Landscaper

Landscaping is a full-time career for many, but it’s certainly possible to start a part-time landscaping side hustle. Many landscapers, gardeners, and designers are drawn to a landscaping side hustle because of the greater freedom, flexibility, and earning potential you get over working for a landscaping company.

Bear in mind that you’ll still need to acquire any legally required permits and licenses before you can start a landscaping side hustle. In other words, this isn’t an easy outdoor side hustle you can do without any landscaping experience. Without the proper knowledge, you could put yourself and others at risk.

It’s important that you at least have some background doing the type of landscaping work that you plan to do for your side hustle. A good rule to live by is to stick to what you know.

If you’re experienced with lawn care or gardening, hone in on that. Or if you’ve helped with landscaping design but never done any of the manual labor involved, start a landscape design side hustle or collaborate with someone who does have the physical experience you’re lacking.

Best landscaping services for a side hustle

Landscaping is a broad field that encompasses a wide range of services. Some services require advanced training and even certification. Others are very basic and can even be done by people with no prior experience.

In general, these are the easiest services to provide if you’re starting a landscaping side hustle with little or no professional experience:

• Lawn mowing
• Lawn edging
• Weeding
• Yard cleanup
• Planting
• Pruning
• Garden bed maintenance
• Leaf raking
• Plant watering
• Mulching and soil refreshing

These are types of landscaping services that don’t necessarily require expertise, and the value to your customers is in the manual labor. You can always start out with one of these entry-level landscaping services and then gradually work your way up to offering more advanced services as you gain knowledge and experience.

Landscaping is a labor-intensive job, but it can also be very lucrative. While earnings depend on various factors, landscapers generally charge $50–$85 per hour.

However, these earnings don’t take into account expenses, which can eat up a chunk of what you make from a landscaping side hustle. Though business expenses vary on a case-by-case basis, you’ll likely make closer to $20–$50 per hour.

Factors affecting your earnings as a landscaper

There’s a reason that not all landscapers charge the same rates. There are several key factors that can influence the value of your services and ultimately how much you can make from a landscaping side hustle:

• Services offered: One of the biggest factors determining your earning potential is the services you offer since not all jobs require the same level of time and effort. Installing an irrigation system, for example, requires several days of intensive labor, so you can charge more than you would for a less energy-intensive task, like lawn mowing.
• Your local market: Where you operate is another big factor influencing your potential earnings. In a dense city, you might not find as many jobs for private citizens since most residents live in apartments without large gardens. In suburban areas, where residents tend to have large front lawns and gardens, you’ll find much more landscaping work available.
• Business expenses: Landscaping comes with several recurring expenses, including the cost of fuel, taxes, permits and licenses, vehicle maintenance, and landscaping tools.
• Competition: It’s unlikely you’ll be the only landscaping business in town, and if there are already established landscapers in your area, you may find it hard to compete as a new business.
• Season: Landscaping is seasonal work. While many landscapers report that you can make a decent income overall, they also state that winter can be tough. If you’re considering starting up a landscaping business, you’ll need to account for seasonal dips in demand during the off season.

Before you start your landscaping side hustle, consider your startup costs. These can make or break your business, so let’s look into some of the initial investments you’ll need.

Vehicle

If you don’t already have a vehicle, you’ll likely need one for your landscaping side hustle. You could use a car if you’re sticking to just lawn care or gardening, but more elaborate landscaping services require a lot of equipment, in which case a truck or van may be a better bet.

Even if you do have a personal vehicle, getting a new one for your side hustle will reduce the strain on your car. However, buying a truck or van can easily set you back upwards of $10,000.

Alternatively, you could opt for an equipment trailer, which is useful if you have a stacked inventory. Depending on whether you buy secondhand or new, you can expect to spend $800–$2,000 on average, so it might not be worth it for those with lower startup capital.

Tools

You’ll need to invest in a tool kit appropriate for landscaping. This will be one of your biggest startup costs. Check out the table below to get an idea of the kind of equipment you’ll need.

Cost of Landscaping Tools

Licenses and permits

Depending on where you operate and what types of landscaping services you’re providing, you may need certain licenses and permits. Here are a few examples of ones you may have to budget for:

• Business license
• Landscaping license
• Pesticide applicator license
• Arborist license or tree work permit
• Irrigation and water use permit
• Erosion and sediment control certification
• Electrical permit (for outdoor lighting installations)

You won’t necessarily need all these permits and licenses, and the fees vary by jurisdiction. Bear in mind that to get some licenses and certifications, you’ll first need to complete a training course and pass an exam, which may add to the total cost of getting licensed or certified. You’ll also need to pay to get your licenses and permits renewed whenever they expire, usually every 1–2 years.

To give you a general idea, a business license usually costs somewhere in the range of $45–$520, depending on your state. On the other hand, the cost of a landscape architect license in Washington, for example, works out to around $920.

Landscaping insurance

For a landscaping side hustle, insurance is essential. It’s wise to contact an insurance broker to check what coverage is required for your business. There are several types of coverage you might want to purchase, as detailed in the table below.

Landscaping Business Insurance

You can either buy separate policies or get a policy that bundles all the coverage you’d need for a landscaping business. Overall, you can expect to have to pay $40–$140 per month in landscaping business insurance, plus another $150 per month or so on commercial auto insurance.

Promotions and marketing

When starting your landscaping side hustle, you’ll need to effectively promote your company and drum up business. Creating both digital and physical promotional material, from flyers to Facebook ads, is essential.

Getting started with Google Ads and running campaigns will boost your business’s visibility, help you find leads, and get the right customers to contact you. You can choose how much you want to spend on these ads.

