knee pads, leather gloves, rubber gloves, rain gear, rubber boots, steel-toed boots, goggles, a face shield, ear protection, a dust mask, spray coveralls, a respirator, a first-aid kit, a giant-sized bottle of sun block, insect repellent, poison oak/ivy protection, a safety vest, and a wide-brimmed hat.

Maintenance tools: A socket set, wrenches, screwdrivers, a grinding wheel, a sharpening stone, a couple of files, a cordless drill with accessories.

Identify your tools with a band of spray paint, by engraving your name into them, or in some other way to avoid taking home a client’s favorite shovel.

Keep spare parts on hand. All it takes is the failure of some little doohinkus on your lawn mower to put you out of work and behind schedule. Carry extra doohinkuses in your truck.

Naturally, you have to put all this equipment in some kind of truck. Some gardeners use bare-bones “chassis cab” trucks outfitted with flatbeds; they’re a lot more versatile than a regular pickup because they can handle more kinds of payloads and are easier to load and unload. Until recently, it was possible to order a relatively fuel-efficient mini-pickup with a custom flatbed, but manufacturers aren’t doing that much anymore. Fortunately, gas mileage for all trucks has improved considerably in the past few years, so size doesn’t matter as much as it used to. Lots of maintenance outfits are switching over to enclosed vans, which protect the contents better against weather and theft. You won’t need anything super heavy duty for gardening, but think ahead to the day when you’ll be asked to haul a load of soil or some railroad ties or tow a trailer. Your truck doesn’t have to be new. Most people expect you to show up in something a little work-worn, so a used vehicle is OK as long as it doesn’t look too sketchy. Just keep it in good running condition, because if it breaks down, you don’t work and your clients aren’t happy.

Whatever you buy, outfit it with high, solid sideboards for hauling trash and mulch, and with some sort of system for storing your tools and equipment. A row of PVC pipes strapped vertically to the backboard can accommodate the long-handled tools; you might put the smaller stuff in a couple of ready-made boxes along the sides or underneath the bed if you have a flatbed truck. There are some great ready-made tool racks available these days for very little money. For dump runs, you’ll need a large, heavy tarp and about 100 feet of 3/8-inch manila rope or a couple of tie-down straps. It’s also nice to have a pair of ramps for loading and unloading mowers; try a couple of Douglas-fir 2-by-12s for starters and graduate to the ready-mode steel or aluminum kind later.

Whew! That’s a lot of gear. Not counting the truck, all these tools and trappings should set you back around $7,000 to $9,000 if bought new. A few weekends spent snooping around garage sales and swap meets can save you a lot of money. You could also try putting the whole purchase out to bid, assuming you have the money to buy it all at one time.

Landscaping work requires most of the gardener’s equipment (except for the lawn-care and pest control things), plus some specialized equipment. Much of the landscaper’s work involves heavy digging, grading, and planting. Now, don’t go out and buy a tractor. I know you want to, but in over forty years I’ve never needed to own a tractor; few small companies really do. That’s what rental yards are for. Why tie up so much capital in equipment you’ll probably only rarely use? The same goes for trenchers, sod-cutting machines, and even rototillers. Until you’ve got a bigger business and more work, just rent what you need. Don’t get in over your head.

Digging tools: A digging bar, shovels and spades, a mattock or pulaski, a rail-road pick, and a hand-operated posthole digger should get you through most excavating work. For larger jobs, rent the equipment you need or hire out the tractor work, especially if you’re not too good with operating heavy equipment.

Hand grading tools: A bow rake, a wide aluminum or wood grading rake, a spring rake, a flat shovel.

For moving materials: Invest in a sturdy 5-cubic-foot-capacity steel contractor’s wheelbarrow. It’s also great for mixing small amounts of concrete and makes a pretty comfortable easy chair at lunch. A big aluminum or plastic scoop shovel will move mulch or other lightweight materials much faster than a regular shovel. A five-tine pitchfork is great for loading mulch.

Other earth-oriented tools: You can use a lawn roller for installing sod and for compacting loose paving materials. Use a hand tamper for compacting; rent a power tamper (also known as a “jumping jack”) or a vibratory plate compactor for big jobs.

For beating on things: A sledgehammer (eight to ten pounds), a single jack (fancy name for a small sledgehammer), and a stake driver for tree stakes.

Measuring: A sighting level or transit is used to measure elevations, set grades, and level things; the new laser levels are amazing and not all that expensive. You’ll need two tape measures—a 100-foot fiberglass one and a 30-foot-long-by-1-inch-wide steel one. A measuring wheel is great for estimating and rough measuring.

For marking things: Invest in a marking paint applicator or a chalk wheel (to lay out beds, paving, and other proposed improvements), some pin flags in different colors (to identify the location of sprinkler heads and to flag planting locations, among many uses), and a few rolls of flagging tape (to flag plants that need to be pruned or removed).

For carpentry and other kinds of construction: You’ll need (just for starters) some basic carpenter’s tools—claw and framing hammers, a level, a square, a plumb bob, a chalk line, a roll of mason’s twine, handsaws, a worm-drive power saw with carbide blades, masonry blades, and steel-cutting blades, a cordless circular saw, a heavy-duty half-inch drill motor and bits, and a small battery-operated drill. Don’t go for lightweight power tools because they won’t do the job and they won’t last.

Irrigation work: Begin with pipe shears, a hacksaw, large and small groove-joint pliers, pipe wrenches (12-inch or 24-inch or one of each), a tubing cutter, a plumber’s torch.

The inevitable miscellany: Tin snips, pry bars, vise-grip pliers, bolt and rebar cutters (24-inch minimum), and maybe a come-along.

The price of all this? About $8,000 to $10,000 new, much less if you buy it used.

Your first truck should be a heavy-duty one (one-ton rated), preferably a flatbed with solid plywood sideboards at least 2 feet tall. Later, you can graduate to two trucks: a little pickup for errands and estimating and a big flatbed for heavy hauling. You might even consider a small electric or hybrid car (or even a bicycle) for times when you don’t need a truck. It’ll save you on operating costs and clients will love your progressive attitude. Under-the-bed toolboxes are great, but you may want at least one box mounted on the bed as well. An absolute necessity is a heavy-duty overhead rack, because you’ll almost always have some lumber or a couple sticks of pipe on board. A pipe vise mounted on the back is a good idea too—one clever contractor mounted his on a removable trailer hitch that could be stored out of the way when not in use. But don’t get carried away with nifty truck accessories, because you’ll often need the whole bed free to haul plants, soil amendments, and materials. If you can afford it, have a dumping mechanism installed; it saves you years of shoveling.

Now you know that you’ll soon be the owner of a lot of cumbersome, valuable, and not very pretty (by the standards of the rest of the world) equipment. Where does it go at night? When I started, I had to park on the street, tools stashed in the back and cab of the old Ford. One Christmas night someone broke in and stole everything. I had no insurance against theft, and so it cost me $2,500 in 1973 prices just to go to work the next day. That was more money than I had, and it took a long time to recover. That’s learning about security the hard way. If possible, get a shed or make some space in the garage, put some tool racks on the wall, find a place out back, do something to protect your equipment. It’s not just security that’s a consideration; the better organized you are, the easier and more productive your work will be. Plus, your tools will last longer if they’re out of the weather.

For many years I spent evenings and Sundays in the shop sharpening mower blades, cleaning sprayers, and doing brake jobs on trucks. You probably will too, so if you’re not mechanically inclined, you’ll be at a disadvantage. Taking everything to the mechanic or dealer is just too costly for the average start-up company; letting it fall apart is foolish. So, learn how to keep things clean, safe and reliable and then do it. When something’s too much for your abilities, take it to a pro.

You’ll be spending a lot of time out in the field, but not all of it. There’s usually a good-sized heap of paperwork and phone calls awaiting you at what rightfully should be the end of the workday. You’ll need a comfortable, efficient work space; nothing fancy, just good basic furniture and equipment. Working off the dining-room table is no fun.

First, locate a spot to call “The Office.” The IRS wants you to put your office in a separate room or space that’s used only for business. If you fail to do this, it may deny all your deductions for a home office. It also has to be your principal place of business. Check with your accountant for specifics on this important issue, because regulations change frequently.

Aside from tax implications, the home office needs to meet some other requirements. Not the least of these is peacefulness. Preparing bids, billing, and organizing jobs is mentally demanding. If there’s the hubbub of kids and street noise and people running in and out, you’ll risk disaster by inserting an extra zero somewhere. Peace and quiet also helps your image when you’re on the phone. Did you ever try to converse with someone who sounds like they’re calling from a bar or the playground of an elementary school at lunchtime? How unprofessional! So pick a quiet room. It helps if there’s a door leading directly outside, especially when employees or clients need to see you. I used to march everyone through the whole house to my little office, and it was often kind of embarrassing and didn’t make a good impression I’m sure. If you don’t have a perfect room, how about using a corner of the garage or a shed out back?

