There’s no hidden secret to making money in lawn care and landscaping. Although there are several success tips from professional mowers, the biggest hack to scaling a landscaping business is the willingness to learn, work hard and upgrade skills & services.
A struggling lawn care business is a product of several factors including; low profit margins, flawed services and poor patronage etc.
To avoid this reality business owners must understand this:
Lawn care and landscaping is a business, like any other business it demands efforts beyond delivering a good job. To build a flourishing lawn care business, you must consider other aspects like marketing, sales, customer acquisition and retention.
Consider this article a beginner-friendly guide to building a lawn care and landscaping business. We will be spotlighting “first steps to take” including equipment, finding clients and basic marketing strategy.
What is lawn care and landscaping?
A lawn is an open area or ground covered in mown grass typically in front of the house. The act of maintaining the lawn is known as lawn care and landscaping.
Landscaping and lawn care involves different techniques from rendering, to aeration and mowing, it’s a broad profession and it’s advisable to start with a few basic services before including more complex ones. Professionals who handle these services are called lawn mowers.
How to start making money in lawn care and landscaping
For the course of this article, making money in lawn care and landscaping is divided into two forms; building a business and getting a job.
Getting a job
Interestingly, lawn care is one job where you don’t need an extensive list of skills and experience to get employed. Employers are more interested in your communication proficiency, team playing spirit, willingness to learn and a commitment to hard work.
Most times, new employees receive training in their first week of employment to learn or improve their skills.
N:B If you want to start making money in lawn care and landscaping by starting a business but have no prior experience, we recommend getting a job in the industry to get hands-on experience for a period. Your goal is to get a first-hand experience of the nuances involved in running a landscaping business for a smoother startup.
Building a business
A startup is a big deal in every industry! Some individuals chose to build a business because it felt cool to use the title “entrepreneur” however, when they got into the business world they realized “picture perfect needed a camera, a photographer, editing work and lots of different poses”.
This is not to discourage you, however we can’t write an article on making money in lawn care and landscaping without highlighting this:
The price of success is hard work, dedication to the
job at hand and the determination that whether we win or lose,
we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand
Vince Lombardi
You can and will build a successful lawn care business but not without grit, resilience and a commitment to improvement.
To build a lawn care business, you need to:
Choose a name and get registered
Depending on your resident country, a business must be registered to function legally. Every country has a registration process and laws that guide trademarking, use these laws to register your brand. According to jobber, you can type your city name + business laws on google to find your local laws.
There are name generator sites to streamline your choices, family and friend suggestions can also be helpful, it best to have several options to navigate cases of a taken name.
You will also need several business operation licenses like a pesticide usage permit and other local regulatory licenses depending on your area.
Set up business accounts
There are two important business account you need:
A. Bank account:
Most startups choose to mix business and personal finances causing predictive errors. Having a separate business account aids effective tax management, boosts business credibility and fosters seamless bookkeeping. It’s an efficient way to monitor cash flow, track expenses and easily spot account errors.
B. Online profiles:
It’s the 21st century and beyond a website customers want to see the humans behind the business. Set a google business profile, choose a primary social media platform (Tiktok & Instagram) to showcase the benefits of your business and a linkedin profile to network with professionals working in companies that may need your services.
Choose services, purchases tool & equipment
Earlier we pointed out the numerous services contained in lawn care however, you don’t need to offer everything as a startup.
Add basic services like mowing & fertilization to your package offering and as you grow you can include other specialized services on demand.
In this stage, your previous experience in the industry will be tested as you need to choose specific services and decide where to make quality purchases.
Get insured
The goal of this article is making money in lawn care and landscaping not losing it.
The right business insurance protects your business from unforeseen issues like damages, injury and other unexpected events as covered by your insurance plan.
There are different plans with distinct benefits, choose a plan suitable for your small business, this is a priority.
Pricing & profit
A business is created for profit not survival; however, it takes consistency and excellent service overtime to yield the kind of good profit.
There are several factors to considering when creating a price list;
- Current rates in your location
- Types of rates (Hourly or fixed)
- Profit margin
- Expenses
Start with a fair price to build a customer base and you can include raises as you grow and include additional services.
Jobber states that new businesses may record a 10 -15% profit in the early stage due to reinvestment however as they grow the profit margin increases to 35- 40%.
Build your portfolio
Finding a first client is not hard, however, finding a paying one is a difficult task. To build a resume, we recommend offering free services to your neighbors, friends and family and ask them to recommend you to their network”.
It is easier to start making money in lawn care and landscaping by building a network of strong word of mouth marketers. Ensure you do a great job and your customer base will grow faster.
Other marketing strategies to implore include;
- Creating ads on Instagram and facebook
- Starting a referral program
- Posting flyers in approved locations
Takeaway
As a new business looking for tips on making money in Lawn care and landscaping, you may not require employees until you get clients or hire subcontractors whenever you need.
You can build a sustainable income source with landscaping but it requires hard work, consistent improvement and resilience.
