How to Start a Lawn Care Business {The Ultimate Guide}

How do I start a lawn care business?

If you are wondering how to start a lawn care company, look no further.

Below you will find everything you need to know about launching your new lawn care or landscaping enterprise. 

With tons of additional resources from our free Ultimate Guide to Starting a Lawn Care Company.

Here's the deal, GreenPal is here to help you start your lawn care business and get you clients. 

And once your business is up and running, sign up as a vendor for GreenPal, and we will get you free lawn care leads. 

Sound like a plan? Then let's dive in!

What are the licenses I need to start a lawn care operation?

Fortunately, in most municipalities, you will not need a permit to lay the foundation of your lawn care company. 

However, you will most likely need a business license. This is a simple process in most cities and usually costs between $25 and $50.

Now, you may later want to offer herbicide applications such as RoundUp to spray weeds in your customers' landscaping beds as you grow your business. In most states, you will need an additional license for that.

Don't forget to call before you dig! 

That's a lesson you don't want to learn the hard way. 

How much money do you need to start a lawn care business?

One of the main advantages of starting a gardening, lawn care, or landscaping company is the relatively low startup costs to purchase the equipment you will need. 

Ideally, you will want to have enough to purchase:

Total equipment costs to get started could be the $15,000 range. But don't let that intimidate you. Many people can create a lawn care company for much less. 

In my experience, I have seen people build lawn care companies starting with a weed wacker they bought for $200. 

Indeed there are options at almost any budget. But you will be limited until you can get all the tools you need. And don't be intimidated; raising funds for a lawn care company is pretty simple. 

Finding Clients: What Is The Ideal Client Like?

It's simple; the ideal lawn care client appreciates the above, and beyond service, you give them. As opposed to the undesirable price shopper that will go with the cheapest price they can get a year in and year out.

But before you start looking for clients, you will want to consider the location of your business and your clientele.

Business and Client Location

When it comes to lawn care, location is critical. 

And there are 2 locations you want to consider when starting your lawn care business: 

It's true, while you can operate a lawn care company out of almost any location, even your house. If you want to go big, location is critical. Not only the location of your clients but also the location of your business. 

An ideal location for a landscaping or lawn care company would be in a warehouse/industrial part of town with close access to the interstate.

Location is also essential for your marketing since you will be marketing the business as a local service.

How do I market my lawn care company and get new clients?

Here's the deal: getting and obtaining customers is challenging. In the early days, I recommend handing out as many flyers as possible in the early days. You should be able to acquire at least one new customer for every 1,000 flyers you pass out. 

I know that sounds like a lot, but It is a cheap and effective way to grind it out and get new customers. 

Focus on density with your flyers, passing them out in a tight geographical area. That way, you won't be driving all over town when you start getting clients. 

Once you start getting initial customers, I recommend treating them like gold, as referrals will be your most valuable method of getting new business. As you grow your business, I recommend investing in essential online marketing and building a website. 

Here is our tutorial on how to promote a local service business.

And don't forget to sign up as a vendor for GreenPal, and we will bring the clients to you!

How many hours do I need to put in each week?

When you are first getting started, you will be working long hours. You should perform a minimum of 70 hours per week. 

This is mainly because you have to hustle to get new clients and serve your existing customers simultaneously. Once you grow your portfolio of clients, you can then cut back to a manageable 50 hours a week.

And as you hire employees, you will be able to distance yourself from the business and cut your hours slowly. But this will likely take several years. 

Hiring Employees: The Biggest Cost of the Lawn Care Business

Hiring employees for your lawn care or landscaping business is the biggest obstacle to growth. If you stay small, say around 50 customers a week, you will be able to keep costs low. 

However, as you scale your business and begin hiring workers to help you with the workload, costs will escalate. 

Hiring employees is one of the most expensive costs of running a lawn care company.

Some of the costs of hiring employees include:

Further, you will also need to spend on administration and bookkeeping of these costs because they can add up to more than most people realize. 

Look, the most burdensome aspect of running a labor-intensive landscaping or lawn care company is the rising cost of labor and everything that goes with it. 

How do I keep my employees reliable?

When you do get helpers, treat them with respect, pay them well, and have their best interests at heart. This is the best way to get and keep good help. If you care about them, they will care about your business and customers.

To monitor your employees, check on their work routinely. 

In my experience, I mainly try to hire people that love making a lawn look beautiful. Get the right people on board. If they are the wrong people to cut them, it's not fair to the rest of the crew that wants to work hard. 

Should I track my lawn care businesses inventory?

One of the most desirable aspects of a landscaping or gardening company is that there is very little inventory to deal with. You are selling a service, not a product. 

While you will need supplies such as gas and trimmer line, inventory management can be handled without any bookkeeping, even on a large scale. 

It wasn't until my company grew to over $5,000,000 in annual revenue, that we needed to implement an inventory system.

What profit margins should I expect? 

When your business is small, as long as you are charging appropriately for your lawn care services, the margins of a lawn care business are pretty big, as almost everything you do goes into your pocket. 

However, at scale, when revenues are over a million dollars, margins typically tighten up to the 5%-10% range.

Is starting a lawn care company for you?

In my experience, I know of no better way for a hard-working individual to make a great living. If you stay small, work hard, and love your customers, you can easily take home $30-100k per year. 

However, scaling a landscaping company is quite tricky and not for the faint of heart. Current labor laws are not favorable to labor-intensive businesses and make growth as well as hiring new people tough. 

In my company, we have over 125 employees; we were always dealing with a federal, state, or local labor audit of some kind. Small business workforces are easy prey for tax authorities looking to fix their budget shortfalls with fines, taxes, and penalties.

Seasonality is another challenge to this business. Especially when the business is small, revenue will only be flowing 7-9 months out of the year, so you must prepare for that. 

So are you ready to launch your lawn care company?

Starting a Lawn Care Company At the End of the Day

Now that you are armed with all of the information you need to create a lawn care company, what are you waiting for?!

Get out there and help people make their lawns shine. And if you are looking for more tips for lawn care professionals. 

Check out our blog for lawn care pros. And don't forget to sign up as a lawn care vendor for GreenPal. We will generate the leads; you simply need to seal the deal!

We look forward to working with you! 

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