I’m always very opposed to renting. However it may not be a bad idea to rent for the first year just to see how it’s going to go. See if Blair really wants to do the whole nursery thing once it becomes a “job”. Either way it sounds like something worth giving a shot.
I do lease my shop though. The location is killer for me and I couldn’t even buy something that would be as convenient.
It’s too late in the year to even consider selling plants. When I talked to Blaire I told her we would just concentrate on getting the property set up how we want and in shape. I would also build a large salt/mulch bunk this summer and buy salt while its super cheap. Build a plan for the nursery side over the summer and get the greenhouse up over this time.
$500 a month just having the property that has 200 foot of highway front property (40 MPH) I would think the pressure washing advertisement alone would be worth it. I could put up a 5x10 foot sign and easily bring that in.
Who’s to say you don’t rent it for a year at 500 a month fix the place up and then they go up on the price? Either way I would go for it whichever way you two felt comfortable.
When I say fix up i really just mean get the trees trimmed up and do some minor landscaping. Get the grass really green and thick. Salt shed can be tore down and taken with. I asked for a 2 year rental with no risk of termination. He said he would think about it and call me.
Schertz, I would make the contract length whatever you want the initial lease for with yearly renewal options (with rent increase capped or at least tied to the CPI) and also have a first right of refusal for purchase. The last thing you’d want is to establish your business there and then the owner decides he wants to increase the rent to an astronomical rate or sell it without you having the option to buy it.
That will all be in the contract! For sure!
Has anyone heard from @Nashvillewash recently?
Not related to this post! Just haven’t seen or heard from him in a month!
He actually just re uploaded his degreasing job videos for someone a couple days ago @SchertzServicesLLC but yea I don’t see him post much nowadays
I did some more research on the property. The old nursery we were looking at is on a well and has a septic system that I am told by former employees has a smell problem. I had spoke with another property owner in the area last fall when I was looking for a place to store equipment and salt. He tried to sell me this property for 34k
I wasn’t interested in buying since I had so many other expenses coming at me. Anyways, I called him today and he wants to lease purchase the property to me for $300 a month over 5 years. Balance due at end of lease. It’s an empty lot with no utilities. He said to bring utilities to the property would cost around 10k and that he would pay for half if I signed a 5 year lease purchase.
Basically I can buy this property that’s downtown for 1/3 the price of the other. The location is amazing!
It’s also 2x the size as the other property.
I’m going to have soil samples ran on the property and hopefully get this thing wrapped up!
Owning a nursery is stressful in that you are dealing with living things and sometimes on a tight time table. I operate a whole sale nursery. Most of everything was imported from Costa Rica (we only dealt with tropicals), we would split a good portion to increase volume. The focus was on 6 plants, and do them well. Having too many varieties causes way more logistical issues than it’s worth for my scale (5 acres). I sold wholesale to landscaping companies, GCs and subs. Philodendrons sold at Lowe’s we’re typically $10 -$12 a plant. I would sell them wholesale for about $6 a plant and still make a healthy margin, and the purchasers would
In turn make a margin off me.
Don’t sorry about selling sod, fertilizer. It’s heavy, takes up a lot of space, and unless you are getting some good pricing it’s not worth it. It’s tough to compete with Lowe’s / Home Depot on retail sales so I leave that to them. I’ve sold to Lowe’s in the past and it was a nightmare. Never again.
We have 4 employees, FT, 48 hours a week to help grow and manage the plants, so there is a lot of work to do.
I have worked at nurseries when I was a teenager and remember it was a lot of work just keeping up with weeds growing in potted plants, then there was the constant potting out of new plants, the deliveries of soils etc , the organisation/re organisation of plants for display, fertilizing, application of pesticides, disease management, customer management, employee management…the list goes on and on.
Unless you guys have a burning desire to make it work against all odds then maybe it is worth deep thinking it thru.
In saying that if you do have that can do mentality and drive to do this then you could get a lot of satisfaction and reward from the exercise.
I just remember it being a lot of work for little financial gain on the hobby side.
One guy I helped build a tree farm for had great success as he targeted city councils and grew specific trees for roadside plantings etc.
Just got the call from the property owner and it’s ours! Signing the paperwork and bringing in the dozer in a few weeks! Lets hope it doesn’t rain all spring so I can get this party started.
That’s so awesome. I’m envious.
I would love to own a nursery, especially as a side gig. I’m sure it’s a lot of work, as others have said, but it’s work that’s easily anticipated.
Good luck man. Really happy for you.
Congrats man and good luck!
SWEET!!! 
Congratulations, you are one hard working dude
I don’t know how to run a dozer well. My uncle is going to do the dirt work.
Hopefully in the next few weeks I’ll be setting posts in the ground for my 30x72 foot sales shop! Just need less rain.
Check with ur local ag extension office ours has a program for green houses. They can also help with a deep well if there is not one on sight. Here u just have to grow vegetables u can’t put tables or grow flowers. They give out so munch for the program a year.
We’re right in town and have city water being hooked up. Definitely don’t want to risk a well running dry. I don’t know that I can get a program grant on a for profit greenhouse. I see stuff about education ones though.