Now to the office contents. Get a big desk. I’d say it’s impossible to have a desk that’s too big. Mine’s a 3 1/2-foot-wide hollow-core door set on two 2-drawer file cabinets. I made it in a couple of hours back in 1979 for about fifty bucks including file cabinets, and it’s still going strong. When I die, they’ll probably carry my body out on it (“Oh, the poor fellow, he was so devoted to his work that he died sitting at his desk . . .”). Naturally, it’s always covered with stuff, except for a 2-square-foot space directly in front of me.

You’ll need a phone. Phone technology has changed over the years, and today many small business people use just their cell phones so that they remain in touch all the time and save on the cost of a landline. That really makes sense, but of course you may want to invest in a conventional phone and landline to have a backup. You can have your calls forwarded to your cell phone. Virtually any modern phone has lots of features, including voice mail to take messages. Now, if they’d only invent one that returned the calls for you! The best phone gadget of all is a headset. You’ll feel foolish wearing it at first, but boy, does it ever save your neck! Finally, you’ll need a book of telephone message forms, the kind that keeps a carbon copy permanently bound in a spiral binding. Why? First, if you lose the original message, you can always look it up on the copy. Second, if there’s a question you can look back and refresh your memory about who called. I do this all the time. Finally, you’ll have legal documentation in case of a dispute.

Even though computers do much work that was once done by other means, some of the old-fashioned tools still make sense to have. One of those is a calculator, to be used for the many small tasks a computer would be clumsy at. A desk calculator is better than a pocket one for various reasons. Speed is one, having a printed tape is another, ease of operation is a third. Try to get one with a mark-up/mark-down key for bidding.

My desk doesn’t have much on it these days. The computer has taken the place of the old fax machine, the datebook, the calendar, and assorted other things that were formerly essential. What it hasn’t done is get rid of the messy heap of papers and books and other junk that I can never seem to get under control. But I suppose I have only myself to blame for that.

Computers are essential in today’s business world. They’re great at repetitive chores; they never forget anything, and they can zoom through lots of jobs that you could never accomplish any other way. For example, suppose you were preparing a special advertising mailer and wanted to find all your clients living in a certain zip code who did more than $2,000 in business with you last year, always paid their bills on time, and have lawns larger than 5,000 square feet. If you were to rely on a manual search of your old-fashioned paper records, you could be at it for hours. With a computer, it’s a simple matter of telling it what you want and waiting a few seconds for the results.

On the other hand, computers are a pain. You’ll spend many hours learning to use even the most user-friendly computer and software. Then you have to enter all that data, which takes more hours, and maintain the system, which will demand at least a couple of hours a month—more if you wisely do regular backups to avoid losing everything in a crash (and personally I don’t entirely trust the “cloud” and so I use on-site backups as a backup to my backup).

Still, you’ll gain more than you lose, and besides, computers are more fun than paper. These days, computers can handle everything except making the coffee in the morning. Here are some of the things a computer can do for you:

■ Database: A database of your clients, coupled with a system of forms, can automate your entire flow of paperwork, from the first contact with the client to the final bill. Your ability to respond to (and therefore please) your clients will increase markedly with this in place.

■ Bidding: Computerized bidding is faster, easier, and more accurate. You can plug your numbers into a spreadsheet or estimating software and play “what-if” until you get the bid just right. Computer bidding can improve your competitiveness, responsiveness, and profitability.

■ Promotion and presentation: Documents produced on the computer look worlds better than hand-written ones. Because you don’t have much to impress potential clients with (no fancy store or zippy corporate image), your bids, promotional literature, and other handouts are your best chance at convincing them that you’re an OK person. Put something together on the computer—perhaps using a pre-designed template that comes with the software—print it on some really classy paper, hand it to them in a nice folder, and wow! Or go paperless and send them your snazzy docs via email. For people who don’t have a graphics background, it’s easy to find a template in most word processing and page layout applications that you can simply fill in with your own information and get something that looks as good as if you had spent a couple thousand dollars on custom design. And today’s automated print shops, making their services available online, can deliver first-class full-color brochures, business cards, and other sales materials for a fraction of what printing used to cost. (Tip: Don’t be a spammer, sending out mass emails to recipients who have not agreed to hear from you from time to time. It will get you in trouble with your email host, and it’s just rude. It may be illegal too; look up “CAN-SPAM Act” for details. What you can do is send emails to people with whom you have come into contact and who would appreciate knowing what you offer. Do this through an online service, which costs a pittance and protects you against claims of abuse from your host.)

■ Bookkeeping and taxes: Use a spreadsheet to automate your single-entry system or, better yet, buy off-the-shelf software that will do your estimates, billing, ledgers, accounts payable and receivable, profit-and-loss statements, and a lot more. It’ll write the checks, post them, and spit out reports all day long. You’ll love it at tax time because all your book-keeping will be ready to take to your accountant. Keep in mind that your bookkeeping needs might be minimal in the first year or two of your startup, and you could probably get by with an old-fashioned paper-based system. I used the Dome system for many years until my business got too big for it and I realized that it was time to go digital. But you know, these days I can’t see any reason not to start out with a computer based bookkeeping system, since you’ll need it soon enough anyway.

■ Communications: You can send and receive documents of all kinds, communicate via email, and surf the Internet. You can keep track of the weather, the news, and the landscaping industry. Start a blog to keep clients and others informed of company news and special offers. Use social networking sites to promote your business far and wide.

■ Drafting: Nearly all designers use CAD (Computer-Aided Design) to draw their plans. And not just bird’s-eye view plot plans but astoundingly realistic 3-D images, and even mature landscapes superimposed on before-photos of the client’s property, showing how it will look when the work is done. Can you imagine how compelling that can be as a sales tool for you? CAD takes time to learn how to use, but there are entry-level systems that are easy to learn, don’t cost much, and are more than adequate for your needs as a small company. You don’t need an expensive plotter to print your designs; just email the completed files to your local blueprint shop and they’ll deliver perfect hard copies for very little money.

■ Using the Internet: The Internet offers a galaxy of online resources for the gardener, landscaper, and small business owner that is almost over-whelming, and there are many websites of quality and value waiting for you. You can tap into the availability of plants at your favorite growers, get irrigation catalogs and design information from manufacturers, take courses on line, follow your competition by reading through their websites, network with colleagues about nearly any subject, set up a low-cost Internet-based phone network, open a merchant account for free so that you can take credit card payments, put your calendar and scheduling information on line for your staff to access, even set up a jobsite webcam and link it to a page for clients and others to monitor the progress of your work. And of course you should develop your own company website (and a blog if you like to write) as soon as you possibly can; it’s essential to most any business these days. You don’t even need a web developer anymore, with the customizable templates available from several companies, many of them free if you set up shop with them as host. (That only scratches the surface. For more on the Internet, see the section below on software options and also visit Appendix 1.)

Windows or Mac . . . which computer platform should you commit to? Each has its fans and foes, and frankly either is OK. Windows machines are cheaper than Macs and there’s more specialized software available. Macs are easier to use, better for graphics-based applications, and, well, sexier. (In case you’re wondering, I’m a long-time Mac guy, having bought a Fat Mac in 1983 when they first came out, and I’ve never abandoned the Mac platform even though I have my gripes about it. And no, I don’t get into a hissy fit if someone thinks Windows is better. It’s just not that important. Neither is perfect, both will drive you nuts at times, and both are miracles of technology that will do a heck of a lot of your hard work for you. Just get what you like and can afford.)

Any software package that’s specially tailored for a particular industry or application, such as a package just for landscape contractors, is called vertical market software. The idea is that everything is all set up (computer geeks call it turnkey), and you can do everything you need to without much training. Theoretically it’s written by people who understand your business and know what you need. Vertical market software is usually more expensive than off-the-shelf software. Examples of vertical market software for our industry include landscape design and imaging software, remote time-clocking for employees, satellite-based site measuring services (imagine!), equipment maintenance tracking systems, crew routing and scheduling programs, programs that track fertilizer and pesticide applications for each of your jobs, irrigation design packages, bidding programs, and job tracking and billing applications.

Do you need a vertical market system? Probably not. First, you’re starting small, with relatively simple needs that can easily be met by a good off-the-shelf software package and a few hours of tinkering. You can set it up the way you want, not the way somebody thought you wanted. In fact, the way people do things in this business is so varied that I’ve never seen a vertical package that truly pleased very many people, though I am no expert on the subject and I could be doing a disservice to some great products. Finally, how do you know if this fancy vertical market hot rod actually works—or for that matter, if the little company (most of them are) that produced it will even be around in a year to answer your questions? Still, if you were to get started with a vertical market package, you wouldn’t have to retool your entire operation later should you decide to change over. If you do go this route, find something that’s been around for a while, preferably something a few other people use and like. Many of the larger companies have booths you can visit at trade shows, where you can get a walk-through of how the system works. Before you commit to anything, insist on a free demo so you can try it out at your own speed without some salesperson breathing down your neck.

