DAY 3 of Building a $1M Business in 1 Yr
In this vlog Mike Andes documents a pivotal day in his quest to build a $1 million lawn‑care business in one year while he must relocate in six months. He and his team pick up two vans with newly installed heavy‑duty aluminum ramps, wash them, and deliver them for custom vinyl wraps. Mike walks through the ramp design, explaining why the high‑top van and the $5,000 watertight ramp are essential for technician safety, ergonomics, and workflow efficiency. He outlines the interior layout—space for a Z‑sprayer, push mower, 30‑32‑inch stand‑on mowers, and optional pallet storage—highlighting how the flat rear bumper enables a less‑steep ramp angle, reducing equipment damage. He discusses vendor relationships (Augusta Longhair for ramps, SpeedPro for wraps), the decision not to share the ramp supplier until field testing validates quality, and considerations around ventilation, solar panels, and metal thickness. The vlog also covers operational upgrades: HomeWorks’ new MCP/API that lets Mike command invoices, crew assignments, and tags via AI assistants like Claude, dramatically streamlining back‑office tasks. Finally, Mike mentions uniform arrival, equipment logistics, and asks the audience for input on leftover van doors. The content blends hands‑on equipment setup, safety and design rationale, vendor negotiation, and tech‑enabled operational scaling.
Chapters
I moved across the country to build a $1 million lawn care business in 1 year. The catch is I've got to move back in 6 months, meaning I got to get a general manager and a crew set up and running so the business grows without me. Finally, 2 of the vans have their ramps installed, so we're going to go pick them up, wash them, and take them to go get wrapped. Knock, knock. Hello? Hi, how's it going? We're just dropping off a couple trucks. So we got— we're dropping this one. Do you have your key? Yeah. Cool. We're dropping off 2 for Augusta Longhair for the ramps, and then we're picking up 2 that have the ramps already installed. Well, so he's bringing the other one around, right? And this one's up front. Yep. Awesome. You're the best. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Y'all have a great day. All right, so first impressions, this thing is solid. It's aluminum. It looks like there's like a weld, but look at this thing. It's actually part Like, look at that. That is good quality. You look at $5,000 for a ramp, you're like, oh my word, it's expensive. But it's really nice, really, really solid. And we'll be able to put some padlocks on this bad boy. Nice. So they're taking those ones back, and then we should have one more coming forward. Yep. Oh yeah, dude, look at that. That is hardcore. This like is awesome, man. This is hardcore. I don't mind driving a thousand pounds up that thing. So we'll meet up. Yep. Why? All right, it's bad. I couldn't park there. It's parked with love. He's like, "I can't park there either." That's a flashback to the vlog right there, backing up in the trees. Clearly there's nothing around for us to hit. That's good. I wonder if this stuff comes off. Nope. Oh, do the Volvo thing. Ugh. I want to get them dirty. That'll be my excuse. You know what the Volvo thing is, dude? The Volvo thing is where I'm gonna try it. This would be a great thumbnail. I want to dent anything here. There you go. So there's a Volvo ad where basically there's two Volvo trucks, semis driving next to each other, and the guy is slowly get closer and further. Are further and further apart, and his— he doesn't even split. I don't think we're gonna try. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Ugh. Alright, we gave up. Oh, you're not gonna do the splits? Dude, it needs to go wider. That's my excuse. No, I don't think I would try it, honestly. I'm not as talented as the actor they used for that ad, and I wasn't getting paid as much. That'd be a great way to start off the challenge. Week 2, groin surgery. Alright, we're gonna wash these bad boys, just rinse them off before we get the wrap on them. They didn't— obviously, if you have dirt and stuff underneath the wrap, not good, it'll bubble. So let's rinse this bad boy off. What's a minimum of $15? Oh, to start, $1. Okay, we can work with that. You don't even know what you're getting here, honestly. $1 a minute. Processing. When done, press stop button. I'm guessing that's the stop button. All right, well, we're gonna start with a high-pressure soap. Oh, let's go. Joke's on me. They have the smallest guy doing these high tops. All right, dude. It's all she wrote. Van number one is done. Processing. Thank you. Beep beep beep. You may begin washing your vehicle. All right. And we're off. All right, 2 vans down. Now we're gonna head over and get them wrapped. On the way, we're gonna take a walk through exactly how these bad boys work. Oh yeah, these are solid. All right, we picked up the vans, but I wanted to give you a more thorough kind of walkthrough or tour of the van. As well as the brand new ramps that we just picked up. So the major thing about these ramps, first off, they're super heavy duty for security. And secondly, that if it rains or there's water that's coming on it, it doesn't get through. So it's basically watertight. So I've never actually opened this thing up. You can see here is where we're going to put a padlock and we'll make sure it's a really good one that is really secure because ultimately these are going to be going to the homes of our team members, our technicians. And so if they're in an area that might not be the most— Ooh, that is nice. Oh yes, I do like. Oh, that is beautiful. Look at that. Now I don't know what we're gonna do with those doors, to be perfectly honest with you, but this is solid. Awesome. Cool. So one thing to take note of is how abrupt this is, or how steep this is. One of the major reasons why we got the high top is not only for the sake of the technician, but if this was here, that would mean that this ramp would be about 12 inches Shorter. And if it's 12 inches shorter, it's gonna be steeper. And if you're driving a zero-turn up this, it is going to get caught right here