LAWNCAREPRO
LM ’S OPERATOR OF THE MONTH » BY RON HALL
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In 1979 Wayne Volz wanted a 10-speed bicycle. “My Dad
told me that if I wanted it, I would need to earn the money
to pay for it,” says Volz, president of Wayne’s Lawn Service. Volz started mowing nine lawns that summer and the
rest is history. He continued mowing through high school,
and college. After graduating from college, he had a “real”
job for four years working as a financial aid counselor
before committing full-time to his business in July 1987.
What’s the biggest lesson
you’ve learned as you’ve built
your lawn care company?
Success is not measured by
customer count or dollar
volume. Those are the two
easiest measures of operating a business. True success
is measured by customer
loyalty and great employee
retention. If they’re in place,
profit dollars will take care of
themselves.
my services. I was bidding my
jobs based on what I thought
the market would bear, what I
thought my competition was
charging and, in many cases,
what my potential clients said
they were willing to pay for
the services I offered. This
kind of pricing is too common for the industry and is
responsible for the staggering
failure rate for lawn care and
landscaping companies.
I knew there were many
lawn and landscape company
owners just like me who were
struggling with these same
issues so we decided to offer
our bidding and cost calculation methodology to contractors across North America.
Thus, Profits Unlimited
was founded in 1990 to help
commercial lawn care and
landscaping companies earn
what they deserve.
and other loyal, trained and
committed employees. Once
I realized I must delegate the
responsibility and authority of
getting jobs completed without
me, our businesses grew.
What is your advice to any
young person eager to start a
lawn service or landscaping
company? Remember you’re
operating a business. Let me
emphasis the word business.
This business is not just
cutting grass and planting
shrubs. It’s easy to get caught
up in the I-am-small-I-can-do-it-cheaper mentality and
put yourself right out of
business. Know your operating costs per hour based on
your unique overhead and
expenses and charge accordingly. Don’t worry about
what everyone else is doing.
Pick a lane for your company
by defining what your company is and what it’s going to
do better than the competition. Let this separate you
AT A GLANCE
COMPANY: Wayne’s Lawn
Service Inc.
FOUNDED: 1979
TITLE: President
HEADQUARTERS: Louisville,
KY (sole location)
EMPLOYEES: 10 – 13
INDUSTRY INVOLVEMENT:
Past President, Kentucky
Lawn Maintenance
Association; Past Board
Member, Kentucky Turfgrass Council; speaker at
industry events; regular
contributor to industry
publications
BUSINESS GOAL FOR 2010:
Striving for excellence in
all aspects of operating
our business to create
customer loyalty.
FAMILY: Married 27 years
to my wife, Jane, and
has four children – Kyle,
Katie, Daniel and Holly
WEBSITE: wayneslawn
service.com and profits
areus.com
LANDSCAPEMANAGEMENT.NET | JULY 2010 24 “KNOW YOUR OPERATING COSTS BASED ON YOUR OVERHEAD AND EXPENSES AND CHARGE ACCORDINGLY.”
You own and operate two
companies, Wayne’s Lawn
Service and also Profits Unlimited. Tell us about Profits
Unlimited. I started Profits
Unlimited to help lawn and
landscape companies with
the same trials and tribulations I experienced the first
nine years I was in business.
I was working very hard, had
no free time and I was not
making any money. Although
I had a business degree, I
did not know how to bid
contracts, market or sell to be
successful. These are basic for
any successful business.
My biggest issue was that
I had little to no structure as
to what I was charging for
from the competition. Resist
the temptation to compete
based solely on price.
How do you find time to run
two companies? I’m very
fortunate to have my brother
Any final thoughts? Check
your ego at the door when
running your business and
surround yourself with
people smarter than you are.
