Starting a Lawn Care Business

The lawn care (and possibly snow removal depending on where you live) business involves providing grounds maintenance services to homeowners and business owners. Some people offer only lawn mowing services while others choose to offer a full range of landscaping services.

Getting Started

A lawn care and snow removal business is fairly easy to start. Many people already have the necessary equipment from maintaining their own home. Commercial equipment may eventually be worth purchasing, but if you are starting out with a few accounts there is no reason not to work with what you already own.

I mowed several accounts for two years using a push mower I salvaged from our town trash station. I invested about five dollars in parts and a few hours of labor to get the mower running and enjoyed several years of profitable performance before giving the mower away (still running and starting on the first pull) to a relative.

Commercial landscapers tend to be fairly expensive for lawn mowing due to their higher business costs. As a self-employed lawn maintenance person you should have no problem competing on price.

Snow removal can be profitable in areas that have regular snowfall during the winter. Unfortunately, it is notoriously hard to predict. One winter may have quite a bit of snowfall while another winter may have hardly any snow. This makes for very difficult budgeting.

Plow trucks make for fast removal of snow from parking lots and some driveways. However, snowplows do a poor job of getting down to the pavement, damage gravel driveways and grass along the pavement edges, are very expensive to purchase and maintain (plowing also causes considerable wear on the truck), and are very difficult to use on many driveways.

You may consider avoiding a plow truck and using a shovel, snow blower, or ATV with a plow to do snow removal. This would limit you from bidding on large, commercial projects but would be considerably less expensive than maintaining a plow truck while offering better performance on many driveways.

Marketing

Marketing your lawn service and snow removal business can be accomplished through services ads in your local newspaper (community newspapers are usually less expensive than daily newspapers), posting fliers or business cards on community bulletin boards, distributing fliers in target neighborhoods, and using direct mail lists (for instance, new homeowner lists). Contacting real estate agents, contractors, hardware store owners, and other local business owners who you know can also be an effective way of generating referrals. Joining the local chamber of commerce or similar civic organizations can provide many customer leads, along with giving you credibility as a legitimate business.

Cautions

Purchase reliable equipment for this business. Few things are more frustrating than having frustrated customers calling about their lawn because your equipment is out of service. It is a good idea to either have two of everything (including a truck) or to have an advance arrangement to rent or borrow equipment when something breaks unexpectedly.

Business liability insurance may be a good idea any time you are working with power equipment like mowers. Most commercial customers will require proof of liability insurance before accepting bids for work on their property as well.

The seasonal nature of this business in many areas can pose a challenge. This makes careful budgeting essential, but can also pose challenges to earn enough money during the working season to sustain you through the off season.

Profit Potential

The profit potential in the lawn care business will vary depending on the geography and demographics of where you live and work. For instance, northern climates typically have short mowing seasons and snow can vary greatly from year to year. Affluent communities also typically spend far more on lawn maintenance services than do less affluent communities.

Self-employed landscape professionals should be able to charge $15-35 per hour for their services, based on my experience in the industry. Your level of experience, the type of services you offer, and the community you plan to work in will all impact the rate you are able to charge.

Conclusion

The lawn care and snow removal business is a good business for those who like being outside in all kinds of weather, who don't mind getting dirty, and who like some variety in their workplace.

The business is rather seasonal in many parts of the country. Finding some type of profitable projects for the off season can help make up for the seasonal nature of the business. Some people like the seasonal business though and take advantage of the down time to pursue winter sports or travel.