How to Start a Landscaping or Lawn Care Business

If you love working outdoors and want to start a business, landscaping or lawn care may be the perfect opportunity for you. You can start your own business and make great money while doing something that’s enjoyable, and helping others.

Do you have some landscaping or lawn care experience and an interest in starting fresh on your own? this article will give you everything you need to know about how to get started. We’ll go over how to establish a solid foundation for your business, cover your bases and stay legal, and how to find your first clients.

We’ll also look at the types of equipment you need, pricing, and several other important details.

Here are the steps to follow.

1. Decide Which Services You’ll Offer

When starting a landscaping or lawn care business, it’s important to pick specific services that you’ll offer. This will help you focus your marketing and advertising efforts, as well as make sure you’re providing the services your clients need.

There are many different types of landscaping and lawn care services you can offer. Here are some examples:

• Landscaping: design, installation, and maintenance of landscapes
• Lawn care: mowing, edging, weed eating, and blowing
• Hardscaping: installation of patios, decks, fences, walkways, and retaining walls
• Tree care: trimming, removal, diagnosis, and disease prevention
• Gardening: planting, weeding, mulching, pruning
• Outdoor cleanup: leaf cleanup, pressure washing, cleaning fish ponds
• Irrigation: installation and maintenance of sprinkler systems
• Snow removal: plowing, shoveling, and salting

Defining your services helps in a few different ways. First, it allows you to tell people exactly what you have to offer. You might have a general landscaping or lawn care business, but people may not always think about or realize the exact services you offer. Maybe they would be interested in hiring you, but they don’t realize that you offer mowing services, or something else. Your messaging can be much more focused when you have specific services that you offer.

Another benefit of defining your services is that it can help with pricing. Maybe you have set prices or packages for specific services.

Additionally, focusing on specific services also allows you to specialize. You may be able to brand yourself as the go-to source for a specific service in your area.

2. Name Your Business

Your business needs a name. This is an important step in starting your business, and it’s something you’ll want to take some time with. You’ll want a name that’s memorable, easy to say and spell, and represents what you do.

You can also use your business name to help with marketing. For example, if you’re called “Lawn Care Solutions,” people will know right away what you do, and they may be more likely to remember you (although we recommend something not so generic).

3. Secure the Necessary Business Licenses and Insurance

Before you start your business, it’s important to make sure you’re legally registered and have the necessary licenses. This can vary depending on your location and the specific services that you plan to offer, so be sure to check with your local government.

You’ll also need liability insurance. This protects you and your clients in case of an accident or damage during the performance of a job. It’s important to have this insurance in case something goes wrong, as it can help protect you from costly legal fees and damages.

You may also need workers’ compensation insurance, depending on your state laws.

4. Rent or Buy the Necessary Equipment

Of course, running a landscaping or lawn care business will require some equipment and tools. Exactly what you’ll need will depend on the services you’ll be offering. Some of the common tools needed may include:

• Shovels
• Rakes
• Hoes
• Buckets
• Gloves and other protective equipment
• Shears

You probably already have some of the items from the list above. If you’ll be working on your own, you might not need to buy much in this area, but if you’ll be hiring others to work for you, you may need several of each item.

Then, you’ll also need more expensive things like:

• Push lawnmowers
• Riding mowers
• Leaf blowers
• Wood chippers
• Chain saws
• Hedge trimmers
• Weed trimmers
• Sprayers
• Lawn spreaders

Again, the exact details of what you’ll need will be heavily influenced by the services you’ll be providing. You may also need transportation and things like trucks and trailers.

Needless to say, starting a landscaping or lawn care business can require a lot of equipment, and the costs add up quickly. If you want to start small, it’s possible to limit the services you offer at the beginning so you can avoid some of the bigger expenses.

You’ll also need to decide if you want to buy or rent the equipment. Buying is ideal for tools and equipment that you’ll need regularly, but you may not need to buy everything. If you have an opportunity to take a job but don’t have the equipment you need, renting is an option. Renting prevents you from buying something that you’ll only use occasionally and is not enough to justify a major expense. You may be able to ease your way in by renting at first, and then buying gear as you can afford it.

5. Define Your Target Market

Once you’ve defined the specific services that you’ll offer, you should think about your target market. Who are your clients? And where do they live? For example, if you’re offering landscaping and hardscaping services, you may want to focus on homeowners in an affluent neighborhood.