You can buy a single, relatively inexpensive software package that includes a database, word-processing function, spreadsheet, and calendar application all rolled into one. In my opinion, an off-the-shelf integrated package beats the knickers off any other approach for the small businessperson. Have a look at a few integrated programs, try them out if possible, and see what you think. This may be the way to go for you.

How much should you plan to spend on a computer system? Advice on the cost of computers is usually obsolete before it’s written down. The great news is, prices drop constantly. Computers and software get cheaper and better the longer you wait. Also, you can buy a good used system for practically nothing.

■ Computer: A good basic computer, either Windows or Macintosh, with a 15 inch display for a laptop or at least a 21 or 24 inch display for a desktop, at least eight gigabytes of RAM (random-access memory), a 500 giga-byte hard drive, and at least a 2.0 GHz processor. Consider starting with a laptop, which will save space on your desk and allow you to take the machine with you wherever you go. You can pick up a good new machine that meets these specs for around $1,000. (This advice is also usually obsolete in a hurry. Buy whatever the current technology makes available at a reasonable price and don’t go overboard, because your needs are really minimal compared to those of someone who does graphics or big-time number crunching.)

■ Tablet: In addition to your computer, consider getting a tablet for field use. You’ll be able to access much if not all of your data, and you get other benefits as well. I use my tablet in client meetings to go over plant photos, design ideas, and images of hardscape details. I can access my notes, calendar, and client database. (Of course I never use it to play games or waste my time on Facebook or anything like that!)

■ Printer: Either an ink-jet or a laser printer are fine. Get one that prints in color so that you can produce eye-catching documents. Some of the newest generation multi-use machines work great and cost practically nothing. My newest printer is also a fax machine (how quaint!), a scanner, and a full-featured copier that’s pretty much the equal of one you’d find in a copy shop; I paid around $200 for it and couldn’t be happier.

■ Wi-Fi router: There’s no longer any need to hard wire into your modem to connect with the outside world. A basic Wi-Fi router is dirt cheap and gives you the freedom to move around with your equipment.

■ DSL or cable modem: This will usually be supplied by your Internet service provider, or purchased to their specifications, and will match their needs as well as yours. Be sure to get a modem that complies with the latest technology that your ISP provides, so that you get the fastest performance available.

■ Scanner: You don’t really need a scanner, but it sure is handy at times. Use a scanner to digitize most anything that’s on paper, including forms, letters, images, and notes. That keeps your paper files on the skinny side and gives you access to all your records from wherever you are. Scanners are inexpensive and easy to use.

■ UPS: No, not the friendly brown delivery trucks. A UPS is an “uninterruptible power supply” that keeps the system in operation if there’s a power failure. Built in to a UPS is a surge protector that guards your equipment against damaging voltage spikes. It’s a necessity with today’s complex, delicate computers.

■ Backup options: First of all, realize the importance of backing up your data. Sooner or later your hard drive will crash, and if your data is unrecoverable, as it often is, you’ll feel SO good when you can simply reload it all from a backup. Remember, these aren’t kitty pictures we’re talking about; your data is the lifeblood of your business. I follow my computer consultant’s advice—a belt-and-suspenders approach that combines an always-on automatic and continuous cloud backup that keeps an up-to-date copy of your data on an off-site computer (for a modest annual fee) paired with an on-site backup using a dedicated second hard drive that I update . . . well, not every day like I should but as regularly as I can. I keep my on-site hard drive in a fireproof file cabinet, but you would be even wiser to store it elsewhere. Since you will be working at home, taking it home is not helpful, but perhaps you could keep it at a friend’s house. I know this sounds like a pain, and it is. But hey, you’ll thank me when your system eventually poops out on you and you realize the value of all this.

Now we come to the software options. The world of software is vast and confusing. Here are some of the most helpful types of programs I’ve found and a little bit on how to make them work for you.

■ Integrated packages: The integrated package combines software that’s otherwise sold separately: a word-processing program, a database, a spreadsheet, a calendar program, perhaps some graphics or a presentation package. The price is less than buying the programs separately, and each module is linked to the others so that the programs function as a coordinated system. The degree of integration, ease of use, and versatility vary from product to product. Integrated software is a good first software purchase; in fact, it often comes bundled with a new computer. You’ll set up a database for your clients, which will generate mailing labels, invoices, and other billing records. You’ll use the word-processing function for contracts, form letters, and correspondence. The spread-sheet will handle your bidding. The calendar will keep your schedule organized. You can even generate fancy presentations for selling purposes.

■ Accounting: For a relatively small investment, you can buy a program that will create estimates, translate them into purchase orders and then into invoices, and keep track of each transaction in accounts receivable. On the payables side, it will record bills from suppliers and subcontractors, automatically write checks, and keep track of your accounts payable, reminding you when to pay bills. At the same time, all this information is going (without any help from you) into your profit-and-loss statement, balance sheet, and year-end tax returns. The program will even keep track of payroll, and remind you when to make payroll tax deposits. Some programs will even interview you when first put into service and will then set themselves up with your needs in mind. This is incredible stuff and well worth having. There are a couple of important caveats, though. First, be sure that the program meets your needs. Talk to a couple of people who are using it in a similar business—another contractor, for example. See if any professional bookkeepers are using it and ask them what problems they’ve encountered. Be sure there aren’t any limitations in the program that would make it unsuitable for you. Second, these programs have to be set up exactly right, especially the opening entries, and you’ll need to spend some billable time with your accountant before you begin to use the system. Consider hiring an expert to set things up for you; it’s a wise investment for most people. Finally, bookkeeping software requires discipline to use because everything has to be done just so or you’ll create more problems than you solve—but that’s what bookkeeping is all about anyway. The bottom line is that a good bookkeeping program is a fantastic addition to your business. It will save you many hours of work, produce superior results, and keep your business on track.

■ Calendar/scheduling: When I got rid of the dog-eared appointment book that I’d been carrying around forever and switched to a computer-based calendar, my life got instantly easier. Now, the computer reminds me when it’s time to leave for appointments, pay bills, and make phone calls. It keeps things on my to-do list until I do them and puts the list in my face every morning so I can’t escape my duties. It prioritizes my work so that I’m reminded to do the most important things first. It keeps a list of active clients and dials the phone for me when I want to call them. And of course your calendar will sync with your smart phone and other devices, making sure that the details of your life follow you wherever you go.

■ Project management: If you get into big projects, or a lot of little ones, it’s helpful to master plan your workload. You can do this on a chalkboard or a piece of paper, but project management software is a much better choice. You can compare the progress of your jobs with your projections, separate jobs into discrete tasks like “install deck” or “put in sprinkler system,” or allocate people and equipment to specific jobs, and handle routing to make the best use of crews and equipment and save driving time and gas, to name a few of the tasks the computer can handle with ease. When circumstances change, the computer will effortlessly reshuffle everything for you.

■ Plant selection: People have been trying for years to come up with a computer program that will allow you to enter, for example, soil type, sun or shade, and type of plant, and get back a list of suitable species. It’s a great idea that could save a lot of work and generate much richer and more accurate plant lists than the usual process of going through books and lists. Unfortunately, nobody has really succeeded at this difficult task yet, at least to my satisfaction. Investigate some of the programs on the market, but don’t expect truly professional-quality results, even from very costly programs aimed at professionals. As an alternative, consider the many plant and nursery websites, where you’ll find all the information you need—cultural requirements, photos, availability, and more. Or do a search using the name of the plant you’re researching. Finally, keep a master list of your favorite plants in your word processing program, and use it to select plants for each project. Another great use of a computer is to develop a library of photos of the plants you use regularly, and then paste them into a document for each of your projects. I make a digital collage of photos with a page for each area of the property. This allows me to be sure the forms and colors work, and once I have the palette fine-tuned to my liking I’m able to share the information in a visual form with the client, either digitally or in print. This is so much better than just handing over a list of names that will usually baffle the average client and which offers no indication of how the project will look in the end. I love to watch clients’ eyes light up when they see all the pretty pictures and ask, “My yard could look like THIS??”

