How to Start a Landscaping Business in 8 Steps

Starting a small business isn’t something you can just dive into. You’ll need to do a fair amount of homework first.

Start by deciding what broad class of services you want to provide and researching your local market. You’ll use this in the next step to create a business plan.

Picking a type of service: landscaping vs. lawn care

When most people talk about this industry, they tend to use the terms “landscaping” and “lawn care” interchangeably. However, to an insider, these two terms refer to two distinct groups of services.

Your very first step should be figuring out which of these you want to provide:

• Lawn care: As the name suggests, this focuses primarily on keeping lawns healthy. Lawn care professionals apply fertilizer, pick weeds, keep pests away, fill in holes, and perform other maintenance tasks.
• Landscaping: This is a broader category of work. As a true landscaper, your job will be to boost the aesthetic appeal of an outdoor area by taking care of all of its elements, including plants, flowers, water features, and more.

In general, landscaping is more physically demanding than lawn care (although both will keep you active), and it takes more equipment. In many states, it also requires more training. On the plus side, this means that as a landscaper, you can usually charge more.

Of course, if you’re up for a challenge, you don’t have to pick just one of these. Many businesses offer both landscaping and lawn care services.

Conducting market research

Once you’ve settled on the broad direction for your business, you should get to know your local market.

Competitor analysis

Research other landscaping companies in your area to find out what services they provide, paying attention to both residential and commercial markets. Look at the following:

• Pricing: How much do your competitors charge for the services they provide?
• Branding: What do they do to set themselves apart from other landscapers? Take note of their websites and social media accounts, advertisements, and presence at local marketing events.

Customer/client analysis

Market research also involves learning who your future clients and customers will be.

Identify your target demographic: will you focus on residential or commercial clients? Within that category, what does your ideal client look like? This knowledge will help you find your business’s place in the local market.

Before you start any business, you need to develop a comprehensive business plan. This is one of the most important steps in this list, and it’s quite demanding, but it will be worth it.

Your plan should elaborate on the tentative direction that you arrived at in the previous step, drawing on the knowledge you just acquired through your research.

Listing your services in detail

Now that you know whether you want to provide lawn care or true landscaping services (or both), it’s time to decide exactly what you want to offer. Common landscaping services include:

• Planting
• Mulching
• Sod installation
• Pesticide application
• Building and caring for lawn foundations
• Hardscaping work (installing water features, concrete, etc.)
• Maintaining water features (ponds)
• Building patios
• Setting up garden sculptures
• Driveway construction and maintenance
• Landscape design

You don’t necessarily need to offer every service you’re interested in from the very beginning. Focus on the ones that you’re especially skilled at and that you’ve found your target customer is looking for.

As your business acquires clients and matures, you can expand your repertoire.

Forecasting your initial expenses

Next, figure out how much initial capital you’ll need to set up your operation. What type of equipment will you need, and how much will it cost?

You’ll probably need some or most of the following:

• Truck or van (preferably with a trailer)
• Riding lawn mower
• Basic landscaping tools: shovels, shears, rakes, hoes, etc.
• Weed trimmer
• Leaf blower
• Lawn aerator
• Protective gear (safety goggles, ear plugs or headphones)
• Gardening gloves
• Steel-toed boots
• Fertilizer

It may be a bit tough to forecast how much this will all cost because it will heavily depend on what brand of equipment you acquire, as well as whether you buy it new or secondhand.

For instance, your biggest expense (by far) will be your truck. If you run a smaller operation and can just toss everything in the back of a trailer attached to a used pickup truck, you may be able to acquire that for under $10,000. Conversely, if you want a specialized work truck (and you’re set on buying a new one), expect to pay $50,000–$75,000.

The same goes for your riding mower, which may cost anywhere from $3,000 to $10,000.

What will your total costs be?

In general, you should expect starting your landscaping business to cost at least $10,000–$20,000 (and much more if you’re very ambitious and planning on running a big operation from the start). Research the equipment you want and come up with a realistic list of your initial expenses.