Though you can start off with Facebook or Instagram pages, you may want to consider creating a professional website where customers can contact you.

You can make a landscaping business site for free using one of the following platforms:

• WordPress
• Wix
• Weebly
• GoDaddy

Just bear in mind that free advertising strategies will only get you so far. Many professional landscaping businesses budget at least $200–$800 per month in initial marketing costs.

Total estimated startup costs for a landscaping side hustle

Although your final costs will ultimately depend on the scale of your landscaping business and where you live, the table below offers a fair estimate for the overall costs of starting a landscaping side hustle.

Overall Cost of a Landscaping Side Hustle

These calculations are just a ballpark figure—you may end up spending more or less, depending on your business plan. Even without factoring in the cost of a vehicle, you’ll still need at least $1,350 to start with, which can be an intimidating sum for those starting out.

Starting any business can be tough for the first few months, so you’re probably wondering how you can maximize the earning potential of your landscaping side hustle.

While these strategies aren’t ironclad, there are a few ways you can boost your profits and compensate for your initial startup costs.

1. Establish a landscaping business

Even if you’re just planning on doing landscaping as a part-time side hustle, it’s well worth jumping through a few hoops to start a landscaping business and get yourself properly registered. Doing so will protect you legally and financially, and it’ll build credibility for your landscaping side hustle.

First and foremost, do some research into legal requirements for landscapers in your city, county, and state. You may be required to get a landscaping license and/or business license before you can even begin offering landscaping services as a side hustle.

It’s also worth creating a simple business plan outlining your business costs, service list, required equipment, and earnings goals. Once you’ve registered your landscaping business, you can also open a business bank account, which will simplify tasks related to customer payment processing and accounting.

Finally, make sure to stay on top of your business taxes, and consider getting help from a qualified tax professional. By effectively managing your taxes, you could save some money through tax deductions for business expenses.

2. Take advantage of landscaping business tools

Once you’ve created your business plan and run through the numbers, purchase all the necessary equipment (and a vehicle if you need it), check which licenses you’ll need in your state, and get insurance for your business. You can then register your business and acquire a tax ID.

Bookkeeping software is another important tool to keep your accounts in order, with many free and low-cost programs available.

Accounting Software for Landscapers

3. Research your competition

Thoroughly research the competitors in your area and look for any potential gaps in the market. If other landscapers aren’t offering a particular service (e.g., rockwork design), you could attract new customers by providing it.

On the flip side, doing a bit of market research will help you understand what services aren’t in demand in your area as well as which types of landscaping businesses are performing best.

4. Expand your service list

The more services you offer with your landscaping side hustle, the more potential customers you’ll be able to accommodate, so research your area and see what services are most in demand.

You could also include gardening services, such as caring for plants or weeding, alongside your landscaping services to attract a whole new segment of customers. Gardening services don’t always pay as much as more intensive landscaping projects, but you’ll find more customers and spread awareness of your business.

You could also offer seasonal services during the winter when many landscapers are out of work. Depending on your location, you could offer any of these winter services:

• Snow shoveling
• Snowplowing
• Christmas light installation
• Tree care

5. Offer 12-month contracts

Rather than focusing solely on one-time gigs, consider offering your customers a 12-month contract. This will help you overcome the biggest issue for landscaping businesses—those dreaded seasonal fluctuations in demand.

It wouldn’t really make sense to offer year-round lawn mowing services in most locations, so you’d need to come up with a plan for what services you’d provide during the slower winter months. Just make sure that your prices reflect the value of the services you’re providing.

This strategy could also work for commercial landscaping work. You could call up or drop by local businesses in your area and inquire as to when they’re renewing any current landscaping contracts. Having guaranteed work also helps keep you afloat when outdoor work dries up in the winter.

6. Start a customer referral program

Another solid strategy when starting your landscaping side hustle is to implement a referral program, where customers who refer their friends or family to you get incentives once their referrals use your services.

By offering discounts, free services, or any other incentive, you can reach a bigger customer base, especially if you effectively promote your referral program on social media.

7. Learn from other professionals

You can earn more money from your landscaping side hustle by enhancing your landscaping skills and expanding your business to include more advanced services. The best way to do this is to learn from other landscapers.

Consider starting out with a part-time job working for a local landscaping company. This would allow you to get paid while you learn. Alternatively, you could seek out mentorships and assistant jobs working for independent landscapers.

Be sure to seize any available networking opportunities. Landscaping trade shows and expositions are great places to network, all while boosting your brand visibility. Moreover, networking at these events could help you find new suppliers and cut back on costs.

Additionally, if you need help on the business end of your landscaping side hustle, try reaching out to SCORE, a nonprofit organization that offers free mentoring to small businesses.

Landscaping is a good side hustle for skilled contractors and laborers who have practical experience working on landscaping projects. If you’re in this position, you can make serious money on the side without having to put much time and effort into acquiring new skills.

On the other hand, if you’re starting out with zero landscaping experience, it’ll be tough to start a landscaping side hustle. It’s a job that requires technical knowledge and sometimes even special permits.

Unless you’re planning on offering very basic manual labor, you’ll need to get trained and qualified as a landscaper, which takes time and money. In this case, you may be better off with a gardening side hustle or other outdoor side hustle.

Pros and cons of a landscaping side hustle

Considering the high startup costs involved, you’ll need to evaluate whether starting your own landscaping side hustle is right for you. Let’s weigh up the pros and cons.

If you’re not ready to set up your own business, you could become a landscaper by working for an established landscaping business. Those with less experience or even just starting out as landscapers may prefer this route.