BTW, the particular neighborhood this guy works in is small- it's the same neighborhood where my Dad lives, and we know a lot of his clients.
The yards are tiny. The mowable area is probably about twice the size of a 2car garage on average, and there is no travel time between the jobs. 15 jobs a day is not unreasonable at all.
Sounds like you want a change and the business is just a cool thing that reflects the excitement in that potential change.
Sounds like you want to be closer to pops. If thats the case, does it really matter what you do? Why take the risk of buying anything more than a new house in Myrtle Beach? Why not get a normal 9-5 job that has you home to take see the kids and take care of dad.
It seems to me that if you had a knack for doing what Dad's Lawncare Folks do, you could easily jump into the market cheap and see if you can compete. Maybe even your boy could help out. If you can't, it'll tell you thats it's you thats the problem. If you can compete, maybe it's worth buying the other business.
You don't read like a guy who is ever going to retire in the sense of doing nothing that will bring in money. Or like a guy who waits around for a buck to come to him if you can chase it down with a little initiative.
The one thing you mentioned that I liked is that you feel that you can profitably involve your wife. A lot of small businesses generate enough income to support a family, but when parsed out to managers and staff who are not family, the pickings are not worth it. Part of why I sold my first business.
Not that I am suggesting anything, but do any of the old geezers pay cash?
Paying your wife and kid a salary even if they don't do much is a good way to minimize your pre-tax income. Let junior buy the same clothes you were going to buy him using "His" money. If they can really be of use, even better.
In reply to NOHOME:
Not that I'm suggesting anything, but I am sure they do. 
In reply to pheller:
Actually, I wouldn't even take the risk of buying a new house in the area. Business is much cheaper and generates an income, and I've already got a place I could stay.
But yeah, I get your point.
Always thought lawn care would be a good retirement gig. Dad started doing lawn care when he retired but that soon morphed into all handyman work, he actually had to turn work down.
Lawn care services appear to do OK around here and there are plenty. Besides just mowing, a full lawn service can really keep you busy w/ dethatching, aeration, fertilizer, leaf removal etc. Not every customer would want that though. Winter months they do snow removal and plowing.
What about handyman work?
Alf and Ralph like.
I responded to your email, but I'll restate some of that here.
Myrtle Beach would be a perfect place to be in the lawn care business. It's a haven for retired transplants that would much rather play golf, than mow grass. Buying an established business would get your foot in the door and get you over the hump pretty quickly. Word of mouth goes a long way in the retirement communities so expanding shouldn't be a problem as long as you can keep the customers happy. A pleasant attitude, an extra word or two, a little extra service goes a long way. It's going to be a little different than construction.
Oh, and traffic is going to suck in the summer. If your jobs are spread across town, travel time will kill you, so scheduling will be important.
Sounds like fun. Move on up here, I'll buy you lunch when I'm in the area. 
back to my idea of R/C ice racing.. they do make artificial ice in the form of thick poly sheets. you could do ice racing all year indoors wearing a tee shirt
You can do a lot worse than having numerous skills in a place with people and money.
Would you and your family live with dad, or elsewhere?
If the family can pick up and go.. go.
mad_machine wrote: back to my idea of R/C ice racing.. they do make artificial ice in the form of thick poly sheets. you could do ice racing all year indoors wearing a tee shirt
Hate to be that guy, but I'm pretty sure you meant this post to go over here.
My nephew started a part-time lawn care/snow removal business a few years before he could retire. By the time he retired at age 55 he had built it up to a solid business. In the 2 years since he retired he has built it (with other services) further to the point where he is making as much as he did before retirement.
The downside to this is that he now works from sun-up to sun-down 6 days a week and has had to have his father, wife help during the week plus his daughters on Saturday.
In reply to Hal:
He needs to adjust his rates up some.
I'll tell you that the one thing in my 42 years that I have not even one regret about is taking care of my dad the last two years of his life. My wife will probably tell you the same thing, and since she works out of the house she bore the brunt of the burden.
Even at 55 you have time for rebounding from almost anything. But you only have so much time left with your dad, and you won't be sorry for any additional time you get to spend with him.
As to the business, you are on a 10-12 year plan. You want 3 years of growth, 5 years of coast, and a few years of transition to new ownership. Hire smart and let them know the plan, and use it for you. You can grow the business the whole time, but after you get comfortable let your employees grow under your umbrella and feel like they are improving their situation because of their loyalty to you, and then let go and retire when everyone is ready.
A co-worker dates a guy in Venice, FL who makes a killing owning a company that does 2nd home management for really rich folks. From what she's told me, he's almost like a concierge for them. Need lawn work? No problem. Home repair? No problem. Hous stocked for your vacation arrival? No problem. Picked up from the airport? No problem.
You get the point. You could use this business as the spring board to something very similar. You could also look at more traditional vacation rental property management. It all ties together and your temperament would be perfect. All the old fogies would love you!