Bear in mind that you can cut down on costs by renting equipment temporarily or, as mentioned, buying some of it secondhand.

Deciding how many employees to hire

If your landscaping business will be a one-person operation, that’s fine, at least in the beginning. However, if you’re planning on hiring help, now’s the time to think about that.

In addition to hiring other landscaping professionals (i.e., laborers), you may also want to hire administrative employees to liaise with customers and schedule appointments. It can also be worth hiring an accountant to help you keep track of your finances.

These don’t necessarily all need to be full-time employees. You can also hire people on a freelance or contract basis.

Setting your initial prices

Next up is the fun part: thinking about the money you’ll bring in instead of the money you have to spend.

When determining your rates, the two most important factors are:

• How much you need to charge to break even
• What your competition typically charges

Of course, you can’t just peg your rates to the ones offered by the competition; consider your experience level and the kinds of services you provide. It might be a good idea to set your rates on the lower end at first to drum up business, then raise them after a year or two.

Picking a payment model

Now’s also the time to determine how you want to get paid. If you want, you can charge an hourly rate, but you can also charge per project or per square foot of land. Choose whatever you’re most comfortable with.

Note that it’s common practice in the landscaping industry to ask for an upfront deposit to cover the cost of materials. Then, after completing each project, you’ll collect the rest. If you’re planning on taking on fairly intensive (multi-day) contract jobs, consider adopting this pricing strategy.

Budgeting for your first year

Armed with the lists of expenses and rates you just came up with, develop detailed financial projections for your first year of operation. Take a holistic view and consider all of your expenses, including transportation (e.g., gas), hiring employees, and more.

Coming up with precise financial projections is a pain, but it will allow you to measure your performance in an objective way so you can make appropriate business decisions (and pitch yourself to outside investors, if you decide to go that route).

Other areas to cover in your business plan

In addition to outlining your services, your business plan should:

• Describe your target customer
• Explain how you’ll market your business to your customer base (more on this below)
• List the particular advantages that will make your landscaping operation a success.

You should also set goals in your landscaping business plan. These can include financial targets, growth milestones, profit projections, and more.

These financial goals will inform your business decisions, so take them seriously. Try to make them ambitious, but realistic.

Once you’ve nailed down your landscaping business plan, take a moment to pat yourself on the back. Again, that’s arguably the toughest (and most important) step on this list, and finishing it is a big deal.

Next up is something more fun: choosing a business name. This will determine the first impression your customers have of your company, so it should reflect your professional goals and values. That isn’t to say it has to be fancy or clever; if you prefer something simple, you can always just name your business after yourself.

You should also create a brand identity, including a memorable logo. Hire someone for this if you have no experience in graphic design yourself—logos can be tricky to get right.

Your business’s brand should be cohesive across all your marketing materials, including your website, business cards, and signage.

Next, you’ll need to register your business as a legal entity. This brings you to a fairly big decision: what kind of business structure to use.

Look into how sole proprietorships and partnerships differ from limited liability companies (LLCs). Broadly speaking, the former types of companies are easier to set up (in fact, if you operate a business alone without formally registering it, it’s a sole proprietorship by default).

However, simple business structures like that don’t keep your personal and business assets separate, which means your own money will be in danger if your business goes bankrupt or if someone sues it. That isn’t as unlikely as it sounds; think about what might happen if you inadvertently damage someone’s property while doing yard work (even if the incident wasn’t your fault).

Registering your company as an LLC will put up a wall between your business’s finances and your personal asset, which will protect you.

In general, if you’re serious about your landscaping business, it’s worth registering your company as an LLC, although you may decide to function as a sole proprietorship or partnership for a while beforehand to test your idea out.

Obtaining licensing and permits

Before you begin providing services, research and apply for any required business licenses or permits. Which ones you’ll need depends on your state, as well as exactly what services you provide.

If you just offer basic lawn maintenance and care, for example, you might not need any special licenses at all. For procedures that have a greater environmental impact (like spraying pesticides), you’ll probably have to get a permit.