■ CAD: CAD stands for “Computer-Aided Design.” With a CAD system, you can produce plans on the screen, change them easily, and print them out on a plotter or send them to the repro shop and they will deliver paper copies to you for very little money. CAD is not a time-saver; it takes just as long to do a set of plans on a computer as it does to do them by hand. But there are enough advantages to CAD to make it worthy of consideration for even a small company. First of all, the entire profession has pretty much switched from hand-drawn plans to CAD, and it’s hard to even find supplies like drafting paper anymore. Everyone is accustomed to CAD-generated plans, and if you work with other design professionals they will expect you to be CAD-equipped. If you get into big projects, CAD will be a requirement, because your plans will have to be compatible with the other layers of plans such as utility plans, grading plans, and others. And even internally, you’ll appreciate being able to make changes to your plans and print out a new set in a jiffy. There are numerous CAD products out there, some of which are aimed specifically at the landscaping business. Fully featured CAD packages cost thousands of dollars, but simpler systems are priced as low as a couple hundred dollars and they will be fine for your startup. Your best bet is to read the reviews online and then go to a landscaping trade show where you’ll most likely find several competing systems available for you to sit down and try before you buy. You can also download demo packages for some of the programs. Don’t invest in a costly, complex system, because the jobs you’ll be getting at first will be small. If money is tight, avoid the whole CAD thing and draw your designs by hand; residential clients are perfectly happy with that.

■ Image processing: Take a digital photo of your new job and upload the photo to the computer. Play with the image, adding trees, shrubs, a lawn, a patio, a deck, whatever, until you’ve got the garden of your client’s dreams. You can buy software that makes this a breeze. Then print it on your color printer or show it to the client on your tablet or laptop. Impress the heck out of that client. Make more money. Show the garden at one year old and at five years old when the trees have grown. Image processing is catchy stuff and is sure to win points with clients. Expensive and time consuming? Somewhat. But if you’re charging for it (which you should be), it’s a profit center. You can also put the images on your company website, which can be a terrific sales tool for you.

■ Internet site development software: These days, there’s no excuse for you to not have a company website, even if you’re “just” in the maintenance business. You can pay a web designer thousands of dollars to craft a sexy site for you, or you can use one of the free online systems or a software package to build your own website. Use your website as a showroom to display photos of your work and information about your business. Everyone looks to the Internet first when shopping for anything, and landscaping is no exception. Visit the websites of your competitors and I think you’ll find that the best of them, at least in major urban areas, are pretty darn impressive. Developing your own website from scratch is a big undertaking, though these days you don’t necessarily need to be an HTML expert to make it all work right. Today’s web design software is easy to use and worth considering.

■ Desktop publishing: Use a desktop publishing (DTP) program to put together newsletters, brochures, flyers, and other advertising. It’s easy to make plain text come alive. Most DTP programs come with templates to help you do all this even if you have no eye for graphic design. Throw in some clip art, pictures of your jobs, or a stock photo from a disk and you’ve got a good-looking layout without spending big bucks on a graphic designer. Just be sure your results are professional looking, and take a short course in graphic design if you want to improve your skills in this area.

■ Miscellaneous business management software: There’s software that writes employee manuals and performs employee performance reviews, answers legal questions, develops business plans, solves marketing problems, even provides you with prepared business letters all ready to go except for the name and address. For a modest investment, you can save yourself a lot of time and get better results than you can on your own.

■ Utilities and system enhancements: These are workhorse programs that help your computer operate more efficiently, prevent problems, or expand its capabilities. Some examples are virus protection programs (a must if you’re online, and who isn’t?), memory managers (which help you get the most out of a limited amount of RAM), security programs (to keep snoopy people out of your files), disk managers (to keep your hard drive running clean), and screen savers (to prevent damage to the screen during periods when you’re not using the computer, usually by having colorful sea life or flying toasters cavort about on the screen). Most new computers come bundled with a lot of this, and more is available free, as shareware, or for very little money.

■ Odds and ends: How about getting a Spanish-language tutorial? Or maybe a translating program that will turn your English-language versions of employee manuals, notes, and instructions into Spanish? Lastly, get a game or two to fill those awkward inactive periods during the day and prevent you from being over-productive.

Finally, here are some relevant questions and answers regarding computer use in a home-based landscaping business.

Q: I don’t plan on using the computer much at first—just a database of my clients, some billing, a few letters. What kind of system should I buy?

A: Consider an inexpensive used system. People are always upgrading, and their old stuff isn’t worth much even though it usually works just fine for basic needs. A second-hand computer, printer, backup drive, and UPS could run you as little as a few hundred dollars. You can always upgrade when your needs change.

Q: I’m going to use the computer for drafting, presentations, layout of a news-letter, mailing lists, and bookkeeping. How much computer do I need?

A: Invest in a new system with the minimum capacity mentioned in the section above. Get a large-screen monitor, and an ink-jet or color laser printer. This system will cost between $2,000 and $4,000. To print out full-size landscape plans, you could add a plotter for an additional $2,000 to $3,500, but frankly it’s not necessary unless your community doesn’t have a good reprographics shop to do the printing for you.

Q: I’m planning on having office help right away, so we’ll need two or three computers. How does that work?

A: The best approach is to tie the computers together in a Wi-Fi or Ethernet network, which allows everyone to share the same data from a common hard drive and to use the same printer. You can also communicate between computers. The cost for the network will be a couple hundred dollars, possibly more, depending on hardware choices and the number of computers you’re networking. Getting the computers and other equipment to talk to each other can be complex, so unless you have experience with networks, you may need expert help in getting yours up and running.

Q: I’m intimidated by the amount of time it takes to learn to use a computer. What’s the fastest way to get up to speed?

A: I know people who use a word processor for all their work—billing, contracts, everything. This isn’t a very efficient system, but it’s lots faster than a typewriter and saves the trouble of learning five or six different kinds of software. It can be a good way to start. Many of the integrated computer software packages are pretty easy to learn, and you can start with simple things and expand as you go. There are also books, videos, online tutorials, and other training resources available. Read something besides the information that came with the software; there are books and websites explaining (often better than the manufacturer did) nearly every popular piece of software. Finally, look for adult education or other classes that can help you; many people relate better to personal instruction than to wading through a vast online software manual or endless choices on a help menu.

Q: I’m afraid I’ll push the wrong key and lose everything. How likely is that?

A: That’s pretty unlikely, though you could certainly lose whatever you’re working on at the moment. Be happy that there’s an “undo” function with most operations, allowing you to back away from a mistake. Just be sure to follow my advice above on backups so that you have recourse if things go seriously wrong.

Ways You Can Use the Internet

■ Checking on the availability of plants at local and regional growers

■ Advertising your business via your own website or through referral services

■ Starting a blog

■ Seeing what your competitors are up to by visiting their websites

■ Getting information from manufacturers on the products you’ll be using, such as irrigation equipment, fertilizers, building materials, etc.

■ Researching pest and disease problems

■ Buying and selling nursery stock and other materials

■ Checking the weather forecast

■ Purchasing professional books, videos, and other educational products that you won’t find in your local bookstore

■ Getting advice from business owners and other professionals about business or technical problems, often through online discussion groups

■ Reading trade and professional magazines online

■ Locating professional associations

■ Buying and selling used equipment

Other Office Basics

A look past the desk reveals some other office basics. File cabinets hold client files, records, catalogs, and whatnot. (Much filing is done digitally these days, and perhaps the filing cabinet will become an obsolete technology, but most offices still need a couple of them.) A storage cabinet hides the office supplies. There are shelves for books. Designers producing drawings by hand will need a drawing board, a T-square, triangles, architect’s and engineer’s scales, a compass, drafting pens and pencils, and colored markers. Lighting should be bright, simple, and generous. And if you like sitting down, get a comfortable office chair. If you have a bad back, which you will after a couple of years in this business, you’ll come to appreciate the more expensive, ergonomically designed chairs available now. If you’d like visitors to sit, too (a dubious approach), provide a not-too-comfortable side chair. (A clever person is said to have cut an inch off the two front legs, making guests feel vaguely uneasy and eager to leave quickly.)

Get a good, small copier for those many little daily copy jobs. Or invest in a multipurpose copier/laser printer/fax machine. There’s also a lot of little stuff that’s necessary or handy to have around. Some things are obvious: pens and pencils, scratch paper, a ruler, a stapler, paper clips, Scotch tape, that sort of thing. If you have kids, steal these things from them. Others are more specialized. Have a rubber stamp made with the company name and address. Get some other ready-made stamps: one that says PAID and one that says ORIGINAL and one that says CLIENT’S COPY and one that says THANK YOU! WE APPRECIATE YOUR BUSINESS. Those multipurpose date stamps with a little rubber track that says ENTERED and PAID and so forth are a great and cheap way to record your work directly onto forms and documents. Buy some postage stamps and a small postage scale (saves you hours of standing in line at the post office to get large envelopes weighed for postage). Put a bulletin board on the wall next to your desk; you’ll find a use for it soon enough (it will fill up with all sorts of interesting items, preventing your office from looking too tidy). These are the basics.

In no time you’ll clutter the place up with dozens of other things; the office supply store will love your first couple of years in business. (Tip: Buy some of your office stuff from other businesses that are going bankrupt. They shouldn’t be too hard to find. They’re desperate, and they’ll sell you great things for pennies on the dollar.)

