Dell - How to start a home-based landscaping business

Published by Taylor Trade Publishing

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Copyright 2015 by Owen E. Dell

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Dell, Owen E., author.

How to start a home-based landscaping business / Owen E. Dell.Seventh edition.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4930-1171-1 (pbk.)ISBN 978-1-6307-6097-7 (e-book) 1. Landscaping industryManagement. 2. New business enterprisesManagement. 3. Home-based businessesManagement. I. Title.

SB472.5.D44 2015

635.9068--dc23

2015013253

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

The information provided in this book is as accurate and complete as possible, but laws, rules, regulations, and policies change constantly and there is considerable variation in legal issues governing proper business practice from state to state, and especially outside of the United States. The author has made every effort to check all facts, but neither the author nor the publisher is responsible for the accuracy of the information contained herein, nor for the applicability of the information to the needs and situation of the reader or for the success or failure of the readers existing or future business activities. The information provided is not guaranteed and is not intended to be used without checking with legal and other professional counsel and verifying specific circumstances as they apply to the readers needs and in their particular jurisdiction.

Behind every book is a cast of unseen characters, those patient, helpful people who offer endless advice with no trace of the annoyance they must surely feel now and then, who spend weekends critiquing sloppy, half-formed manuscripts, and who are always there with encouragement, enthusiasm, and good cheer.

It was Lili Singer, the editor of Southern California Gardener magazine, who first said the right words to the right people to connect aspiring author with publisher and get this project going. Mark Wisniewski, landscape professional extraordinaire, spent untold hours on the manuscript and kept me out of a lot of trouble, Im sure. Thanks also to my insurance agent of many years, Dart Whitmore, and to Lloyd Gibbs, intrepid CPA, who chewed up the sections on insurance and bookkeeping and spit them out in a much-improved form. I would be lost with-out my IT guru, Mac (no, thats not his stage name) Bakewell, who has helped me keep my information on computers up-to-date and relevant. Finally, to my friends, whom I havent paid much attention to while this work was in progress: I cant remember your names or exactly what you look like, but I love you and really appreciate your patience. Im sure well enjoy getting to know one another again. Truth be told, Im grateful to so many people that it would take a chapter to fully acknowledge them all. So I will just say thanks to those who have given me so much, and also thanks to the Earth and its cargo of life, the greatest teacher of all.

Owen Dell

1993 and 2015

I was a little over forty years old when I wrote the first edition of this book. At the time, somebody thought I was well-enough suited to the task of advising eager young (and not so young) aspirants to the landscaping business on how to start and run their own operations. I wasnt so sure, and I took on the project with mixed feelings of honor and blood-curdling terror. Writing a book isnt easy, and this one was no exception. I wanted to be certain that I offered the very best advice, and so I made a point of questioning everything I thought I knew from my years of experience running a small, home-based landscaping business. I spent a lot of time talking to fellow professionals, poring over books at the library (this was before the Internet made research a comfy home-based task), and relentlessly checking my facts. When all was said and done and the book went to press, I was pooped. I was also pretty sure I had done right by my future readers.

Then a marvelous thing happened. I began to get emails and letters from readers, thanking me for guiding them toward a successful career. What a heartwarming and unexpected payoff that has been! The flow of gratitude continues, over 20 years later, and my life is regularly enriched by touching, kind words from people who found in How to Start a Home-Based Landscaping Business the help they needed to embark on a career in this demanding field and build thriving small businesses and satisfying lives.

The day I began writing How to Start a Home-Based Landscaping Business, so long ago now, I had an instinct that people wanted some-one to act as their guide, a friendly arm around their shoulder as they took on their daunting adventures. I wanted to be that guide, and I feel the same way today. So it is with the deepest gratitude for those who have supported me in this work, and with the deepest affection for new readers who are looking for a little support, that I present you with this revised and expanded edition of the book. Im with you on your journey, and I look forward to hearing of your successes.

Owen Dell

June 2015

p.s. If you like this book, please tell the world by posting reviews at Amazon and other online retailers. It helps me to go on helping you. Thanks!

In 1972 I was studying botany at the local junior college, going out into the mountains and deserts of the beautiful state of California, and looking at some of the most gorgeous natural places anyone has ever seen. As luck would have it, 72 was one of the great years for wildflowers, and we really got an eyeful. Having grown up in the inner city, I knew little about nature, or about gardens for that matter, and I was deeply moved by what I saw. Through that wonderful spring that Ill never forget, something grew inside me, something entirely new and remarkable.

Our class would troop out into the wilderness and we would spend a morning, a day, or a week steeping ourselves in the incredible elegance of it all. Then we would inevitably return to civilization, which looked more and more like a bad mistake carried out on a grand scale by some very inept people. As I began to see nature, I also began to see gardens, and what I saw was how vastly different the two were. Slowly, over that spring, I came to understand that gardens were important and could be made better than they were. I came to love nature, but I also came to love the idea of my playing a part in nature. I came to have a passion about the dream that had unfurled inside me like the first leaves of a sprouting beanthe dream of making landscapes more like nature.