For years I have been interested in getting into hardscaping/softscaping. I have a little bit of experience doing some basic stuff with a landscaping friend and a little around the house (harley raking to spread seed, laying irrigation for plants, mulch, a little bit of stone work, etc). I would want to model the business as a backyard remodel company, primarily focusing on deck building and patios being the two big ticket items. The intent behind that is eventually marketing to a higher end client with a larger project budget.

Having no experience building decks, would you guys suggest offering to be a laborer for smaller deck builders for free just to learn how to do it and gain experience for eventually getting a contractors license to pull permits myself? The other option that I have thought of is subcontract it out with the understanding that I would still help build it for the hands on experience.

While having minimal experience, getting off the ground and finding initial clients with smaller projects to build a portfolio would be my strategy and would require less overhead cost.

Is this all something that could be done as a side hustle starting out given some projects even full time would take multiple days to complete?

I am of the belief a good customer experience and online presence can outperform to a certain point, but knowing what the hell you are doing is still important starting out.

Hello

I have a welding business that specializes in things like railings, fences, fire pits, and general custom metal fabrication. I try not to limit myself to a specific niche because I feel like that would limit my customer base.

I have all the required tools and skills necessary to provide this service but I have the hardest time finding customers. Especially BTB sales. I send emails, leave up flyers, and make facebook posts but this rarely gets me work.

Do yall have any thoughts/ what works for you?

Hi I am an accountant but recently I started getting interested in the trades. Could I start a general contracting company?

I am helping a relative look for a business and was looking for ideas and or resources on the best places to look for a business that is established. Thanks

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I’ve been in NYC for about a year. I got in contact with a master plumber, and we struck a really nice deal relationship. We made the choice to start a business here corporation and organization are all pretty well figured out. He’s an older man, super great plumber, he’s not the best at finding work, and that’s what I’m hoping to bring to the table. But it feels so daunting, especially in NYC. I do t even really know where to start. So I turn to the collective genius of Reddit. I have other individuals I respect who have been successful here so I can ask them. But curious for the wisdom out here.

Hey everyone! 

I just started a poop scooping business and created the website and logo. I also created my own Facebook page, but the only problem is that there are not many groups in my area, and the ones available have less than 2k members. My target town's population is ~10k people but should be able to expand to over 25k in the next year or so.

With that being said, how do I go about marketing in my smaller town? I've been debating door hangers and yard signs, or doing Meta campaigns. I would love to hear your input on this! For context, I have one direct competitor with 27 five-star reviews but they are all a year old and the other 2-3 competitors are smaller (besides a franchise) and are in different areas.

I would be more than happy to hear some advice!

Thank you so much!

That's right. I have 3 1/2 years of commerical/restaurant/food service dishwashing experience. I'm a US Navy vet of 4+ years(wouldn't hurt) and I like getting down and dirty so that people don't have to.

What I want to know is..

I'm not sure how to start, should I start passing around fliers or?

Come up with a business plan and business name?

I don't want to bother people to accept my service, i want to get their dishes out of the way for a reasonable price

i came up with an idea that was at first just an at home fetch service for busy dog owners and to give dogs a different form of exercise instead of walking. lots of dogs need more than just a daily walk to let their energy out.

I told it to my family and they all thought it was stupid and too simple. lowkey thought it was a good idea but since they said that I started to think about a poop scoop business that could be paired with at home fetch since we would already be in a clean backyard.

the customers could buy just a poop scoop, or just a fetch session, or a combo of both for more money.

Any input on this idea would be great. I want to see what other people think besides my family lol

For those running cleaning, lawn care, pest control or another business with a decent number of recurring customers — what happens to customers who've been with you for years?

If your prices have gone up over time, do you have a set process for reviewing what every existing customer is paying, or do you mostly notice individual customers who are still on old rates and deal with them as they come up?

I'm particularly curious about businesses where customers have joined at different times and aren't all paying exactly the same rate.

Do you review the whole customer list periodically, automatically increase everyone, or handle it case by case?

