How to Start a Lawn Care Business in 8 Steps (2024 Guide)

There’s a growing demand for lawn care in the U.S., making it a great field for new opportunities. Businesses and homeowners are looking for professional lawn care services that can create a well-maintained outdoor space and keep it looking fresh.

Discover how to turn that demand into a profit with this simple guide on starting a lawn care business. In addition to the potential for profitability, running your own lawn care company offers plenty of flexibility to set your own hours, hire a great team, and expand your business.

Key Takeaways 

• You can start a lawn care business with relatively low start-up costs.
• Consider whether you want to offer many services or specialize only in lawn upkeep.
• Some pros of working in lawn care include having recurring customers and growth potential.
• You can begin with basic equipment and expand your services and team as you grow your business.

Table of Contents

• Choose Which Lawn Care Services You Want to Offer
• Analyze Your Location and Competitors
• Legal Steps To Start a Lawn Care Business
• Get Lawn Care Equipment
• Get Lawn Care Business Software
• Price Your Lawn Care Services
• Hire and Train Employees
• Create a Marketing and Sales Strategy
• Pros of Starting a Lawn Care Business
• Launch Your Lawn Care Business Today
• Frequently Asked Questions

Starting a lawn care business requires a few business decisions, equipment purchases, and marketing plans. Follow these 8 steps to get started setting up your own lawn care company today.

1. Choose Which Lawn Care Services You Want to Offer

Having a clear vision for your new lawn care business makes it easier for customers to understand the services you offer. It also helps you focus on productive growth so you can put your energy into the most profitable parts of your company.

Under the umbrella of lawn care, there’s a lot of room to customize your business’ services. Do you want to offer a broad range of services to reach as many customers as possible, or specialize in just a few services to carve out a market niche?

Some common lawn care services include:

• Lawn Mowing (Residential And Commercial)
• Weed Removal
• Lawn Fertilizing
• Lawn Spraying
• Lawn Aeration
• Turf Removal And Installation
• Landscape Installation
• Landscape Maintenance
• Tree, Shrub, And Flower Planting
• Tree Trimming
• Seasonal Services (Leaf Raking, Snow Removal)

2. Analyze Your Location and Competitors

Choosing where to base your new business is key to a successful lawn care company. Your lawn care business’ physical headquarters are important, even though customers are unlikely to visit the building. You’ll need to store all your equipment there, so having easy access to the highway and being near your customers will save you money on fuel and transportation costs.

You’ll also need to think about which areas or neighborhoods you’ll service. Look for a location that has plenty of demand but not too many well-established competitors. New home developments can be a good source of untapped markets, especially if they include larger green spaces like parks and wide lawns.

Choosing a location based on other competitors will also depend on what services you offer. Lawn care companies that choose a broad array of services will likely be in direct competition with other companies, so you’ll have to rely on pricing to stay competitive or find an area without many other companies. If you’ve chosen to specialize, you may be able to pick a spot where your specialties don’t overlap too much with your competitors.

3. Legal Steps To Start a Lawn Care Business

One of the first steps to starting any new business is to make sure you’ve taken care of all the legalities. Learning how to start a lawn care business legally isn’t too complicated, but there are a few key steps to take care of.

Register Your Business Structure and Name

If you’re running the company by yourself, a sole proprietorship is usually the simplest business structure. If you’re running the company with other people you might register as a partnership, or you can choose to register as a limited liability company (LLC) to protect yourself from personal liability. When you’re registering your business structure, you’ll also register your business name so customers can start finding your company.

Apply for Your Business License

To legally operate your lawn care company, you’ll need the proper business license. The easiest way to manage this is to contact your municipal business administration or Chamber of Commerce, and they can advise you on the exact license you’ll need for your area. You might need a state business license as well as a license for the city you operate in.

Depending on the services you offer, you may also need additional licensing. For example, if you use chemicals like pesticides, you may need a license, and in some states, a certification to spray.

Get Business Insurance

Several types of insurance are generally recommended for lawn care companies. Since you’ll be transporting equipment, insuring your vehicles and equipment helps protect your assets.

You’ll also be working on-site, so having liability insurance and worker’s compensation to protect against any property damage or injury is important. Although lawn care isn’t especially risky, there’s always a small chance of damage or injury so it’s best to be covered for anything.

Apply for Your Employer Identification Number (EIN)

If you’re planning to hire any employees, you’ll need to get an employee identification number (EIN) so you can accurately report your tax responsibilities as an employer to the IRS.

To delve deeper into the legal requirements of starting a business, including essential steps beyond those mentioned here, check out this comprehensive guide: Legal Requirements for Starting a Small Business.

4. Get Lawn Care Equipment

There are some basic equipment and tools you’ll need to start your new lawn care business. Depending on what services you offer, you may also need to purchase specialized equipment. Some common equipment and tools for lawn care companies include:

• Vehicle (usually a truck) that can tow a small trailer
• Small equipment trailer
• Lawn mower (push mower or riding mower)
• Leaf blower
• Pruning shears
• Weed eater
• Tree trimming equipment
• Wheelbarrow
• Shovels 
• Rakes 
• Safety equipment (goggles, gloves, safety earmuffs)
• Lawn bags

If you offer specialty services like spraying, you’ll also need to purchase specialty equipment. In many cases buying good second-hand equipment can save you money, so it’s worth checking out used vehicles and second-hand items from other lawn care companies.

5. Get Lawn Care Business Software

You’ll need to find reliable software to help you with the management side of your business. Good lawn care business software helps you keep track of employee hours, manage payroll, create estimates and invoices for customers, and prepare all your financial records for tax season. You might also want to think about an automatic lead capture system where potential customers can enter their information and let you know what they need.

