A local startup is hoping to make lawn care less of a hassle.
Chris Fauerbach and Kent Brake were neighbors living in Brandermill when they had an idea.
The men, who both work locally in IT, wanted to build a self-driving lawn mower that could map out a yard and then cut it itself.
That idea proved too expensive to develop at the time, but they didn’t stop tinkering.
With mowing grass still on their minds, the pair then had the notion for a service that they said they hope could become the Uber of lawn care.
Launched April 20, Lawn4.me is a website that connects people in need of lawn maintenance with those willing to do the work.
Kent Brake (left) and Chris Fauerbach
“There are so many yards out there and so many people who don’t like to mow their yard,” Fauerbach said.
He also said it isn’t always easy to connect with lawn care providers.
“It’s the cheapest and easiest small business to start,” Fauerbach said of lawn care. “You don’t have to do anything but have a lawn mower. The hard part is finding the work.”
Lawn4.me users post the size of their yard and the services they would like on the site. Jobs are restricted to basic yard maintenance like mowing, seeding, edging and leaf removal. Lawn care providers then submit bids for the job. The only restriction is that users be at least 18 years old.
“As a homeowner, you get to pick which (bid) you like best,” Fauerbach said.
Once a user selects a lawn care provider, the payment is charged to his or her credit card and held by Lawn4.me. The user then confirms when the work is done, and Lawn4.me sends the money to the lawn care provider.
Lawn4.me makes its money by marking up the bids in what amounts to a service charge – currently set at about 10 percent.
Lawn4.me is developing a mobile app to complement the website. Image courtesy of Lawn4.me
“We have to play with that number to find where we’re profitable and don’t discourage business,” Fauerbach said.
Thinking beyond the yard and watching the rise of websites and apps offering on-demand services by independent workers, such as Uber for rides and TaskRabbit for odd jobs, Fauerbach said the site has potential to grow into other services depending on what kind of feedback he sees from users.
“With the advent of on-demand services, there was a really big need for lawn care services,” he said. “We very intentionally picked lawn care as a first attempt. It was a service that lent itself easily to a touchless experience.”
By touchless, Fauerbach means that people getting their grass cut don’t need to meet the person they’ve hired or stick around while the work is done.
Homeowners can rate the job and post comments. Eventually, lawn care providers will be able to rate the customers, as well.
Fauerbach said Lawn4.me currently has about 55 users. Fifteen of those are offering yard work services.
“We really need people on board to actually do the lawn mowing,” Fauerbach said.
With Lawn4.me up and running, Fauerbach still hasn’t given up on that original lawn mower idea.
“One of my actual dreams is that Lawn4.me can grow and finance the development of an autonomous lawn mower.”
In the meantime, Fauerbach said they’ll look to expand the reach of Lawn4.me.
“I would love to see it go national,” Fauerbach said, adding that they plan to eventually have an app available in the Apple App Store. “We’re going to follow Uber. We’re going to go city by city.”
A local startup is hoping to make lawn care less of a hassle.
Chris Fauerbach and Kent Brake were neighbors living in Brandermill when they had an idea.
The men, who both work locally in IT, wanted to build a self-driving lawn mower that could map out a yard and then cut it itself.
That idea proved too expensive to develop at the time, but they didn’t stop tinkering.
With mowing grass still on their minds, the pair then had the notion for a service that they said they hope could become the Uber of lawn care.
Launched April 20, Lawn4.me is a website that connects people in need of lawn maintenance with those willing to do the work.
Kent Brake (left) and Chris Fauerbach
“There are so many yards out there and so many people who don’t like to mow their yard,” Fauerbach said.
He also said it isn’t always easy to connect with lawn care providers.
“It’s the cheapest and easiest small business to start,” Fauerbach said of lawn care. “You don’t have to do anything but have a lawn mower. The hard part is finding the work.”
Lawn4.me users post the size of their yard and the services they would like on the site. Jobs are restricted to basic yard maintenance like mowing, seeding, edging and leaf removal. Lawn care providers then submit bids for the job. The only restriction is that users be at least 18 years old.
“As a homeowner, you get to pick which (bid) you like best,” Fauerbach said.
Once a user selects a lawn care provider, the payment is charged to his or her credit card and held by Lawn4.me. The user then confirms when the work is done, and Lawn4.me sends the money to the lawn care provider.
Lawn4.me makes its money by marking up the bids in what amounts to a service charge – currently set at about 10 percent.
Lawn4.me is developing a mobile app to complement the website. Image courtesy of Lawn4.me
“We have to play with that number to find where we’re profitable and don’t discourage business,” Fauerbach said.
Thinking beyond the yard and watching the rise of websites and apps offering on-demand services by independent workers, such as Uber for rides and TaskRabbit for odd jobs, Fauerbach said the site has potential to grow into other services depending on what kind of feedback he sees from users.
“With the advent of on-demand services, there was a really big need for lawn care services,” he said. “We very intentionally picked lawn care as a first attempt. It was a service that lent itself easily to a touchless experience.”
By touchless, Fauerbach means that people getting their grass cut don’t need to meet the person they’ve hired or stick around while the work is done.
Homeowners can rate the job and post comments. Eventually, lawn care providers will be able to rate the customers, as well.
Fauerbach said Lawn4.me currently has about 55 users. Fifteen of those are offering yard work services.
“We really need people on board to actually do the lawn mowing,” Fauerbach said.
With Lawn4.me up and running, Fauerbach still hasn’t given up on that original lawn mower idea.
“One of my actual dreams is that Lawn4.me can grow and finance the development of an autonomous lawn mower.”
In the meantime, Fauerbach said they’ll look to expand the reach of Lawn4.me.
“I would love to see it go national,” Fauerbach said, adding that they plan to eventually have an app available in the Apple App Store. “We’re going to follow Uber. We’re going to go city by city.”
what do you think of this?
JLW
Nice service! I’m signing up now as a homeowner.
I was SO ECSTATIC to see this article!!! On Friday I was scouring the internet for strictly a lawn mowing/weeding person for my mother and all were landscaping companies, etc. I have gone this route in the past and they were either way too expensive & wanted annual contract, or wouldn’t ever show up or call for estimates.
I also love that this service holds payment until they verify the work has been done. You have answered my prayers and eased my angst for my mom!
FANTASTIC IDEA GUYS!!!! I am signing up right now! 🙂