How do I start a grass cutting service??

Do not go without insurance. You will bust out glass and some can cost thousands. Even if you decided to pay for it out of your pocket at least get general liability insurance. It is very cheap to carry and you never know what might happen. You could sling a rock and hit some kid in the eye or hop off your mower and take a break at your truck when some kid hops on and gets injured.

As far as the liscense goes, as long as you do not plant any flowers, lay any mulch, use any chemicals (weed killer, fertilizer, etc.) or even trimming the hedges because you have to be a landscape architect or landscape contractors liscense to do any of these and you will get turned in by your competition in a heart beat.

Once you start cutting grass you will have customers ask you to do a lot of different things. The money will be tempting but as long as you stick to cutting grass, weed eating, edging and blowing you will not have a problem.

Do get a business liscense (very easy) and open a commercial checking account.

If you do these things you can do both residential and commercial, it will not cost you much and you will not get any fines. This will also allow keep your commercial and personal finances from getting mixed up.

If you are planning on doing this full time and try to make a living do not skim on equipment costs. Go ahead and get a business loan if you have to because you will struggle to make money with cheap equipment. Non commercial equipment will constantly need repairs, will slow you down, limit your ability to expand your business and most importantly eat away at your profits. A zero turning radius mower, either walk behind or traditional riding, is a must. When you go to buy your mower do not go so big that you can't get it through customers gates on their fences. You can't beat a Shindaiwa weed eater and a strong back pack blower.

The most important thing to do for any seasonal business is SAVE, SAVE, SAVE during your busy season. You will lose a tremendous amount of business in the winter. You might want to consider offering a yearly contract to your customer with a "first cut is free" and special price to keep customers on a yearly schedule. Most will not go for it but some will and every little bit helps come January.

Answer your phone. There are a hundreds of grass cutting places in any given town. Each is only a phone call away and most customers will not leave messages. For every 1000 flyers you put out expect to get about 5-10 calls. They are not very effective at getting people but they are cost effective. Do not stick them in or on mailboxes because the first mailman that sees them will report you and it is a federal offense with a hefty fine. Try concentrating them in new developements since these people are the most likely to be looking for a new lawn service. The really nice neighborhoods is not the place to hit. These people either have 10k worth of lawn equipment in their garage, have a high dollar lawn and garden contract or can not be pleased. I would stick to houses between $150-300k (depending where you live).

Television and Radio can be cheap if you know what you are doing. I do quite a bit of both and if you do decide to go in business shoot me a PM and I will give you some tips.

A catchy name is where to start. Don't do "John's lawn care" like every other Tom, Dick and Harry.

Hope all this helps.