How to Start a Lawn Care Business and Turn Grass into Cash

Owning a business doesn’t have to be super sexy to make you good money.

Cutting other people’s grass sounds like an after-school gig for a teenager, but there’s huge demand for these services all over the country.

Landscaping is a $171 billion dollar industry. Startup costs won’t break the bank, but it can take a while to grow from the ground up. You can make more money on lawn care by buying a lawn care business and scaling it from an established foundation.

Why a Lawn Care Venture?

One study found that 94% of Americans used lawn or landscape services at their home in the past year.

Even if people could mow their lawns, plenty of them don’t want to. And yet, the grass keeps growing.

Aside from the demand for these services, lawn care businesses rock because they have tremendous scaling potential.

Add more things over time, like tree trimming, tree removal flower planting, seeding, mulching, and light outdoor construction, and you could be bringing in a lot more cash per job.

Most basic lawn care companies offer per-mow or subscription model prices that keep prices simple and clear for customers. That also helps the owner project cash flow during the busy season.

Many people with different business models in the lawn care business get traction, so choose something that aligns with you. A few options to consider:

1. A 1-person biz with a truck providing weekly/biweekly lawn mowing
2. Zero-turn mower operations with 3 or more crews handling jobs all over the region
3. Landscaping/lawn companies with staff to handle specific areas like weeding/cleanup, mowing, landscape architecture, and more

You can always start small and grow later. But if you buy an established business, you can cut right to the chase and start growing it right away.

You won’t need to worry about getting your first customers or growing from a 1-person operation when you buy someone else’s lawn care company. You’ll be able to benefit from their marketing work, the equipment purchases, and the team that they’ve built.

You’ll be able to slot right in and figure out what it takes to take the business up a notch.

You can even plan to remove yourself from the business so you can focus on acquiring and growing other boring businesses like laundromats, storage unit facilities, or car washes.

But if you’re convinced you want to rake in that green by starting a new business, follow these 6 steps.

1. Craft Your Business Plan

Your business plan lays out the demand in your region, analyzes the competition, and sets the foundation for how you’ll grow.

No reason to take on debt if you don’t need to early on for a business like this. The average cost to start a lawn care business runs between $7,000 and $15,000.

You can start with a tiny budget, but that budget will determine the initial scale of your business. If you’re working with a shoestring budget, you can start with a one-man, one-truck operation which is much cheaper than the average above.

Over time, you can use your profits to expand.

In your business plan, cover the following:

1. Startup cash needed and ongoing expenses
2. Types of services you’ll offer (lawn mowing is obvious, but anything else?)
3. How you’ll market the business
4. Your unique selling proposition (what makes you different from other solutions)

That last one is super important, so don’t breeze through it.

Lawn care and landscaping companies are commodity businesses, so you need a way to make yourself an appealing option for customers.

A few ways to do that:

1. Make it easy for clients to contact you
2. Offer same-day phone or online quote responses
3. Provide online scheduling
4. Make it simple and fast for people to pay you (including online and through credit cards)

The last point is a huge one.

Think of the number of potential lawn care customers who choose to mow their own lawns because they can’t find a business that makes it easy to pay with a card. You can reach the cashless audience by offering convenient forms of payment.

Building your business plan will take time and a lot of thinking.

All of that is valuable, but you can cut right through it when you buy an established lawn care company.

You can find lawn services for sale right now on sites like BizBuySell or BizQuest. And you can find off-market lawn care companies on BizScout (which we own and built to help people like you find deals on boring businesses).

These are all businesses that are already functioning. And you can set up seller-financed deals with the owner for a low upfront cost. This allows you to buy the owner out over time through the profits of your new business. 

When you slot into one of these, your business plan is less about the startup decisions and more about what you can do to build them up.

Don’t Forget to Factor in Seasonality

One of the biggest challenges for any lawn care business is that in the northern part of the U.S., it’s seasonal.

Some lawn care companies manage this by downsizing their crews in the winter, but you can also add new services like:

• Leak raking/fall cleanup projects
• Deck staining
• Shoveling snow
• Laying out mulch/applying fertilizer and plant feed in the spring
• Tree trimming

Your startup scale can affect the things that you can offer during off-peak seasons.