Your client base can influence which services you offer. You may want to focus on lawn care at first, and then expand into other types of landscaping as well as garden design later once your business is established.

Defining your target market can help you to know where you should be spending your advertising money, or how you should be using your time to try to find clients. You may want to target specific neighborhoods by distributing flyers or even going door-to-door at first.

6. Price Your Services

Once you’ve determined the services that you’ll offer and who your target market is, it’s time to set prices for your services. If you’re not sure how much to charge, spend some time researching what’s typical in your area. You can also learn more about pricing by talking with potential clients.

Check advertisements from companies in your local area to see what you can learn about their pricing. Search for online ads, check local classifieds, and visit the websites of your competitors. Some services, like mowing or mulching, may be easier to research than others. Custom landscaping jobs, for example, will always involve a personalized quote.

Staying competitive in terms of pricing is important, but remember that most customers will not choose a service provider based on price alone. Focus on providing outstanding service to your customers and people will be willing to pay even if your prices are a little higher than the competition.

As you gain some experience, pricing will become a lot easier. You’ll need to have some flexibility at first and understand that you may need to adjust your prices up or down as you see what works and what winds up being profitable for you.

7. Brand Your Business

Although it won’t be the only factor in your success, branding can do a lot to set you apart from your competition. A strong brand can help you establish an identity that makes people want to choose your services.

Once you’ve determined what type of work you’ll offer and who your target market is, think about how you can position your business so it appeals to the customers you want to reach.

Your branding efforts should include a color scheme, logo design, and developing an identity and style that will be used for all of your marketing materials, including a website, brochures, decals on your trucks, t-shirts that you wear while working, etc.

You may also want to come up with a tagline or slogan that will help people to remember you, and also help to position your business in the minds of potential customers.

8. Hire Your Team (Optional)

If you’re not interested in doing all of the work yourself, you may want to start hiring employees. This is something that can be done gradually as your business grows.

When hiring employees, remember that you’ll need to provide a safe and positive working environment, as well as pay a fair wage. You’ll also need to comply with employment laws in your area.

It’s important to find the right people to work for you, so take the time to interview potential employees and check their references. Make sure that they are a good fit for your company culture and that they share your values.

Of course, hiring employees right away isn’t necessary. If you start by offering simple services like mowing, gardening, and small landscaping jobs, it’s very feasible that you could work on your own. Then, maybe in the future, you’ll want to build out a team as your business grows.

One thing to consider is, do you want landscaping and lawn care to be your job, or do you want to run the business. If you’re working by yourself or with a very small team, landscaping or lawn care will be your job. If you build out a team, you can run the business and manage other people who do the work.

There’s no right or wrong approach, it just depends on what you prefer.

9. Develop a Marketing Plan

Now that everything is set, it’s time to ramp up your efforts and start securing some customers. This is where a marketing plan comes in handy.

Your marketing plan should include a mix of marketing tactics that you’ll use to reach your target market. Tactics could include online advertising, search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing, print advertising, direct mail, and more.

Some of the options you should consider:

• Leverage your personal network. Talk to everyone you know. Tell them about the business you’re starting and the services you’re offering. Ask if they have a need for your services or if they know anyone who might be interested.
• Create a referral program or bonus. You can increase your chances of getting referrals by offering an incentive. You could offer a cash bonus, gift cards, or credit for your services in exchange for any referral that leads to a paying client.
• Social media. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and other social networks can be effective ways to start spreading the word about your new business. This can include regular posts on those platforms or paid advertisements.
• Pay-Per-Click ads. If you have an advertising budget, Google Ads can be a very cost-effective way to start promoting your business. You can create ad campaigns that will only be shown to people in your local area so you’re not wasting advertising dollars, and you can target specific searches and phrases.
• Build your own website. It’s also a good idea to create your own website. You can use a platform like WordPress, Wix, or Squarespace to create a professional-looking website without the need to hire a designer.

Final Thoughts

A landscaping or lawn care business can be an ideal way to make money while servicing customers in your local area. There’s plenty of demand and the income potential is excellent. It’s possible to run a simple business on your own, or you could go big and hire employees and staff to scale your business. Whichever route you decide to go, this guide will help you to know the basic steps that need to be taken.