The database Entry no. 009
The systems kid
Mike Andes finished a pre-med degree by 18, then canceled his medical school application to keep mowing lawns. Augusta Lawn Care, founded 2014 in Blaine, Washington, ran toward $500,000 in its first year and has franchised into more than 200 locations with reported systemwide revenue above $50 million.
Mike Andes is the entry that tests our Boring Index methodology, because nothing about the trajectory is dull even though everything about the work is. He started mowing lawns at 11, enrolled in college at 13, and finished a pre-medical degree by 18. Then, after volunteering in clinics abroad and getting a look at the paperwork side of medicine, he canceled the med school application and went back to the mower.
Augusta Lawn Care launched in Blaine, Washington in 2014 and moved fast: reporting toward $500,000 in revenue inside the first year, a million-dollar annual run within a few years, and a second location near Bellingham by 2017 with a staff of fifteen. The unusual part was never the grass. It was that Andes treated a mowing company like a systems problem from day one, studying the Anytime Fitness franchise model while his competitors were sharpening blades.
Paying people like partners
The operational idea Augusta is known for is P4P, pay for performance: crews earn a percentage of the revenue they produce rather than an hourly wage.
"P4P is a way of paying your employees not by the hour, but by their performance." Mike Andes, to AriensCo's Outworking
He has claimed efficiency gains around 45 percent from the model, and it travels well, which matters, because in November 2019 Augusta began franchising. Sixteen locations in year one, 87 within two and a half years, and now more than 200 across several countries, with systemwide revenue reported above $50 million. Initial franchise costs run $49,999 to $139,999, though early operators famously started with about $9,000 in used equipment: a truck, a mower, no trailer.
The failures he itemizes
Andes is unusually specific about what went wrong, which is why we trust the rest of his numbers. He has written about losing $75,000 on a gym venture and burning $100,000 in a winter keeping crews busy on pointless work rather than admitting the season was over. The lesson he draws is the one this database keeps re-learning: the money is not in heroics, it is in systems that survive the founder's absence. Grass grows back weekly. So does the revenue, if the spreadsheet is right.
Common questions
How much does a lawn care business make?
Augusta's first location ran toward $500,000 in its first year and about $1 million annually within a few years. The franchise system reports over $50 million systemwide across 200+ locations, though a solo operator's first season is a small fraction of that.
What is pay for performance (P4P) in lawn care?
Crews earn a percentage of the revenue they produce instead of an hourly wage, aligning speed and quality with pay. Andes credits the model with roughly 45 percent efficiency gains and has made it the signature of Augusta's operating system.
How much does an Augusta Lawn Care franchise cost?
Augusta lists initial startup costs of $49,999 to $139,999, with a recommended cash reserve. The scrappier historical benchmark: early operators got running with about $9,000 in used equipment, a truck and a mower, no trailer.
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