Landscaping and masonry business - Practical in NH?

[Alex Free Market]

Anyone have an opinion on how feasible the landscaping (e.g. lawn cutting) and landscape-masonry (e.g. patios, stone walls, walkways, etc...) business is in New Hampshire?

NH seems like a state where people are more inclined to cut their own lawns, but I don't know..... do you guys see many/any landscaping trucks around your neighborhoods?   I'd imagine it would be feasible in the southern end of the state, but not so much north of the notches.

[Fluff and Stuff]

Of course it is practical in NH.  Although, landscaping doesn't mean grass cutting in NH - I'm sure you know that grass doesn't grow very fast in NH.  Do you like to cut grass, poison, fertilize, cut wood, blow leaves, blow snow, and remove ice?  There is plenty of work for such types in NH.  Just keep in mind that lots of new houses are not being built in NH so masonry isn't as important in NH as in the South or West. 

[AntonLee]

my girlfriend's uncle is in masonry and he's busy all year, either making walkways and garden edges or doing chimney work

[Jan]

Radical & Stuff is right - landscaping and property management in NH means you have to be flexible.  My husband is a self-employed painting contractor and had a very small property management business on the side - mainly to take care of some of his regular painting customers' second homes.  He did everything from draining water pipes/adding antifreeze, to heat checks, shoveling roofs, weeding flower beds, and minor carpentry.  Lawn mowing was just a small piece of the pie. 

Frankly, I think the best locations for a property management type business is in a community where there are lots of second homes:  the lakes region, northern NH (I know how much you love Pittsburg!), etc. 

[MaineShark]

Masonry, in particular, can be pretty steady.  There are companies that specialize in stone walls, for example.

Of course, dry fit stone walls, done right, require a lot of skill.

Joe

[KBCraig]

Of course, dry fit stone walls, done right, require a lot of skill.

Dry fit stone walls, done right, will last forever. Mortared walls that aren't fit as carefully will fall down first.

[MaineShark]

Of course, dry fit stone walls, done right, require a lot of skill.

Dry fit stone walls, done right, will last forever. Mortared walls that aren't fit as carefully will fall down first.

Certainly.  The foundation of my house is dry-fit stone.  It's been there for a century and a half, under the weight of a house, and through all those seasonal feeze-thaw cycles of the surrounding ground.

Just takes skill to do that, so it's something that needs to be learned, prior to announcing oneself as a being in that particular business.

Joe