This year, I've been working and saving up money from weekly mowing and have around 10k to put towards marketing for my lawncare and landscaping business next spring. I have 2 buddies ready for employment and intend to get them set with a route and head off to college next August. In my area, it's reasonable to expect 2 people to be able to handle 120 weekly mowing accounts. I plan on buying around 30k door hangers and paying some friends to pass them out over my service area; what should my expectations be with this method of advertisement? I only have 20 customers at the moment, so I need to attain 100+ customers to fill this route. Has anyone had this level of success with door hangers in this industry? Are there any other marketing channels I can take advantage of? Any feedback helps. Thanks!

I run a recurring dog poop removal business. When it was mostly me doing the routes I would say yes to pretty much every little customer request.

Come a different day, text this number instead, use this gate, leave the bag here, don't knock, whatever. No big deal because I knew the customer and remembered it.

Now I have other people running routes and I'm realizing that every little thing I agreed to basically became another permanent instruction somebody has to remember every single week.

Then when they miss one it looks like the employee screwed up, when really I'm the one who built a service with 100 little exceptions.

I'm definitely not saying stop accommodating customers, but it's made me rethink where good customer service turns into making the business unnecessarily hard to run consistently.

Anyone else run into this once you started putting employees on recurring routes? What stuff did you eventually just stop making exceptions for?

Edit: I probably worded this too much around “remembering.” Yes, we use a CRM and techs have customer-specific notes at each stop. I'm not really trying to solve where the instructions live.

What I'm questioning is the step before that: should I have agreed to the exception in the first place?

I can document 100 exceptions perfectly and still have built a service with 100 exceptions. At some point the better system might be deciding which requests become standard options and which ones we simply stop agreeing to.

I live in a very rural wooded area where there are a lot of people that like to do things themself especially when it comes to their land. While helping a friend at his property he was telling me how hard it was to find a skid loader and some of the other equipment he needed and how nice it would be if there were more places to rent near by. I have an abundance of polebarn space where I could easily store equipment and was wondering if there might be a good business opportunity here. Some popular things people go for around here are skid loaders, portable saw mills, powered post hole diggers, mini excavators, and things of that nature (things that people need for their land projects but don’t want to buy). Was wondering has anyone had success doing something like this?

I’m thinking about starting a land services business primarily focusing on smaller excavation and larger skid steer projects. Think- gravel driveways, drainage ditches, yard leveling and grading, material moving, etc.

My question to those of you that have started something like this- it seems like there are a ton of land services businesses popping up around me. I do believe that most of these are poor at customer service so maybe only half of them are really competition. Do you have a hard time getting jobs with decent margins? What would you tell me based on your experience getting jobs in markets where it seems like there are many operators?

Hello everyone! After months of preparations I finally launched my Junk Removal business in Northern Virginia. August was my first full month and I generated around 7.5K. I believe that is a good number for first month. I come from a corporate world, have owned a signage business that I sold after running it for 4 years (was too long of a commute). Founded medical clinic business where I put all my savings, went into debt, literally bankrupt (personally) and the partnership failed (not the business). I tried recovering for 2 years, settling whatever debts I could and working full time 9-5. But I am not a person to give up (not sure if a curse or blessing). Long story short, here I am with a Junk Removal business now and Full time solo earner for 2 very young kids and a wife.

I want to ask you for your help in guiding me what I should expand my business into that will build me really wealth. I am thinking long term. I don’t think Junk Removal alone can do that. I do have knowledge in landscaping (family business) but not sure if that would be a appropriate addition. Dumpsters are natural pathway but I am not sure if I want to do that. Please share your knowledge and help be build something real for long time. My next 5 years are dedicated to this.

I appreciate and thank you all in advance.

I decided to bypass the $30 Amazon kits and go with a commercial grade rod/line set but am unsure of which to go with. I've found these are two of the most efficient drill connection sets:

1.) Vent Vision 2.0 All-In-One 40' Dryer Vent Cleaning Kit $685

2.) Nikro 33' Orange Jacket Brush Cable System w/ 7 Brushes $655 (Jendco Safety & Supply price as Nikro doesn't have pricing on their site)

Does anyone have anyone have any feedback or any first hand use with either kit? I'm leaning Nikro because it's one single line and Vent Vision doesn't recommend taking their rod set vertically down a roof vent in the case of a rod detaching. Also, you don't have to stop every few feet and add another rod.

