Jims mowing heading down the toilet ?
Submitted by Shorty on Tue, 2009-10-20 14:45
Being in lawnmowing on and off since 1983 (when i left school)i have seen a lot of mowing franchises(mostly over east)but in W.A its been mainly V.I.P from South Australia and Jims mowing from Victoriia headed by the biggest fruit cake on the planet IMO Jim Penman (last week he said he gets one mowing complaint from ever 100,000 mows ,yeah right,lol)
But it looks like time is fast running out for Jim as the franchises want him out,,it will not help Jims mowing though,,its the whole system and the franchise fees,,like Ansett its only a matter of time before the whole lot collaspes IMO
Heres the first nail in the coffin.
Stevef
Posts: 478
Date Joined: 27/02/08
Have heard of similar
Have heard of similar sentiments before Shorty ...................... a mate of mine reportedly had a bad experience in Victoria
Shorty
Posts: 1549
Date Joined: 10/05/08
Yes these franchieses are to
Yes these franchieses are to greedy with their high fees etc,,reading around lawnmowing sites theres many folks that have lost everything to these franchises.
V.I.P were big around my area but i have not seen one for a few years,,it was reported they painted the trailers green and went independant,i am told theres still plenty around North of the river though and other areas South.
dumper
Posts: 1027
Date Joined: 03/04/08
just out of curiosity, whats
just out of curiosity, whats a lawny charge for 170 m squared plus edging?
Shorty
Posts: 1549
Date Joined: 10/05/08
It depends where you are i
It depends where you are i guess,,usually theres a $40 minimun charge,,, My Jims friends tell me they charge $75 an hour , but they don't always charge the same,,its up to each individual operator.
Walker
Posts: 151
Date Joined: 04/10/09
our front and back $25....
our front and back $25.... but it only takes 20mins and he also does 6 houses in our street which brings the fees down. its only 30mtr square
Shorty
Posts: 1549
Date Joined: 10/05/08
Yes its cheaper if you have
Yes its cheaper if you have others close by less travel time,,not sure how often Jims get that hourly rate, half the talk out the Tip is bulldung anyway.
I think the Perth average would be between $30-$40 at the moment, corner blocks can be a bit more sometimes,,the mowers we use are over 5 grand these day (roller mowers) someone ask me do they cost about a grand ? it costs me $900 just for new blades (cylinder and cutting plate)
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18027
Date Joined: 11/03/08
i know a bloke that has just
i know a bloke that has just purchased a franchise , or was anyway, and the co owner pulled out of jims because of the price to have the name, Jims has too many hands in too many pockets in various lines from mowing to pool cleaning , greedy bas#$%d, forces a lot of small operators to undercut themselves just to get the jobs and in turn do it very tough
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
Feral
Posts: 1508
Date Joined: 01/11/06
sounds like every goods and
sounds like every goods and service industry ... i work in electrical sales and youd hate to own one of these types of shops at the moment .. lots of stores going backwards
7739ian
Posts: 948
Date Joined: 25/06/08
Hey Feral
i hope it's not one of the stores i slagged off in the Busso-Dunsborough Times a few weeks ago?
Cammos
Posts: 606
Date Joined: 30/06/09
Boys, boys,
Boys, boys, boys......................(climbing onto his soapbox)
You really need to not believe everything you see in the media. I am the Regional Franchisor for Jim's Cleaning in WA. I also used to operate Jim's Mowing - Iluka for 2 years prior to switching to cleaning. I think I have a pretty good idea of what is going on.
Lets get some things clear.
1. Jim Penman is a bit of a weird one. By his own admission, he is socially inept, a poor communicator and sometimes pretty tough to get on with. By puting the right people around him he has worked with his flaws and built a business that helps support around 3000 families. If nothing else that is pretty bloody good. Just to be clear I don't particularly like the way Jim does some things, but I have chosen to attach my business to his, in an effort to improve my ability to make money.
2. The entire Jim's system is built on the policy that the next person up the "ladder" can be voted out of the business by the people who pay him. So my franchisees (I currently have 6) could vote me out with a 50% majority. So if I annoy 3 of my guys, I could be out within 3 months. This guarantees that franchisors will always look after their franchisees, and the best way to look after them is to make sure they are making money.
3. There is no way you can argue that other operators need to drop their prices when Jim's enters a market. We keep our prices higher than the market in an effort to drive them up. For consumers this may not be good, but it is great for business. If you know someone running a home service business, who thinks the only way to get more jobs (revenue) is to drop their price, they may as well pack up their stuff and go somewhere else before they completely lose everything. They maybe should try adding value to their services to make their business more appealing to the consumer? As an example when I sold my mowing business the average lawn mow was $35.81. I had a minimum charge of $35 just to unload my gear, yet there were so many independant operators willing to do a mow for $20 or less. When I told them my minimum they just shrugged (probably thought I was lying) and kept on making less money. At those prices I was never short of work. When I sold I was ready to change the minimum to $40!!
The person running the campaign used to be the Mowing Divisional Franchisor in the UK. He was voted out of the system by his Regional Franchisors and Franchisees, with a huge majority. Basically the workers didn't want him, so they got rid of him. The guy (Paul Carr) is now running this campaign to out Jim, even though he is not in the business anymore and would have no say in a valid vote anyway. In his vote he allowed 241 Franchisors to vote. 8 people actually voted by the looks of it, but he won't say.
Sorry for the long post, but this is my business, and I cannot sit back and let complete lies circulate as truth. The reality is there is never going to be 100% happiness in the Jim's business, or any other franchised business for that matter. If anyone has questions fire away..............