What about business forms? We’ll get to those in chapter 4, but for now, know that you’ll need business cards, letterheads and envelopes, invoice forms, contract forms and change orders (for landscaping work only), and a really unsettling number of other forms. Some of these are required by law, and others by good sense. Many of them are generated electronically via your various software programs, which keeps printing costs down. Remember, these are the basics. They’re enough to keep you going for a long time, though, because there’s never any need to outfit your office as though you were the CEO of Microsoft.

Then there are a few unclassifiable essentials. You’ll need a camera for taking before and after photos of your jobs. Yes, your smart phone will do the job up to a point, but if you can afford it, invest in a good-quality digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) model with interchangeable lenses. Why? Because using a smart phone to snap photos of your jobs for promotional purposes is just not going to result in quality images that make a good impression on discerning potential clients. Get a zoom lens (I have a 28–200mm that I like a lot for its versatility) and a real wide-angle lens (I love my 20mm) that will take in a lot of landscaping and make it look great. Don’t waste your money on fancy features; just get a good-quality basic camera. If you can’t afford a DSLR, know that even inexpensive digital cameras, and of course modern smart phones, take great pictures and will serve most of your needs just fine. If you want photos of your best jobs, for your website and other publicity, consider hiring a professional photographer.

Also get a small pocket voice recorder or make use of the recorder on your smart phone. Why? Remember the busy life you’re about to undertake? Well, when you leave a job, you can use the driving time to the next job to record your notes from the previous job. It also traps all those other brilliant thoughts you’ll be sure to have while you’re driving around in your truck. Soon you won’t be able to live without it.

Let’s talk about smart phones. They do everything and everyone has them and yes, they are indispensable. When I was a kid I used to dream about having a real “wrist radio” like Dick Tracy used in the comics. Now I have a device in my pocket that does more things than I could ever have imagined so long ago. The smart phone syncs with your other devices, making calendars, contact lists, images, proposals, and pretty much whatever else you need available to you wherever you go. It can track scheduling, routing, and bids. It reads QR codes on manufacturer’s literature and can even be used in some areas to identify community trees while you’re standing under them. It’s a compass for when you’re on site and need to know which way north is. It’s a way to talk to your workers in the field, and to tell your helper when to turn on the sprinkler system at the controller while you’re out on the back forty troubleshooting a leak. It can take before, during, and after photos of your jobs (get pictures of your open trenches so you remember where they are and what’s in them), and even shoot videos of work in progress. You can hop online during client meetings to find answers to questions that come up or to check availability of plants at your suppliers. The only limits of a smart phone seem to be our imaginations. Oh, and it can be used as a phone, too. You probably already have a smart phone, but if you don’t, then go get one right this minute.

Greening Your Operation

If you’ve decided to offer sustainable landscaping services to your clients, or even if you haven’t, it makes sense to set up your own operation to be as environmentally benign as possible. “Going green” means swapping old-fashioned practices and materials that have a high negative environmental impact such as energy hog equipment or non-recycled paper, for newer things that are better tuned to today’s need for earth-friendly operations. It’s easy to do, and it doesn’t necessarily cost you more. In fact, many green practices can save you money, often with little or no investment. Let’s have a look at some key approaches to reducing the environmental footprint of your business.

Green opportunities exist in all aspects of your business: buildings and facilities, vehicles, equipment, the office, employee management, and even in your relations with the community.

Consider taking an orderly approach to making your operation as environmentally friendly as possible. A written Environmental Management Plan spells out practices and standards for every aspect of your operation, from office supplies to vehicles to on-the-job practices. Shared with your staff, it helps everyone to stay on track with good environmental behavior. There are some resources that will help you with this task. Have a look at www.epa.gov/osbp/pdfs/smart_steps_greening_guide_042101.pdf for a step-by-step guide to greening your business. The Small Business Administration has lots of publications at http://www.epa.gov/osbp/green-pubs.htm and a “Green Business Guide” at www.sba.gov/green-business-guide. Start work on your plan as soon as you can fit it into your schedule. Revisit it regularly, and make changes as needed. Use this as a living document that will guide your work in the right direction. Here are some specific ideas to get you started:

You’re well on the way to running a green operation simply by having a home-based business. You walk to work, after all. And because your office is likely to be in a building that’s already being heated and cooled, you’re not putting extra energy into keeping a separate site comfortable.

If you’re remodeling or making changes in the building to accommodate your new office, be sure you use green building techniques such as choosing energy efficient windows, skylights and other ways to let natural light into work areas, non-toxic low-VOC paints and finishes, FSC-certified sustainably harvested lumber, and other environmentally sound materials and practices. Take a look at the LEED standards for green building at http://www.usgbc.org/leed for ideas. Consider, too, installing a sustainable demonstration garden for your clients and prospective clients to visit; this will make a strong positive impression.

Make sure your lighting is energy-efficient, as well as your heating and cooling equipment. Buy Energy Star (www.energystar.gov) office equipment to save on electricity and lower your monthly bills. Turn equipment off at night and whenever it’s not being used.

Naturally, you’ll want to recycle as much as you can: office paper, containers, etc. (Of course, the best strategy is to use less in the first place.)

If you can buy “green” power from your utility company (that’s electricity that has been generated from solar, wind, hydroelectric, or geothermal sources rather than nuclear, coal, or other dirty ones), by all means do so. Of course, if you can install solar panels on your own roof so much the better. Solar gets cheaper and more efficient all the time, and there are subsidies and tax breaks available to make it affordable for pretty much anyone.

Buy recycled content paper and office supplies. Better yet, do billing and other paperwork by email to avoid both the environmental impact of paper use and the cost of printing and mailing. (That’s an example of how environmentally appropriate practices can save you money.) Recycle your toner cartridges.

Downsize your vehicles to use the smallest, most fuel-efficient ones that will get the job done. Try not to take your truck unless you need to haul something. Can you go to appointments in a small car, by bike, or on foot? Consider purchasing electric or hybrid vehicles, using biodiesel in your trucks, and looking into other alternative fuels as they become available.

Route management is a terrific way to save fuel, time, and labor costs. Chances are that if you have multiple vehicles on the road, people are making unnecessary trips and wasting both fuel and time. Coordinate materials pickups, group appointments by geographical area, and train your employees to avoid excessive driving. A little planning every day can make a big difference in the miles (and the wear and tear) that you put on your vehicles.

Use hand tools whenever possible; they’re often more efficient when you take into account the cost of purchasing, maintaining, and fueling power tools. Newer models of power equipment are usually quieter and more efficient than old ones. Check for efficiency when you shop for gear. If you must use power equipment, keep in mind that electric tools are less polluting and quieter than gas-powered ones. If you own heavy equipment such as diesel tractors, fuel them with biodiesel (it’s not perfect, but it does seem to offer a modest improvement over conventional diesel).

Train your staff to be aware of environmental issues and be sure they understand the impacts their work has. Develop enthusiasm for doing things right. Make sure all employees have read your Environmental Management Plan, and let them know that you take it seriously. Develop measurable goals and objectives, and hold weekly brief staff meetings to review them and see how you’re doing. If there are training programs such as a green gardener class in your area, send your key employees. Provide incentives for employees to improve their environmental awareness on their own, such as paying for classes and course materials, as well as paying them to attend. Offer raises for achievements such as certifications and extra effort on behalf of your company’s environmental goals.

Encourage your employees to bike to work, carpool, or use public transportation, perhaps even paying for part of their costs if they do so or offering other incentives. Consider the use of a flextime system under which employees can work hours that are more efficient for them and the company and keep cars off the road at rush hour.

Get your company involved in environmental projects in your community, such as tree planting, creek restoration, or the development of public sustainable demonstration gardens. Volunteer your time and expertise to design, build, and maintain such projects, and try to get your employees involved as well. Show up at public events in your company uniforms. Make cash donations or kick in some plants or other materials if you can afford to do so. In addition to the good you’ll be doing, you’re going to make many valuable contacts that may lead to some of the best jobs you’ll ever get.

Teach classes in organic maintenance, sustainable landscaping, or other topics that you feel comfortable presenting. Be sure you know what you’re talking about, of course. You’ll be educating the community and improving the visibility of your company and your services.

The Bank Account

Get a separate bank account for your business. Otherwise you’ll end up with a big mess at the end of the year. Make it an interest-bearing checking account because you’ll probably keep a pretty big balance on hand to cover expenses. You might as well make some money on your cash flow, even if it’s only a fraction of a percent.