The National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) offers several prominent landscaping certifications that you can look into. To get a clearer idea of what’s required in your jurisdiction, it’s a good idea to contact your local Small Business Administration (SBA) office.

Obtaining insurance

Now is also a good time to get insurance for your new company.

There are two main types of insurance you’ll want to consider in the beginning: general liability insurance and workers’ compensation insurance.

Liability insurance protects your business from property damage and lawsuits, whereas workers’ compensation insurance covers medical expenses and lost wages accrued by employees injured at work.

Liability insurance is an absolute must for any business. If you plan on hiring employees, you’ll also need workers’ compensation insurance. You might not need it if your business consists solely of you, but that depends your state laws. Again, your SBA office may be able to give you more info on this.

Now that you’ve determined what other employees you want to hire (if any), go ahead and do so. You can post job ads on employment sites, such as:

• Indeed
• LinkedIn
• ZipRecruiter
• Monster
• LandscapeIndustryCareers

Note that not all people in the landscaping industry hunt for jobs online. You can and should also contact people adjacent to your business (such as the vendors you’re planning on purchasing supplies from) and see if they’re willing to refer workers to you.

Acquiring equipment and supplies

In addition to hiring people, now’s also the time to actually buy (or rent) the equipment you settled on when creating your business plan. Again, renting will cut down on your starting costs, but purchasing is a better long-term investment.

Don’t forget other supplies, like plants, seeds, and soil. You’ll need to buy these on a regular basis, so try to develop good relationships with your vendors. If you’re a regular customer, they may be willing to cut you a discount on future purchases, and, as mentioned, they may also send potential employees your way.

No matter how motivated and skilled you are as a landscaper, no one will hire you if they don’t know about your business. It’s important to come up with a plan to market it.

Creating a website

A big part of marketing your company is creating a website for it. If you don’t have experience as a web designer, you may want to hire someone to help you with this, too.

Your site should match your brand and provide practical information about the services you offer. Detail your previous experience, and include customer testimonials as soon as you have them. Make sure the site includes ways for potential clients to get in touch.

Other marketing channels to pursue

Creating a website is a good first step, but your efforts shouldn’t stop there. Explore these methods of marketing your business:

• Online advertising (e.g., Google Ads)
• Print advertising in local newspapers
• Social media marketing
• Direct mail

The hardest client to land is the first one. Once you’ve completed a few projects successfully, word of mouth will kick in and you’ll be able to get others with less effort, but how can you get that elusive first client?

The easiest way to break in might be to take advantage of your social circle. Advertise your services on your personal social media accounts (e.g., Facebook and Instagram) and lean on your friends and family to spread the word.

If your loved ones aren’t particularly helpful, don’t despair. You can also try passing out flyers at local community centers and networking events, or even distributing them door-to-door. It might take a while, but eventually, someone will bite.

Making a good impression

When your first few clients hire you, it’s crucial to do a great job so that they’re more likely to recommend you to others. This isn’t just limited to doing good landscaping work—you also want to make sure you provide excellent customer service.

The sad fact is that the standard for customer service in the landscaping industry (and in contractor work in general) is low. People are used to dealing with contractors who miss appointments, don’t finish projects, or are impossible to reach on the phone.

This creates an opportunity for you. If you maintain good communication and see your projects through, you’ll already be one step ahead of the competition.

That being said, maintaining customer satisfaction is easier said than done. Consider investing in project management tools or software to track the progress of your jobs, allocate resources, and communicate with both clients and team members.

Once you’ve landed your first few clients and feel like you’ve gotten the hang of running your new landscaping business, what comes next?

When your operation is in a comfortable position, that usually means it’s time to expand. This might mean adding new services, or it might mean targeting a new market (whether that’s a new geographical area or a different kind of clientele).

You might also want to invest in additional resources, equipment, or employees to ensure your business has the potential for sustainable growth. By this point, you should have developed a fair amount of expertise in this industry, so the person in the best position to see the path forward is you. Good luck!