on this heel. And so a big part of having the high top is actually just to have the larger ramp that allows it to have a less degree of a slope that the zero-turn does not scrape on the bottom on the deck. So this side area, technically, I think I can open it from the inside. There you go. So this is wide enough To be able to get a pallet. So if you really wanted to, you could put a bunch of bagged fertilizer in here. I've seen some people put ramps out of this too, so you could actually drive a Z sprayer or a smaller mower in and out of here. Uh, we're not going to be doing that. Our plan is to have— this is where we're going to either have a Z sprayer, and then you can have a push mower, and then we're gonna have our 30, 32-inch stand-on mowers. So the 32-inch stand-on mowers, they're small, like it's gonna only come to here. We'll have plenty of space for a push mower or a spreader and then a Z sprayer. And if you really wanted to, if you were just doing chemicals on this van, you could put the Z sprayer here or put a pallet of a whole bunch of fertilizer here and then put your Z spray in the back. So lots of optionality. It's honestly a bigger van than we really need for just the everyday use of a 30-inch mower, a 32-inch stand-on, and then racks on the side for blowers, trimmers, gasoline, etc. So it's a little bit of overkill, but also allows them to be able to do both. The guys on Paper Performance, they make a percentage of the labor revenue, and the best way to make the most money is to be able to mow someone's lawn and then right after take the Z-Sprayer and spray it with fertilizer. And so that is going to be the objective long term, is that as they get more experience, assuming they're certified and they can do— have their pesticide license, they'll be able to start Putting down spray or fertilizer themselves. So the actual ramp is great. I don't know if you can see this, but it's not just like cheap. Like, this is great. This is the first time I've actually seen the quality of the build. But it's funny because I was just thinking on the way here, I actually had a ramp on my very first 6 by 12 enclosed trailer and I went out the side with a push mower, little guy coming out the side of the door. But I would move it in and out every single time, like every single lawn, I'd move it in and out. It was all of $150. It was also aluminum. This is $5,000. So it's not cheap, but you can just see the quality of the build and the ability— like, when you think about worker safety, the fact that this doesn't drop down fast, the fact that you can pick this up with 2 fingers and it's not hard, it's great. Like, I still remember one time with that little foldable ramp that I used to use out of the side of my enclosed trailer, it— the mower fell while I was loading it up and it smashed my finger. You know, if you're an owner-operator, okay, but if you have team members, that becomes an insurance claim, that comes a whole bunch of problems. And ultimately, if you have your technicians out there doing that, I don't want them in this kind of heat working 40 hours a week lifting a push mower in and out of the back of the van. So this ramp, very nice. I do recommend— I am not yet sharing where we get these for one reason, not because I'm gatekeeping. They're a preferred vendor of Augusta, and we are just started our relationship with them. Once we're using them and our technicians use this, I will share who this is and who is giving this, who we bought this from. They are about $5,000. We're not getting any like crazy freebies because of the, the show here. But the objective is that the technicians get their hands on it because they're the ones that ultimately this needs to make them happy. So if they don't like it, I'm not going to tell you go buy one until they actually put their hands on it and use it out in the field. So I think that's about it. Let's close this bad boy up. Dude, that is so good. One thing I do notice here, see this? There's a little bit of a gap there and you gotta kind of push in. And there is a little bit of an air gap right here, which I'm not thrilled about. That was the side I could— it was a little harder to close. Everywhere else is completely sealed, like very solid. And so There's a tiny gap here, like if you stick your finger, but overall you're probably getting a little bit of leakage. I wouldn't say it's airtight though, especially right here. So we'll see if that becomes a problem. But overall, like, I'm just really happy with the overall construction. It's just like, it's a beast. But again, I'm not gonna share what it is, not because I'm trying to gatekeep. I need the technicians to beat this thing up for a few weeks before we start recommending stuff here on the channel. And so if you're gonna put vents, you usually want to have like a little solar panel And have like a fan that's running all the time. I think we're gonna try it first 'cause we talked to the outfitter and they basically said, hey, first off, you're cutting into the metal, like not great for resale value. But also because you have this, like the fumes aren't gonna be going in the cab. And they, in their opinion, they said around here no one really does it and the vents don't really do a whole lot in terms of ventilation. As long as you're opening these up throughout the day. We'll see. We'll see if we have gas cans blowing up. But they said they do this for a lot of other companies and they don't do ventilation, which is the first time I've ever heard of that. But I'm going to follow their instincts because they do this all the time. So we are not putting in solar vents up top or vents on the side for now. And I'll be honest, this is pretty thin metal. I'm not going to lie. Compared to like this aluminum, this thing is solid. But this kind of like if you do a sea can, if you have one of those shipping containers, it looks really hardy, like super hardcore metal. And then you look at it, it's like, ooh, it's really thin sheet metal. All right, we got this bad boy washed on the outside. Now we're gonna go get the vinyl wrap put on the outside of it so it looks Augustified. And Max is