If you’ll be operating your business as a sole proprietorship, you’ll need to show the bank your Fictitious Business Name Statement unless your full name is used in the company name (such as Sue Wilson’s Gardening Service). To get a Fictitious Business Name Statement (also known as a “DBA”), go to the county clerk/recorder’s office, and they’ll tell you what to do. If you’re going to incorporate or become an LLC (“limited liability company,” an easy way for a small business to incorporate), you’ll need to provide them with the articles of incorporation. And if your business is a partnership, they’ll need to see the partnership agreement. (Tip: DBAs expire after a few years. Don’t forget to renew yours.)

Insurance

I know you don’t want to read about insurance. But you must, just as you must have insurance. Besides, if you think insurance is a grim topic, wait until we get to bookkeeping, taxes, and lawsuits.

For a long time I said that buying tires was the least satisfying way to spend lots of money, but I now believe insurance is. The best you can hope for from insurance is that you never have to use it. Isn’t that some thrill! But the law and good practice require that you carry a lot of insurance. (Important advice: It’s impossible to generalize about insurance because laws and policies vary from state to state. Keep in mind that the rules change from one state or region to another.)

Let’s say you drive a tractor into your client’s bedroom, “God forbid,” as the insurance agents like to say. You’ll owe for the bedroom, lodging while the bedroom is being remodeled, furnishings, medical costs if someone was injured, emotional damage, attorneys’ fees, and who knows what else. No problem, because you’ve got $1 million of liability coverage. If you’re lucky the settlement won’t run any more than that, but costs mount up quickly and often a million isn’t enough, especially if injury or death are part of the equation. Liability coverage also protects you against things like advertising injury, medical expenses, fire damage, equipment theft, and loss of records. Work with your agent to custom-tailor a package that’s right for you.

1. The insurer will defend you only up to the limits of coverage. That means if someone sues you for $1 million and you’re insured for only $500,000, you have to get your own lawyer for the uninsured portion of the suit, which will cost you plenty even if you end up winning the case. If you lose, you must pay out of your pocket any amounts over the insured amount. Got half a mil lying around?

2. Generally speaking, liability insurance will protect you if you’re sued for damages resulting from work you did while the policy was in effect, even if the suit is filed several years later. But these policies can have hidden dangers, with companies exempting themselves from covering you under certain circumstances, so PLEASE read you policies carefully before accepting them and assuming they meet all your needs for protection. (There is no duller reading than an insurance policy, so do this early in the day so you stay awake through the ordeal.) The insurance company is only required to keep your files for five years after you drop the coverage, so be sure to retain your own copies of the policies. Don’t ever destroy them, because damage could result from your work many years after you did it, and you’d still be responsible (laws may differ in your state, so check with your agent or an attorney). And be sure your policy doesn’t contain a sunset clause that releases the insurance company from liability after a couple of years.

3. If you plan to quit the business or retire, have an attorney advise you whether you’ll still be exposed to liability. A nasty lawsuit popping up out of nowhere can really take the fun out of your golden years. You can purchase a tail policy on closure of your business that provides extended protection.

Be sure you’re dealing with a sound insurance company. If the company goes broke, you’re not covered even if you paid your premiums in full. And keep an eye on their reputation, since companies can spoil over time like bad fruit.

Often, you need to show proof that you have liability coverage: for example, when you apply for building permits and business licenses and when you want to go to work as a subcontractor for another contractor. Proof comes in the form of a Certificate of Insurance that your insurer will provide at no cost on request.

The cost of business liability insurance is based partly on your payroll, even if you’re a one-person operation. Rates seem to vary considerably, so shop around. You also need to be aware that your homeowner’s or renter’s policy probably doesn’t cover things like injuries to visitors to your home office; be sure your business policy does.

This covers employees in case they’re injured on the job. If you have employees, workers comp is required by law. Rates are set by the Workers Compensation Rating Bureau (it may have a different name in your region) and they usually don’t vary from one company to another. They do vary for each job classification—in your case, the classification will probably be Landscape Gardening. They also vary (upwards from the base rate) with the experience rating of your company: An accident or injury will create an experience modification that will jump your rates to cover some of the costs incurred by the company for dealing with your incident. That’s right, you buy insurance to pay for this sort of thing but you end up paying for it anyway, or at least part of it. Get used to being treated this way, because that’s how insurers operate and it’s why they’re one of the highest profit sectors of the economy.

The penalties for not having workers comp are severe. In California, for example, if an employee is injured on the job and you’re caught without worker’s compensation insurance, you have to pay all the employee’s medical expenses out of your own pocket, plus a 50 percent surcharge, plus a possible $100,000 fine and/or up to one year in jail. (Tip: Some contractors trade associations handle return-premium worker’s compensation policies; these policies refund a portion of the premiums at the end of each year, based on the claims costs. They can save you big bucks.)

If you have employees, you may want to or be compelled to provide them with health insurance or to cover part of their premiums. This is a complex and rapidly changing issue, especially with the advent of the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”), so check with your agent.

You have to have vehicle insurance on every truck and car you have on the road. Be sure your policy covers multiple drivers if you have employees. Also be certain employees are covered in their own autos if you have them run errands for you; this important coverage costs very little to add.

One of the most important liabilities you’ll be exposed to is vehicle-related mis-haps. It’s unbelievable how many employees lie to the boss about their suspended licenses, drunk driving convictions, and other offenses. Remember, these people are driving your vehicles, which are often large, heavily loaded trucks pulling trailers. You simply must check the driving records of all employees and prospective employees and keep current about the status of their driving records. The Department of Motor Vehicles will supply a prospective or current employee’s driving record (with a signed release from the employee), and may also, for a modest fee, keep an employer informed of any changes in the driving record of employees.

A bond is a special type of coverage that protects third parties (in this case, your clients and the public) against damages arising from your screw-ups. If you’re a landscape contractor, you’ll probably need a license bond, the annual cost of which is minimal. The license bond pays an injured party if, for example, you leave a job unfinished or do it improperly. In some cases it can also protect your employees in case you fail to pay benefits owed them.

If you end up bidding big jobs someday, you’ll need to know about other kinds of bonds, such as completion bonds, which guarantee that you’ll finish the job. If you don’t, the bonding company brings in, at their expense, another contractor to finish it. This type of bonding is a few years down the line for you, though, and you’ll have plenty of opportunity to learn about it when the time comes.

(TIP: A bond is not an insurance policy, and the bonding company can come after you for reimbursement for any payments they make. Even though you’re the one who has to pay for it, a bond is for the public, not for you.)

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to give you an estimate of what you’ll have to spend on insurance. There are several reasons for this. First, the types of coverage and the limits of liability you choose are highly variable; therefore, so are the resulting premiums. Second, rates for all types of insurance vary by state, region, and even neighborhood in some cases. Legal requirements vary, too. Rates also vary from company to company and change over time like any expense. Finally, rates are partially set by your claims record, the driving records of you and your staff, the kind of vehicles you own, and the age and value of the equipment you’re covering.

Still, it’s fair to say you’ll spend quite a bit of money on insurance each year—at least a couple thousand dollars just to start out. The best advice? Seek out a good independent insurance agent and plan a reasonable package for your business. Many years ago, I was lucky to find a good, honest agent who spent a lot of time educating me about the ins and outs of the insurance game. If you can do the same, you’ll be in good shape.

There are two kinds of insurance agents: the independent agent, who can shop around for you and seek quotes from different companies, and the company agent, who works for only one company. You may get a better deal from an independent agent, but don’t rule out a company agent with a good reputation and the right stuff for your needs. Also be sure to choose someone who specializes in business insurance, not consumer insurance (such as homeowner’s coverage), which is a completely different ball game. In fact, try to find an agent who understands gardening or contracting or whatever field you plan to go into. Why? Because there are always special quirks in any type of business, and landscaping is no exception. Here’s a case in point: My agent discovered that a local equipment rental yard was offering an optional extra charge for what they called a “damage waiver,” which allegedly protected the renter against liability for damage to the equipment. After one of his clients had a problem with this, the agent got a copy of the waiver and discovered it offered no protection at all. He then alerted all his contractor clients, telling them not to pay for the useless add-on. That’s service that only an experienced person can offer.

Check your homeowner’s policy to see to what extent it covers office equipment in the home. Make sure your policy covers loss of structures used for business, as there is sometimes an exclusion for business use. Note any exclusions on your policy, that may not cover certain lines of work you might do, such as retaining walls and ponds; you’ll be on your own for those unless you pay for an extra rider to cover them. Look into special deals offered as part of membership in a business or trade organization. Shop around a lot, because rates on all types of insurance except worker’s compensation can vary a great deal. Also, review policies at least annually to be sure you’ve got the kind of coverage that lets you feel comfortable, and get two or three quotes every year even if you love your current agent and carrier.

Legal Considerations

Typically, a small one-person or family-run business is operated as a sole proprietorship, at least at first. That is to say, it is not a partnership (which is where you share ownership and responsibilities with one or more people) or a corporation (where the business itself becomes a “person,” protecting you to some degree from the liabilities of the business operations). The sole proprietorship is easy to set up and gives you the most control over your operation with the least hassle. But a proprietorship also exposes you to having your personal assets seized as a result of a judgment against your business, and that is no small thing to consider.

