From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishstart from scratch/zerostart from scratch/zeroto begin doing a job or activity completely from the beginning There were no textbooks, so the teachers had to start from scratch. → start
Examples from the Corpus
start from scratch/zero• As she explained, it was not easy to start from scratch.• Once more, Machanguana is starting from scratch.• The trainees work hard, but they must start from scratch.• We do not have to start from scratch.• It would be arrogant foolishness to ignore that experience and to start from scratch designing a stringing by ear.• The only way to design tastefully was to start from scratch, he had said.• Peter the Great had to start from scratch when he built St. Petersburg.• The revenue from the product also starts from zero when none are sold and rises proportionately to invoiced sales.• This is especially true if the group starts from scratch with no designated roles or previous experience of working together. 