This is too Funny. Mr. Welker said it best, Brian is a class act with an impressive operation, Matthew at Coastal First Impressions and Bradley at Reflections are both friendly competitors who I respect as well.
I first heard of Chatham Property Maintenance when I saw an add on craigslist, I called him and asked him if I could outsource all my business to him , charge my prices and pay him the $50. He did not find this funny, but at the end of the day, he believes his pricing will work and if that works for him....great.
Like Brian said...I don't think anyone is too worried.
I placed an ad on CL trying to get rid of one of my older Trailers, Chatham bought it and I hope it makes him lots of money.
I really couldn't follow most of the comments on here but it sounds like we are all going to be out of business soon.
I think one of the most important things is the ability to sell, the ability to speak intelligently and the ability to convey a sense of comfort to a potential customer.
Matthew.....don't get too excited, the landscape maintenance business has blown up, but I am still running 3 pw trailers 6 days a week and have two sitting idle waiting for the summer months when we start the big complexes.
Savannah and our surrounding areas are a decent size, AAPC has grown every year for the past 12 years, we have paid cash or traded for every truck or piece of equipment we run (lawn or pw) and will continue to operate in that manner. I do not believe in loans for anything except a house. As many of you know, the PW and LC are side businesses for me, I use to build motorcycles as a hobby, now I raise kids and play with my businesses. I was somewhat bored with the PW, kinda maxed it out so I started the lawn care side. which is where my primary focus has been for the last two years. Not having to rely on these businesses for stabiliy, allows me to try new things, focus on specific areas of interest within the two businesses, think outside the box, not focus on the daily operational aspects of the "job" but rather the bigger picture.
Back to the topic at hand.....while I encourage everyone to get prices up, at the end of the day, the customer goes with the company they feel comfortable with, they feel safe with, the one that they think will be there next year to take care of them again.
I can honestly say that I have not lost a single wink of sleep over anyone in the PW industry, there is more business out there than any one of us can handle and it does not matter how much equipment you have or if you are a one man operation or how low or how high your prices are, it is the ability to convey a coherent message to the customer and sell them on you.
maybe if I was under your pressure I would act different. But for a grown man to lie says a lot about you I want you to think about the lies you just told.