I strongly advise you think twice about beginning your business with a partner, even though my own experience with partnerships has been mostly positive. The partnership has been aptly described as a marriage without the sex. Many partnerships don’t work, and because they’re often entered into by friends, the common result is the failure of both the business and the friendship. What happens? Perhaps one person works harder than the other and eventually gets fed up. Or one person spends all the money, enters into questionable deals without the other partner’s knowledge or consent, or otherwise jeopardizes the business. You probably don’t need a partner. If you do form a partnership, have an attorney draw up a formal legal agreement, and be sure to plan for its graceful termination when you prepare the agreement. It’ll save a lot of grief later.

You also probably don’t need to incorporate. Traditionally, the small corporation has been considered a way of protecting the business owner from personal liability for business problems, such as lawsuits and debts. Unfortunately, you can’t count on that protection as much as in the past. There also may be tax advantages to incorporating, but again, they ain’t what they used to be. A full corporation has to have a board of directors, hold regular meetings, keep elaborate and detailed records, and jump through a million hoops set up by the government. One false move and you lose many of the advantages of the corporate structure. Many people set up an S Corporation or a limited liability corporation, (“LLC,”) which are special types of corporations better suited to small business owners than a traditional full corporation. The LLC, where available, is a particularly easy way to get more protection than a proprietorship affords, so do look into this one for your startup. This can get complicated, so be sure to talk to an accountant and an attorney about this if you’re just dying to see “Inc.” or “LLC” after your company name.

You’ll need a city and/or county business license, possibly a permit for each vehicle you operate, and maybe a special permit to operate out of your house. You’ll need to register your company name using a Fictitious Business Name Statement that’s on file with the county and is also published in a legal ad in a local newspaper in some jurisdictions. You’ll have to get a seller’s permit (also known as a resale number) from an outfit called the State Board of Equalization (or something similar) in order to collect and remit sales taxes (note that some states don’t have sales taxes). If you have employees, you’ll need a federal Employer Identification Number (“EIN”) that’s obtained by filing a form you can get from the IRS website (www1.ein-gov.us). If you do landscaping work (as opposed to maintenance), you’ll probably need a contractor’s license. More about that in just a minute. There’s no use grousing about the burden of obtaining and maintaining all these licenses. Everyone has to have them, and you’re no exception. Just grit your teeth and do it. Obtaining most of these is easy—fill out a form or two, give them some money, and off you go.

The contractor’s license is different. Not just anyone can become a licensed contractor. You’ll need to have several years of experience or some schooling, meet certain financial requirements, get letters of recommendation from other professionals, and take a rather detailed exam. If you pass, then you pay more money and walk out with your license.

Why bother? Because the law says that to do landscaping work (not garden maintenance in most cases) beyond a certain low dollar limit, you must have a contractor’s license. Yes, I know a lot of people get away without having a license, but they’re risking fines, possibly jail time, bad publicity, and perhaps the loss of their businesses. They can’t bid on big jobs or get building permits. And their clients don’t have to pay them. That’s right—imagine doing a $20,000 job and having the owner refuse to pay because she knows you’re unlicensed. Take her to court? Forget it! You might as well call the cops because you got burned in a drug deal. You’re an outlaw. (Tip: Don’t believe those people who confidently tell you that you don’t need a contractor’s license as long as you bill people on a time-and-materials basis. That’s not true anywhere that I know about.)

So, how hard is it to get a contractor’s license? Probably a lot easier than you imagine. Requirements vary from state to state, but here is a typical experience: Work for four years for another licensed contractor, or complete an accredited college-level program to reduce the experience requirement. Have $1,000 in the bank. Don’t have a felony on your record. Get a couple of friends in the business to fill out letters of recommendation. Apply for the test. Take it (about four to six hours of questions and work problems that won’t be all that difficult if you have a basic level of competence). Pass (you hope), or take it again the following year. Get a contractor’s license bond. Pay your annual license fee.

That’s it. It’s not all that bad, and you’ll immediately feel better, get more respect, and be free to pursue the kind of quality career you dream of having. No more looking over your shoulder all the time. It’s a great feeling. Contact your state Contractor’s License Board for more information. If you’ve never worked for a licensed landscape contractor, you may still be able to qualify to take the exam by virtue of several years of experience as a self-employed person.

There are schools and online courses that will help you study for the exam, but you could very well be just as successful on your own. You’ll be tested on many things in addition to landscaping, among them safety requirements, mechanics lien laws, employer laws, business laws, and building codes. The license board might be able to provide you with a reading list, which will be a big help. I used a correspondence course that was inexpensive and quite good. It provided copies of tests from previous years, which took away a lot of the fear of the unknown. After devouring book after book for months, I completed the test in just over two hours, out of eight allowed. Lest you think I’m some kind of genius, quite a few people had already left when I handed in my test booklet.

The contractor’s license usually permits you to do any type of landscaping work, including grading, planting, irrigation, building decks and retaining walls, and installing low-voltage lighting systems. Sometimes you have to get a separate license classification to do irrigation and possibly other aspects of your work. You can also usually do landscape design under your contractor’s license, as long as you also install what you design. (To do only design work for others to install, you’d need to be a landscape architect or landscape designer, as described in chapter 1.) What you can’t do is construct habitable buildings, or do the work of any other trades such as high-voltage electrical work, house plumbing, roofing, that sort of thing. In other words, the license allows you to do landscaping and nothing more. Rules vary from state to state.

Home improvement contracting (under which residential landscaping falls) is one of the most regulated kinds of business, on account of the fact that so many flakey people have contaminated the industry over the decades, leading to laws and regulations that protect the public. Thanks to generations of creepy crooks, the form of your contract with the client, the terms of payment, the conduct of any salespeople you hire, your relationship with your employees and subcontractors, lien law filings, and a whole lot more are rigidly controlled by state law. One mis-step and you could be penalized or even lose your license. Still, once you get the rhythm of it, it’s just like any other job, so don’t suffer too much anxiety over the prospect of your responsibilities. Anyway, it’s worth it.

Business Taxes

You need to deposit the taxes you deduct from employees’ paychecks and pay them to taxing agencies such as the IRS through a special kind of deposit at your bank. (More on this in chapter 5.)

Regulations and tax rates vary, and some states have no sales tax at all, but in general, if you sell a product, either as a retail sale or by incorporating materials into your jobs, you will need to collect and pay sales tax on the value of the goods. The sales tax laws were written primarily with merchants in mind, and they apply very clumsily to contractors. The mechanics of figuring your sales taxes can be baf-fling, even to the bureaucrats who run the system. Check with your State Board of Equalization (it may have a different name in your state) for a resale number and instructions on how to file your returns. Good luck on this one.

Defining Your Niche

We’ve discussed the diversity of opportunities in the business. Have you decided where you fit in? With so many possibilities it’s not an easy choice. That’s especially true if you haven’t had any direct experience of the various branches of the horticulture tree, so do consider going to work for one or more companies before you make your final decision on what business you’ll go into. It also helps to ask yourself some questions about your own skills and preferences. To that end, here are some issues that you may want to examine:

■ Do you want to offer one or more specialties, such as tree care, low-voltage lighting, irrigation troubleshooting, water management, organic maintenance or lawn care, yard cleanups, hauling, etc.?

■ If you’ll be doing landscaping, do you want to offer design/build services or do only the installations?

■ What class of work do you want to do: high-end residential, middle-class residential, budget residential, large or small commercial, public works?

■ Do you want to eventually go after large, complex projects or stick with smaller backyard jobs?

Let me give you some advice about how to proceed. Unless you’ve had considerable experience working for another company, start with small residential work. It takes years to get good enough (and for your company to be substantial enough) to go after the big jobs. Give yourself time.

Include maintenance in your mix of services, even if you don’t want to do it forever. That way you’ll learn how things really work, because you’ll have to care for the finished product.

If you’re not sure what you’d like to end up doing, try a bit of everything. Be sure you’re qualified to do the work, of course, but don’t limit yourself. Be a generalist. You’ll learn a lot, and you won’t be limiting your clients to just those who want one kind of thing.

At first, avoid complex design/build jobs unless you have training in landscape design. It’s easy to get in over your head and design something that doesn’t work. Move gradually from the simple projects to the complex ones, one step at a time.

Stay on the high road with respect to the environment. More and more clients are requesting, even demanding, that landscape services be done in an environmentally conscious way. That means reducing or eliminating the use of chemicals, using organic methods, choosing low-impact construction materials, and developing landscapes that make minimal demands on the environment. Sustainable landscaping, as these practices are called, is the hottest, most lucrative aspect of the landscaping business today. And it’s not just a fad; as our culture changes, sustainable landscaping is becoming the norm. (See “Business Opportunities in Sustainable Landscaping and Gardening” in chapter 6 for more on this subject.)