gonna have his massive beautiful face right on the side. And we just made a new design for the wraps. Because this is an extra about 12 to 16 inches with the high top, so that Max's face is going to go from the very bottom to the very top. I cannot wait to see it. This will be the very first van wrapped in the new design for a high-top van. All right, let's check out the other one, make sure it's fine before we get it all wrapped up. Oh, that is so beautiful. It's like doves, angels descending. See how long that lasts. I wonder if these ever busted, it'd be a pain in the butt because that would be very heavy. But exact same setup in here. The only thing that's different is we have not yet put the wooden racks on the side. And you might have heard on day 1, we talked about originally trying to do rivets in here. It just wasn't working great. So we ended up just doing the 2x4s, staining them, and putting them in the siding. So we'll see how that works out as well. But yeah, exact same thing here. Let's see if this one's airtight, watertight. Where are we sitting with that? But again, it's like, this is great. Like the fact that if someone's hand slips, It's not going to crush their toe. Huge win. The fact that this nice and smooth here. So if you did have a smaller sized wheel like a push mower, it's not like you're trying to like bump up and then see this. Even this part here being rounded is really important because the nuts on the bottom of the blades, like of the deck, I don't want them hitting this and grabbing it. So on this other side, you can see this is a sharp side of the metal. If it was sharp on this side, I'd be concerned. Very concerned if we were ever on a hill going down because this would get a little bit steeper and then the nuts of those blades would be hitting this very hard every time and catching. And I remember I completely messed up one of my decks way back in the day when I drove a zero-turn up the back of a ramp and it had a sharp edge and I was on a downhill slope and it caught. So again, the number one reason why we have the high tops is not only for the crew to be able to stand up inside, it is also just We need this ramp long enough to be able to not have a really steep slope where the ramps or the decks of the mowers get caught. So same thing, copy and paste. 2 down, 2 to go. For now, let's go ahead and get these bad boys over to the vinyl wrap installer. And we are using— see, same thing on this side. See how it doesn't— It's— this one's a little tighter. It's close, it's fine. But we'll see how these in the long run— like, ultimately, whenever it comes to trailers or ramps like this, they all look good when they're brand new. It's once it's through a few months of with the technicians and mowers going in and out all day long, then we'll really know whether or not it's high quality. All right, so the number one reason why we use these ramps with these vans is right here, these straight lines. Most of the vans, when it comes to Sprinters and even Ford Transits, they have a curve, and it makes it a little bit harder to build these with the airtightness or the watertightness and just like the overall security because you have a bent frame, whereas here it's flat, it's straight. So once the doors come off, this is essentially exactly the way we want for this gate. Obviously you can see the top there, they have to compensate a little bit because it's not at the top, it rounds off just a little bit, but this is still— Perfect. The van we really chose, the biggest reason is for the fact that this backing is completely flat and this is completely straight here on the bumper of the van. Hey, John, these are the doors that they took off after the ramps. I'm just wondering, do we want to try to sell them or are we just going to take all 8 out with, you know, 2 for each of the 4 vans? We're just gonna take them to the dump. Little rage bait in there. We were wondering if when they wrap it tomorrow, would it be possible if, um, we come and film some of it by chance for our marketing? Yeah, um, they'll be here at 8 tomorrow. Okay. Um, yeah, no, that should be fine. Okay. Yeah, this after 8 is fine. Okay, awesome, good to know. Also, what's nice is if they— if you're here and we come early, they'll get them done. And site 1 is right over here. I can pick up the Z-Spray. I was gonna ask if you're gonna get, uh, the rest of the equipment. Oh, uh, mowers. And I can't fit all of it in one anyways. We kind of need 2, but it kind of depends. Like, if they finish one of them in the morning because like you show up and they're like, okay, let's get one of them done, then yes, I'll probably pick up a couple pieces, at least some. All right, the uniforms finally came in, which means I no longer have to wear the exact same shirt that I've worn for the past 4 days. Very happy about this. All right, we dropped the vans off at SpeedPro, which is a preferred vendor of Augusta Lawn Care. So we got a pretty good discount on those wraps. So hopefully tomorrow we can get some of that footage for you all of them actually installing the wraps on the vans. But we're driving back to Airbnb. HomeWorks made a big update today on their MCP and API. So the ability for me to use like ChatGPT or Claude just to talk to homework on all the data. So now you can like create it, create, edit, send, write off, archive, copy, and delete all invoices. Customers, you can add tags. So like, that's a huge one actually, managing tags. You can auto-update their settings, credit balances, just a whole bunch of stuff with properties and crews. The ability now, like I could literally go to Claude or chat with him like, hey, Bob called out, go ahead and reassign all his jobs to Dave. And boom, it would be done. So just lots of really cool stuff that's coming out there tomorrow though. Our hope is that those get wrapped and we can pick up all the equipment, at least the Z sprayer, couple mowers. Also, I forgot that those doors in the back of the van—I don't know what to do with those. So let me know: Should I be throwing those away? Are those of value? Can I sell them? Let me know. We'll see you guys tomorrow.
