Why invest in lawn
care?
1. Lawn care is part of the rapidly growing Green
Industry
While growth has been fueled by expansion of the housing market
over the last several years, demographic trends indicate growth
that will extend beyond the housing boom, with an increasingly
greater percentage of homeowners hiring a professional lawn and
landscape maintenance company.
Maturing Baby Boomers with more disposable income
and an increasing priority on enjoying life will continue to employ
the services of our industry in greater numbers to ease the burdens
of maintaining their homes.
Additionally, growing numbers of dual-income
families will continue to look to lawn care service providers to
help them free up more time in which to enjoy the pleasures of
family and home life.
Working in conjunction with favorable demographic
trends is the consumer's recognition of lawn care as a truly
compelling value when compared to the retail cost of products, the
hassle of mixing and applying those products and the angst of
uncertain results incurred by the do-it-yourselfer.
- Even as the average size of the U.S. lawn
decreases, more families are contracting out for lawn service,
according to data from the Vermont-based National Gardening
Association
- In 2003, 17% or 19.4 million households hired a
professional lawn and landscape maintenance company, up from 15% in
2000 and 13% in 1998
- The total spent by homeowners for these services
has risen from $7.9 billion in 1998 to $9.7 billion in 2000 to
$11.2 billion in 2003
2. High Margins
Mowing, installation work and fertilization were the highest ranked
services in a recent Lawn & Landscape survey, Research USA
study, reported by Lawn and Landscape Market Trends 2001. Weed Man
franchisees reported Gross Margins averaging 53.8% in its current
Uniform Franchise Offering Circular. Please refer to Item 19 in the
Weed Man UFOC for more specific information.
3. Limited Capital Investment
Both the initial as well as the on-going investment in real estate,
fixtures and equipment is low relative to the capital requirements
of most businesses.
4. Recurring Revenues
A well-run lawn care company automatically renews the vast majority
of customers from year to year, allowing the company to focus
marketing efforts on net growth.
5. Strong Cash Flow
Beginning in the fall of the previous service year, 15-30% of
customers ultimately prepay prior to the start of current year
services, while very favorable 30-day to 180-day terms are
available from major suppliers. It is not uncommon for the vast
majority of customer payments for spring services to have been
received before a company's invoices from suppliers for the
materials used in those spring services is due.
6. Barriers to Entry
State licensing requirements, while very manageable in
most states, do create enough of a barrier to restrict competition
from small operators and companies whose primary focus is not lawn
care.
7. Limited Exposure to Recession
With the average annual cost of service less than $300 per
year, lawn care is a small slice of the consumer's disposable
income and one of the last budget items to be cut when
belt-tightening is necessary. Also shielding lawn care from
exposure to recession is its high perceived value as a low-cost
service that enhances both property value and pride of
ownership.
8. Adaptability to Management
Systems.
Lawn care's narrow focus on growing and protecting healthy
turf limits the business' complexity and allows it to be distilled
down to a limited number of repetitive tasks faced by production,
administrative and sales staff. These tasks are very adaptable to
systems that improve profitability, increase sales and reduce the
strains on management.
None of the communications made through this Web
site are directed to the residents of any jurisdiction requiring
registration of the Weed Man franchise before it is offered and
sold in that jurisdiction. Nor may these communications be
construed as an offer to sell any Weed Man franchise in such
jurisdictions.
No Weed Man franchises will be sold to any
resident of any such jurisdiction until
(1) the offering has been duly registered in and
declared effective by, such jurisdiction and the required Uniform
Franchise Offering Circular has been delivered to the prospective
franchisee before the sale, all in compliance with applicable law
or
(2) the offering has been exempted from the
requirements of these jurisdictions