All sorts of property owners purchase landscaping services. You may sometimes have to take what you can get in order to stay busy, but you will be able to choose which sectors you want to market to, based on your skills and interests, and also on what market segments are strong in your area. Each of the following potential job sources has its own personality. Use the information below to help you understand the nature of each market segment; then decide what mix of clients works best for you.

Most likely, this is where you’ll start. Homeowners can be some of your best clients. They tend to be honest and usually won’t take advantage of you the way some commercial clients often do.

A sprinkler contractor I once met had a rule about clients: He would only work for homeowners improving their own homes for their own enjoyment; no landlords, spec house builders, developers, commercial jobs, or anything else where someone was trying to make a buck off his work. He had done very well by this rule, and I think he has a point. In my experience, a profit motive on the part of the client contaminates the business relationship and increases the risk of not getting paid or of being asked to do things that aren’t right. (The following discussion reflects some of my own observations and prejudices about various kinds of residential clients, developed over decades of good and bad situations with all kinds of people and projects. I admit that I’m cynical about clients, because I know how difficult some of them can be and I want you to see the pitfalls as well as the rosy side of the business. Not everyone is nice and you need to know more about that before you go any further. Most people are fine, and there are plenty of exceptions to my generalizations below, but there is much truth in them nonetheless. You’ll understand my crankiness after you’ve been in business for a while.)

Some of the best clients in the world are middle- and upper-middle class homeowners who work for a living and understand that you do, too. They’re accustomed to paying their bills on time. They respect you. They’re more or less your peers, so you can relate to them pretty easily. They don’t look down on you. They usually want to do things right and can probably afford quality services.

Rich clients can be great, mainly because they have a lot of money. A good rich client is a real find, a source of lots of top-quality work. But the rich are different, and it is not always pleasant to do business with them. They can be haughty and not a lot of fun to be around. Some people got rich by cheating other people, often in clever and devious ways; they’ll eat you for a snack. Watch out for them. Others got their money the old-fashioned way: They inherited it. They’ve never worked and may not understand why you need to get paid on time. This trait can be exasperating and costly. To top it all off, many of them are tightwads who despite being able to pay full price will try to bleed you for discounts and special treatment. And finally, rich people can afford better lawyers than you can, and they know that. (You may think I’m a bigot, but what I’m telling you is true, and you might as well hear it now as learn the hard way. I’ve got nothing against any group, but after over forty years in this business, I know trouble when I see it coming.)

On the other end of the spectrum are homeowners who have just enough money to pay for a little bit of budget-quality landscaping or maintenance work. Some of these folks are OK, especially when you’re getting started, but be aware of the fact that such people will often persuade you to lower your quality standards. Don’t do it. Doing a poor-quality job reflects badly on you. Besides, once such clients see the job you did, they may suddenly become perfectionists, demanding first-rate work even though they only paid you for junk. It’s a trap that many beginners fall into quite easily. Still, an honest client of modest means, with a small but decent project, can be a wonderful addition to your clientele.

There are some subsets of the homeowner trade that can be particularly rewarding to pursue. One is the two-income family. Some of these folks have plenty of discretionary income (especially if they don’t have children—these folks are sometimes called “DINKs”. . . double income, no kids), they like to spend it, and they often have no time to work in their yards. They need you. Another good group is affluent seniors. They have money, taste, and needs, and they can be really nice. One strong market is people in their fifties whose parents are dying and leaving them with large inheritances. Among my clientele, some of these are people I started with when they were in their thirties and struggling, and later in life they found themselves spending inherited money like crazy; this is another reason to stick with your established clients. (Tip: Never work for renters. They have no right to contract with you for improvements to the landlord’s property and neither they nor the actual property owner are under any obligation to pay you. Furthermore, landlords may go after you when they find out you’ve been messing around with their property. If you get an inquiry from a renter, whether residential or commercial, tell them you need to get a written approval from the property owner, or better yet that you need to work directly with the owner.)

Landlords are usually looking for a maximum return on their investment, and that means spending as little money as possible. And some of them are cheap and often don’t pay their bills on time. Check them out thoroughly before you get involved with their projects. Do a credit check and ask around about them to see how they treat other contractors. The other thing about landlords is that they often don’t care about quality work, so unless you like to do things badly for some reason, you’ll be frustrated. Naturally, there are exceptions, and a good income property owner can be the source of a lot of work for you.

More and more people are moving into condos and planned unit developments with common public spaces and shared landscaping. Operations are run by a Homeowner’s Association (“HOA”) that represents the owners in matters like hiring and firing, safety, rules and regulations, and so forth. There’s usually a landscape committee, made up of owners, that oversees maintenance and changes in the landscaping, and deals with the gardeners and landscape contractors who work there. There’s a lot of work, especially maintenance, in these places. One of these jobs can require one or more people full-time, and if you land one you will have steady work and earnings. Naturally, you have to bid against others and so your profit margins will be low, but an efficient operation can make you some money. These properties usually re-bid maintenance contracts every year, and most often go with the lowest bid, even if it means giving the boot to the previous year’s contractor regardless of whether the service has been satisfactory. So don’t expect faithfulness or even decency, and don’t be surprised or hurt when you get a Dear John letter at the end of your contract; it’s not about you, it’s about the almighty dollar. In the meantime, do good work and hope for the best.

Warning: A huge percentage of condo and similar developments are involved in lawsuits with the builder, subcontractors, suppliers, and, yes, landscapers. People seem to go kind of crazy when they get on landscape committees, and it can be a nightmare to work with them. Quite a few business-people simply refuse to deal with associations, and some insurers refuse to cover work for HOAs as part of their business liability policies. Be aware of the risks and frustrations.

There’s a lot of work landscaping new housing tracts, and there are two ways to get some of it. One is to get in with the builder or developer and do the landscaping in common areas, front yards, and model homes. Sometimes, you can do this by the back door and not have to go up against every other hungry person in the county with a pickup truck. In other words, if the builder is your buddy, he or she may let you do the job without bidding against others. More often, you bid the job just like any other.

Warning: Many, many builders and developers are sharks, and when they see a fresh-faced newcomer like you, they’ll count on bleeding you for all you’ve got. They’ll give you the business, all right, but not the money, and they’ve got a million well-tested schemes for cheating you. If you don’t understand how the development game works, stay away from these situations. Not to tar everyone with the same brush, but this is often rough territory and no place for a beginner.

The other approach is to wait until homeowners move in and then go to work directly for them. This is a good source of jobs. They have to do something with their raw yards, so they’re automatically in the market for your services. Some of the projects may be modest because they just spent all their money on the new house, but there is work there. (Tip: Be careful on new tracts because the soil is often compacted and/or of poor quality, and you can lose a lot of plants. Builders frequently skim over poor soil with a couple inches of good topsoil to make things look OK, and various tradespeople have often cleaned out paintbrushes, tubs of mortar, and other toxic materials directly into the soil that you will be planting in. Have a clause in your contract that exempts you from liability for these situations.)

Many shopping centers, office complexes, and other high-visibility properties are landscaped and maintained beautifully. The owners care a lot about their image and are willing to do things right. Usually, they put everything out to bid, so you’ll have to work for a slim profit margin, much less than what you can get doing residential work. Still, if you’re efficient, you can earn decent money on this kind of work, and you may even get to put up a sign with your company name somewhere on the property, to be viewed by hundreds of people every day.

Some of the projects in the public sector (parks, municipal buildings, school campuses, etc.) are done in-house by staff workers. But this isn’t true of everything, particularly new construction, which often has to be put out to bid according to law. Many municipalities and other public bodies contract out their maintenance work. Some communities also have annual lot-clearing work that you can bid on.

Working for a public agency, whether it’s the federal, state, or local government, involves a lot of paperwork and the ability to deal with bureaucrats who are sometimes incompetent or hostile, obscure regulations, and interminable delays. Many public projects also require that you pay the prevailing wage. (See chapter 5 for an explanation.) Still, it’s good work, and the government virtually always pays its bills. In most cases, you’ll have to work from a landscape architect’s plans rather than your own. Most public jobs must go to the lowest qualified bidder. Bidding is often cutthroat, and profit margins are low. Don’t get into public work until you’ve had plenty of experience in the private sector.

Conclusion

Congratulations on making it this far. I know this chapter has been a little heavy, and you may feel as though going into business is a lot more trouble than it’s worth. Remember, you have to do some of these things only once. Anyway, you’ll adjust to it all in time, learn to make peace with the situation, and even enjoy the process. If you’re careful and honest, you’ll probably never have a serious problem. I haven’t, and I’ve been at this for a long time. Despite the burdens, it’s still fun to go to work every day.

Start Up or Buy?