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Anyone with a yard knows that maintaining it is a lot of work. So it’s no surprise that there are many landscaping businesses out there that help eliminate the need to mow, weed, treat, and do more lawn care yourself.
How To Start Your Own Lawn Care Business
If you, however, are someone who likes to do yard work and love the smell of freshly cut grass or a freshly mulched garden, you may have wondered how to start your own landscaping business. .
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The landscaping business is booming. And if you live somewhere with a warm climate, you may be able to work almost year-round. According to the National Association of Landscape Professionals, the landscape services industry generates $93 billion in revenue each year and employs more than one million people.
If this sounds like the right move for you, keep reading to learn how to start your own landscaping business.
Considering the range and depth of landscaping – from residential to commercial, to maintenance removal and tree care – the economics of starting your own landscaping business are simple. It can be as simple as renting a lawnmower and knocking on doors.
“My previous company was a lawn care business that I grew on my own and became a push mover to over 125 employees,” says Bryan Clayton, founder of online lawn care ordering service GreenPaul, which owns a little land. The landscape is like Uber.
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“Most consumers have to deal with shoddy and unprofessional competitors,” says Clayton. “It’s almost as easy to build a successful landscaping business if you just answer the phone when your customers call, return their voicemails promptly, and do the work you agree with your client. “
Sounds simple enough, right? But what else can a landscape business owner do to go beyond the basics? Here are some tricks of the trade when starting your own landscaping business.
The first step in starting a landscaping business is to acquire your own arsenal of landscaping supplies. Once you decide what real services you want to offer your landscaping business, you will know what equipment you need. Then it will be time to decide whether you want to buy it outright or opt for the cheaper rental option.
Starting out, you have the option of renting your equipment or purchasing low-end equipment. But as your landscaping business grows, so will equipment needs and costs—and you can easily spend as much money maintaining cheap equipment as purchasing high-end machines. .
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“Most landscape contractors will spend five to 10 hours a week sharpening their equipment’s first blade or changing oil, spark plugs, air filters, fuel filters, etc.,” says Clayton.
So what are the basics of good landscaping equipment that you will need to know when starting a landscaping business?
There are a handful of hand tools that any good landscaper should have: shovels (such as square mouths, spades, and trenchers), wheel bars, tillers (such as rear tine tillers or cultivators), and more powerful items such as chainsaws and Exercises. But that’s not where the real costs lie. The cost of major appliances may surprise you.
“Most people don’t know this, but the commercial landscape operators you see driving, they cost themselves over $12,000,” Clayton says.
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“Landscape contractors also need to purchase or finance a good truck, which costs at least $10,000 used, and a trailer, which costs $5,000+,” says Clayton. Clayton says. “Also, for landscape construction, you’ll need a front-end loader in most cases, which by itself will cost $10,000 to $50,000.”
All told, Clayton estimates that a landscape construction and maintenance business needs to bring between $40,000 and $50,000 in equipment to a customer’s property. So you might want to start with rentals — which, according to Clayton, have setup costs in the more reasonable ballpark of $3,000 — but don’t rely on them forever.
There are a few essential forms of business insurance that you need to obtain in order to run a business. The most important is general liability insurance, which covers everything from repair costs to legal fees that you or an employee need to pay in the event of an accidental injury. Accidents — like running into a sprinkler head with a lawnmower, for example — happen, and when they do, you want to be covered.
You may also need workers’ compensation insurance, depending on which state you’re working in, though as Clayton says, “Many states require both insurance to operate a legitimate business. There is a need, regardless of whether you have employees or not.” From medical expenses to court costs, workers’ comp covers you if an employee is injured on the job.
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Other forms of insurance that are not required, but can be useful, include inland marine insurance (to cover goods damaged in transit), commercial auto insurance (you can cover your personal vehicle for most things (can’t use what you drive around and your personal policy won’t cover your commercial vehicles) and commercial umbrella insurance (which extends your coverage if you’re hit with a large settlement).
Additionally, if you want to apply pesticides as part of your services, most states have a pesticide charter that needs to be obtained. Clayton calls it “a very involved process” and doesn’t recommend it until you’re well established in your field.
Before starting your business, make sure you also have any business licenses you need for the state you’re operating in and that you’re registered to pay taxes and Received your Employer Identification Number, also known as a Business Tax ID Number.
The rules for the business licenses you need and where to get them vary from state to state, so before you start your landscaping business, check the details of the state where your business will operate. will
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Another form of insurance you’ll need when starting a landscaping business is employment law liability insurance, which covers your business if you’re sued for overtime and wage and hour violations. Make a mistake in calculation.
Given the uncertainty surrounding the future of overtime wages, and the fact that many small business owners tend to go it alone without the help of an attorney or accountant at first, this insurance is a lifesaver. Could be — or more accurately, a business saver
“My company was audited by the Department of Labor in 2009 and they determined that our crew leader managers could not be paid – they needed to be paid as hourly wage employees,” he says. “As a result, there were additional overtime charges that were due to 80 employees, and it resulted in a $450,000 fine that my company had to pay.”
Lack of this insurance nearly killed Clayton’s company. Take his experience as a lesson that having this insurance — especially before you scale — is critical to your landscaping business.
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When it comes to marketing your landscaping business, you already know where to start: Facebook and other social media, as well as SEO strategies, your searches on Google and other search engines. will increase visibility.
Of course, language marketing is always great, especially in hyper-local markets, but it comes with doing good overtime. So while you wait for glowing reviews to roll in across town, consider setting up your social accounts first when starting your landscaping business.
Clayton says mastering all the common marketing channels, and having a starting budget of $500 to $2,000 to get your first 10 to 100 customers, is the best way to get started. Once you expand your landscaping business, a digital marketing specialist may be essential to taking your game to the next level.
When you are first starting your landscaping business, you should also decide on the prices of your services so that you can include them in your marketing efforts. Any potential customer will want to know what they will be charged for the various landscaping services your business offers.
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When you’re deciding on your rates, it’s a good idea to check out the competition and see what similar businesses are offering, then go from there. But remember, you can always adjust rates as you go.
When you are starting a landscaping business, it is very important to keep your finances on track. And we’re probably long past the days of using pen and paper to keep track of all your business expenses, schedules, and accounts. Even spreadsheet applications, although capable of handling large amounts of information, are a bit outdated.
Fortunately, there are many business apps out there that can help your landscaping business run more smoothly. There are apps and software to help with everything from inventory management and payroll to employee timesheets so you can focus on what’s important—like actual landscaping.
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