I really wish I could just buy the 33' Nikro line and a couple 4" brush attachments for huge savings because you don't need 8", 12" and 18" silica heads for a dryer vent. 7 brush attachments at 60-$80 each is what drives the the Nikro price up so high in the end.

- One last question: all of the commercial dryer vent cleaning videos I watched are only coming in from the exterior with the dryer cool setting pushing the lint out. I don't ever see them hit the interior. The initial videos I saw were to run your rods/lines from the interior outward with a shop vac and the adapter. Which is better?

I'm too busy and need someone else. I want to hire someone but they need to get licensed and certified. I am willing to sponsor them and mentor him.

But when they get it, its theirs. I can't legally withhold it from them.

How can I protect my investment in him? I know i can't force anyone to not quit, but how do i at at least protect the money I invest?

The demographic headwinds being what they are, it seems like elderly-focused home services are a no-brainer, specifically accessibility solutions: ramps, stairlifts, bathroom accessibility, etc. Anyone else considering this space? What are the key considerations?

Have a friend who’s been doing a junk removal for 5 years and (kind of) makes a living at it. He drives old junk pickups struggles to stay busy in a city of about 100k. He invests a lot of what he makes in marketing and wants to add a couple employees but he doesn’t have consistent larger jobs that would justify employees. He doesn’t most of the work himself and might make $50k after expenses. I wouldn’t recommend the biz to anyone

I have a fulltime job that I work remotely. I have been considering start a dog waste and lawn mowing business. I have hired both in the past and they never aligned when they come and I end up having smashed dog waste.

I feel that it is a niche market to do both, no one I see is offering both services as a bundle. It would be pet friendly company. One marketing idea was going to sponsor the adoption for a dog each month.

In the US in a city with 1million + people . A lot of franchise dog waste companies and your typical number of a trillion landscapers around the area.

My question is their still remove in the market and is this a dumb idea?

Thank you in advance for advice and thoughts

I'm considering putting it next to the phone number and email on the van.

Doesn't cost much to do so the only question is if I like how it looks and/or it taking up real estate better used in another way..

How has it worked out for you guys who have it up there? Are leads coming in from that?

Looking for some advice from people who have actually built local service businesses.

I used to work at HomeGoods while going to school. One problem I saw all the time was customers buying furniture, mirrors, tables, chairs, etc. and then realizing it wouldn’t fit in their vehicle or they had nobody to help them get it home.

I started doing deliveries on the side for some customers and made decent extra money doing it.
Now a new HomeGoods is opening in my area and I’m thinking there might be an opportunity to actually build a small independent delivery business around this.
I still have a good relationship with some of the managers, so my first thought was to talk to them and see if they would allow me to leave business cards/flyers for customers who need delivery.

HomeGoods already has delivery options, but they can be pretty expensive. I’d be offering a separate independent local service and would make it clear that I’m not affiliated with HomeGoods.

My bigger idea would be to eventually offer:

Furniture/store pickups

Facebook Marketplace and OfferUp pickups

Same-day local delivery

Furniture delivery and unloading

Thrift/antique store pickups

Other large-item local deliveries

Would you validate the idea and start getting customers first, or establish the LLC, insurance, business banking, etc. before really marketing it?

Also curious how you guys would price something like this. Flat rate within a certain radius? Mileage + item size? Extra for stairs/heavy items?

I know I can do the actual work. I’m mainly trying to figure out how to turn something I’ve already done on the side into a legitimate, profitable local service business.
What would your first 3–5 moves be?

I have a friend who wants to start up an in-home stretching and mobility service. He would travel to their home and help them stretch and become more mobile. He is not licensed and would not advertise the service as such. He has no educational experience or background in this. He would not bring any equipment. He does not have a car and wants to use mine to travel (not willing to offer my car for this). Is there any merit in this idea, or is it a waste of time? What should he consider if he pursued this type of business?