FreshBooks accounting software makes small business financial management easy. Browse time-tracking features, invoice templates for lawn care, expense reports, profit and loss sheets, and more to get started with your lawn care accounting today.

6. Price Your Lawn Care Services

Setting the right prices is key to your success—you want to price low enough to be competitive but high enough to still make a profit. A good place to start is by browsing competitor rates so you can get a sense of what others are changing in your area.

The lawn care industry uses 3 common pricing schemes: hourly, flat rate, and square footage. 

• Hourly Rate: If you’re not sure how long a job will take, pricing by the hour ensures you’ll be paid fairly for your labor.
• Flat Rate: If you have a general sense of how long the job will take, a flat rate is a transparent system that’s appealing to customers.
• Square Footage: For larger spaces like parks and business lawns, charging by the square foot allows you to provide your customers with a clear pricing quote.

Free lawn care estimate templates make it easy to provide customers with an accurate estimate so you can build trust and establish positive relationships that can lead to recurring work. Once the job is done, send the final bill with lawn care invoice templates for quick, professional invoicing.

7. Hire and Train Employees

Labor is one of the biggest expenses in the lawn care business, so hiring the right people is key to success. Hiring great employees and employee retention can also help you grow your business in the future.

You don’t necessarily need to hire for experience in this industry since you’ll be able to train people in lawn mowing, weeding, and other skills fairly quickly. Instead, look for employees with great character—people who are hardworking, punctual, and dependable. If you’re planning to scale your business, it’s also a good idea to look for good team players and people with leadership skills.

Since your employees will need to travel to the job site, you’ll also need at least one person on each team who has a valid driver’s license.

8. Create a Marketing and Sales Strategy

When you decided on your location and services, you started narrowing down your customer base. You’ll need to make sure your business is reaching those people by creating a solid marketing strategy.

The foundation for your marketing is your website—this is where all your other marketing will drive customers to visit. Your website should be clear and easy to use so customers can quickly find your contact information and pricing. Including testimonials from existing customers also helps build trust with potential clients.

Once you have a website, make sure it’s SEO-friendly so that search engines like Google will display your company as a top result when people search for lawn care in the area. 

It’s also a good idea to have a broad range of marketing strategies to reach a larger audience. These can include:

• Designing a logo for your website, uniforms, invoices, and merchandise
• Building a social media presence on Instagram and Facebook and sharing pictures and videos of your work
• Distributing flyers in your area
• Asking customers for reviews that you can publish online

Pros of Starting a Lawn Care Business

There are many advantages to starting a lawn care business. Even if you don’t have a ton of experience or a large start-up financial fund, you can still build a business with plenty of growth potential. Just a few of the pros to starting your own lawn care business include:

Low Start-Up Needs 

At the outset, all you need is a truck, a lawnmower, and some hard work. This low initial cost makes lawn care a business that’s fairly easy to enter. You have the option to purchase more equipment and hire employees to grow your business down the line.

Recurring Business 

Lawns need regular maintenance, so you can build a base of repeat customers. During the on-season, this makes lawn care a fairly stable means of income.

Potential For Off-Season Work 

Depending on where you live, lawn care may only apply for part of the year. However, you can still use your vehicle and some tools to provide other services like fall leaf removal or winter snow removal. 

Growth Potential

Even if you just start with the basics, you can offer additional services as you grow. You can also reach more customers by adding more service areas, giving you a lot of room to develop your business.

Flexibility

Owning your own business allows you to set your hours and gives you plenty of flexibility. Although you’ll want to be available for recurring customers, you have a lot more freedom to set a schedule that works for you.

Launch Your Lawn Care Business Today

Starting your own lawn care business is a great way to build a reliable career with plenty of growth potential. You don’t need too much to get started—basic equipment, strong customer service skills, and hard work can build client relationships and gain recurring customers.

The right lawn care business software can help you move from a new business to a thriving, scalable company. FreshBooks accounting software makes it easy to track work hours, manage expenses, and send professional estimates and invoices on the go. Try FreshBooks free and discover how the right accounting software can help you grow your lawn care business today.

Explore this helpful article on how to start a landscaping business. It provides valuable guidance to help you kickstart and expand your lawn care business effectively.

FAQs About Starting a Lawn Care Business

Learn more about the basic requirements for starting a lawn care business, as well as profit margins, vehicles, and more with these answers to frequently asked questions about lawn care companies.

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

When you first start out, you’ll need a vehicle, a small trailer, and a commercial lawn mower, which often total around $20,000, though you may be able to save by purchasing second-hand equipment. It’s also a good idea to budget about $5,000 for your business registration, licensing, and marketing.

What is the profit margin for lawn care?

The typical profit margin for lawn care ranges from 5 to 20 percent. This will depend on your expenses and the rates in your area. Knowing where you can reduce your expenses—for example, buying second-hand equipment or having a location that’s close to your customers—can help increase your profit margin.

What is the best vehicle for a lawn mowing business?

The best vehicle will depend on the equipment you have. If you only have a few things—for example, a small mower and shovels, trimmers, etc., a van with a bulkhead can be a great fit. If you have larger equipment, you’ll need a truck and a small trailer.

What are the cons of starting a lawn care business?

There are a couple of potential downsides to starting a lawn care business. Since lawn care is a labor-intensive industry, you’ll often face high labor costs. If you’re in an area with seasonal weather changes, you may also have to manage seasonal labor turnover. You can offset this by offering other services like snow removal in the off-season.

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