Mike Andes

I started mowing lawns when I was 11 years old. Not because I had a grand vision. Because I needed money and I had a mower. That's how most of us start in this industry.

What I didn't know then was that those early years of learning how to get customers, how to manage my time, how to price jobs, and how to show up consistently — that was the foundation for everything that came after.

Augusta Lawn Care started as a single-operator business. I was the owner, the crew, the salesperson, and the accountant. Sound familiar? I grew it by doing the work, making mistakes, and figuring out what actually moved the needle.

The turning point came when I stopped asking "how do I do this better?" and started asking "how do I build a system that does this without me?" That question — and the obsessive pursuit of its answer — is what built Augusta Franchise into what it is today.

I've also made plenty of mistakes. I lost $75,000 on a gym. I burned $100K a winter keeping crews busy doing pointless tasks. I hired the wrong people, trusted the wrong partners, and chased shiny objects that cost me years.

I share all of it here. The wins and the losses. The systems that worked and the ones that didn't. The behind-the-scenes of what it actually takes to build a $60M+ operation in the green industry.

This blog is my field journal. It's the book I wish I'd had when I was grinding through those early years. If you're building a $1M+ lawn care, landscaping, or home service business, this is written for you.

Home.works came out of necessity. I needed software that could run Augusta at scale — scheduling, dispatch, CRM, invoicing, pay-for-performance tracking, customer communication — all in one system. When I couldn't find it, I built it.

Now I'm sharing it with operators like you. Because the tools I built for Augusta can work for your business too — whether you're doing $1M or $10M.