Editorials

Is mowing out?

By Tom Hatlen

How fitting that just a few months after extolling the need to have a maintenance division that we would feature a contractor (Jarod Hynson) who does minimal maintenance (and no mowing) and who rolled thru the great recession without a drop in sales. One of the main arguments for having a mowing maintenance division is to maintain cash flow when the economy brings construction down.

Jarod didn’t need a maintenance division because the demand for his company’s work is that strong. It’s that strong because he focuses 100% of his energy on getting better and better at serving the very high-end residential design/build market. When the economy went south and there was less work in the marketplace, it was the other less specialized contractors that took the hit.

But quality work/service wasn’t his only advantage in a tight economy. Jarod also has an exceptional grip on his numbers to the point where they estimate man-hours with 99% accuracy. (See December/January Hardscape page 10.) This is a huge advantage in pricing those $100,000+ jobs where less accurate competitors must add a big fudge factor to their price so they don’t risk “losing the farm.” Jarod, on the other hand, can tighten up his profit a bit if he wants to make his price more competitive.

So, how does this apply to the rest of us who may not be quite at that level? Isn’t a mowing maintenance division still a good idea? I asked consultant Marcus vandeVliet who advises Jarod, and he said, “No. I get asked this question all the time. My recommendation is not to go into the residential mowing business. It has become extremely difficult to make money with so many mow-blow-and-go guys out there.”

Marcus says installation contractors often hire someone else to run their mowing maintenance division but it doesn’t do well because the contractor isn’t committed to it. It's not his passion. Mowing can also become a distraction from the contractor’s core strength.

What about those contractors who said that maintenance cash flow is what allowed them to survive the great recession? Marcus answers: “A few of my clients have said that. But, I think, even with those companies, you would find that the real profit didn't come from mowing. It came from the other services.”

What do you think?