I had my own 40 account business in high school and college. The beauty of that was being time limited with very little overhead. That meant that I could undercut the big outfits and cherry pick the best customers/jobs because I had more demand than I could keep up with.
In my case, I had the same core 15-20 customer base for the 8 years I worked, and could rely on them for referrals if I ever needed to. It was just me and a 48 inch walk behind, but growth would have been easy for me. There is a fine line in that business though between big enough and too big. I could have seen it grow to a couple crews and trucks, but I'm not sure I would have ever wanted to be one of the big 2-3 groups in town.
It sounds to me like starting in lawncare/landscaping and moving into property management could work with the situation you're in. Older customers that don't want to or can't take care of their properties, and you want to be there and have the skills. Geography is on your side if all of the accounts are in the same small area - travel time between jobs will kill productivity and add overhead.
I think it could work.
How's your health? In the next 5 to ten years it is going to decline to some degree. The amount is largely a matter of genetics, though how well you have taken care of yourself will factor in. What happens when you factor in health costs to the two alternatives? And/or the implications of a disability of some sort?
If you take your new income and subtract what it will cost to pay for what you get as benefits of your current job (health insurance etc), is what's left acceptable?
Basil Exposition wrote: How's your health? In the next 5 to ten years it is going to decline to some degree. The amount is largely a matter of genetics, though how well you have taken care of yourself will factor in. What happens when you factor in health costs to the two alternatives? And/or the implications of a disability of some sort?
This. I am getting the feeling that having employer-provided health insurance is going to be a huge deal in the near future...
In reply to the OP: As long as the costs & returns work out ok, I don't see an issue with it. I can imagine you succeeding pretty well at it.
I will say that doubling the size in a year or two seems like growth that could be dangerously quick. Especially if that growth results in new employees and equipment.
As for the internet comment... lawncare/home repair/handy-work businesses have little to no presence on the internet, at least here. I feel like 80% is through word-of-mouth, 20% is through flyers. I've tried finding a few, have not had good luck with those I've used, and others are just craigslist advertisements that are not inspiring.
Hal wrote: My nephew started a part-time lawn care/snow removal business a few years before he could retire. By the time he retired at age 55 he had built it up to a solid business. In the 2 years since he retired he has built it (with other services) further to the point where he is making as much as he did before retirement. The downside to this is that he now works from sun-up to sun-down 6 days a week and has had to have his father, wife help during the week plus his daughters on Saturday.
That doesn't sound very retired.
oldopelguy wrote: I'll tell you that the one thing in my 42 years that I have not even one regret about is taking care of my dad the last two years of his life. My wife will probably tell you the same thing, and since she works out of the house she bore the brunt of the burden. Even at 55 you have time for rebounding from almost anything. But you only have so much time left with your dad, and you won't be sorry for any additional time you get to spend with him. As to the business, you are on a 10-12 year plan. You want 3 years of growth, 5 years of coast, and a few years of transition to new ownership. Hire smart and let them know the plan, and use it for you. You can grow the business the whole time, but after you get comfortable let your employees grow under your umbrella and feel like they are improving their situation because of their loyalty to you, and then let go and retire when everyone is ready.
Thank you. I needed that reminder.
dyintorace wrote: A co-worker dates a guy in Venice, FL who makes a killing owning a company that does 2nd home management for really rich folks. From what she's told me, he's almost like a concierge for them. Need lawn work? No problem. Home repair? No problem. Hous stocked for your vacation arrival? No problem. Picked up from the airport? No problem. You get the point. You could use this business as the spring board to something very similar. You could also look at more traditional vacation rental property management. It all ties together and your temperament would be perfect. All the old fogies would love you!
That's basically exactly what I am picturing it growing into.
Plus, you've never met my wife, but she'd be perfect too. Everyone loves her, she's excellent at hospitality, and covers a lot of things I can't. Need help with your iPad? Sure. Need someone to teach you email? Of course. Dog walking? Pet sitting? House sitting? No problem.
There's even a transport angle... we used to have a Non Emergency Medical Transport company. High end taxi service for elderly. But we could do something similar there- Uber exists, but no one knows how to use it.
How about expanding into taking care of swimming pools in addition to lawns and handyman services?
In reply to T.J.:
No pools in my Dads neighborhood. Not sure about others.
A pool would mean a MUCH bigger property. Less retirement friendly (except for the uber rich, and they have their own staff)
What is the demographics of the existing client base? Will the existing clients still be living there in 10 years or will they be off to other things? If they get replaced by younger families, the demand for lawn and handyman services may shrink in the neighborhood.
Maybe Paul could make the eventual shift of the next generation of lawn care workers starting their own businesses work for him. Move, take over existing business to sustain the initial move. Continue to grow, especially in the minor contracting/handyman and other areas. When ready to slow it down a bit, sell just the lawn care biz to an experienced entrepreneurial youngster.
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