For senior Furkan Erarac, the entrepreneurial seed planted by working for his family’s business has flowered into his own company.
Growing up, Erarac helped his parents with their business, Meryem’s Homemade. Erarac designed advertisements, dropped off orders, and sold the tea and Turkish baklava at farmers’ markets. Working with his parents, Furkan picked up the entrepreneurial components of running a business and felt it was his time in the family to create his own business.
Together with senior Will Barber, Erarac decided to start a landscaping business due to the market being relatively open to anyone who already has tools or is willing to invest in them. Erarac then set up a Limited Liability Company (LLC) for the business with the help of his dad, which means that the business can be taxed and provides legal protection for the business owners.
While Erarac is the sole legal owner of Pristine Homecare, three more students are integral parts of the business: seniors Sean McLaughlin and Will Barber, and junior Brady Mcbee. All of them participate in each of the landscaping services they provide. Before starting a job, they get together and decide whether the job is worth working. With their experiences combined, the idea to form Pristine Homecare came together pretty naturally after learning everyone’s strengths.
“My grandparents used to own a lot of land, and it took a lot of maintenance,” McBee said. “As the oldest grandchild I was generally, you know, put to task.”
“When we’re done with a job we’ll ask the customer. If you want, take a look around and make sure everything’s pristine. That’s our motto!” McLaughlin said.
“Initially, the biggest challenge we faced was getting our name out there, and promoting the business. New clients won’t know to contact us if they don’t even know we exist as a business,” Erarac said.
Erarac made physical flyers and handed them out in his neighborhood. They also look out for landscaping jobs on an app called Nextdoor, which helps them search for customers in need of a quick landscaping job. McLaughlin functioned as the company’s chief financial officer, paying workers through Venmo and splitting money between maintenance and to the company. He earned that title by coming up with a formula to pay the employees depending on the job, rather than a fixed hourly rate.
Equipment for the business is provided by Mclaughlin, McBee, and Barber. Both McLaughlin and McBee bring the heavier equipment by attaching trailers to their trucks while Barber carries many of the hand tools necessary for the job.
The business schedule is client-based so it falls onto the customer when they’re available. McLaughlin also manages the scheduling for both customers and workers.
As of January, they’ve done 40-50 jobs around the Richmond/Charlottesville area, with 5-10 regulars.
While winter has slowed down the lawn care aspect of the company, “We still serve our returning customers with whatever we can,” Erarac said. “Last week we did a job that involved cutting some bushes, mulching an area, and digging out a stump.
At the moment, we’re in the process of creating more forms of advertisement and offering deals on jobs for snow and the spring. It has been slower than usual, but we plan to pick right back up soon with power washing jobs.”
Lastly, Erarac has some advice for others who may want to start a business while in school.
“Make it all legit! Don’t get caught up with not having an LLC. If someone tries to sue you, then you’ll just be stuck in a bad situation,” Erarac said.
Pristine Homecare can be contacted at 434-466-9289 or follow them on Instagram