A one-person operation may not be able to offer the full range of fall and winter services. But you can still offer smaller seasonal work like leaf blowing or snow shoveling.

Seasonality is another reason why buying a business is the best option. An established business already knows how to deal with changes in the weather. Businesses that have been around for a while have already diversified their services so they can keep making money all year long.

2. Equip Your Lawn Care Business

You cannot run a lawn or landscape business without good tools. This is one place you must invest money, and you’ll thank yourself later when your equipment performs on every job.

To start a lawn care business, you need a few staples:

1. A good lawn mower
2. Some trimming tools
3. A vehicle and trailer to get to job sites
4. Headphones, gloves, gas cans

Read online reviews and ensure you have a backup mower if your first one breaks down. Many lawn care company owners invest in more expensive equipment as they grow that can handle all-day operations.

Check the equipment regularly, change the oil, and prepare to swap out mower blades.

Regular mowing homeowners should swap blades once a year, and you’ll use your machine much more than they would. Get quality equipment that can handle heavy usage.

And the equipment you use to mow the grass isn’t the only thing you need. Tech is also a must-have.

Investing in software for your industry is an excellent way to enhance operations and efficiency. Too many small business owners forget the importance of providing great customer service and communication.

A few ways you might use technology to your advantage:

1. Scheduling software
2. Automated texts that remind people their property is on the calendar
3. Route planning software
4. Estimating/billing/accounting software
5. Customer relationship management software (CRMs)

These technologies don’t just make your life better in the day-to-day. They also help you stand out from the competition. A customer who knows you’ll always show up on time, gets reminders to open the gate for you, and can pay you online with a credit card will love that reliability and convenience.

Equipment is expensive, and getting your hands on it will take time. Buying an existing business will allow you to get your hands on all the equipment you need from day one.

3. Register Your Business and Stay Compliant

Even if it’s just you and your mower, treat this like a real business from day one by:

1. Checking your city, county, and state requirements for business registration
2. Forming an official business (such as a limited liability company)
3. Opening a business bank account with your company name
4. Obtaining insurance such as workers’ comp, liability, commercial property coverage, and equipment protection
5. Reviewing OSHA’s guidance for lawn care businesses

Pro tip: verify that you don’t need to follow any specific environmental regulations. Even if you don’t, a focus on environmentally-friendly practices makes for an in-demand value proposition. Read EPA recommendations and guidelines to learn more.

Many of your potential customers will not work with you if you do not have a business license or insurance. It makes them feel safer knowing that both sides of the transaction are covered and protected from potential liabilities.

Compliance is another headache for new business owners. Did you check every box? Do you have all the permits and licenses you need?

Established businesses have all of this already. And you’ll be able to cross them off the list if they don’t when you do your due diligence.

4. Price Your Services and Establish Contracts

Your prices should do two things at once: attract customers and protect your profits.

Most mowing companies look at the property online and/or in person to determine a base cost and account for any special factors. This rolls into a per-mow price or a monthly subscription cost.

In general, lawn mowing jobs cost around $50-100 per acre throughout the U.S. 

Properties with lots of obstacles (hedges, fences, ponds, etc.) may cost more.

Research your competitors in the region to get a handle on what others charge. For someone who wants more frequent mowing, such as weekly service, you could discount the per-mow price but still make plenty of money due to the frequency of service.

Talking with the customer over the phone or in person may reveal opportunities to earn more.

Upselling services to include a fall and spring landscaping cleanup, for example, gives you a longer window of overall service for that customer.

Plus, the more services they know you offer, the more likely that customer will recommend you to someone else.

Make sure your service contracts include:

1. Clarity on the dates of service (such as late April-early November for the mowing period)
2. Explain the frequency of service options available to customers
3. Details about how to pay, including any applicable late fees

Established businesses will already have their pricing figured out. And they’ll have a book of existing customers.

5. Market and Promote Your Lawn Care Business

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Marketing is crucial for any new lawn care business. No one hires you if they don’t know you exist. A few things help you make your mark in the local area with a new lawn mowing or landscaping company:

First, you need a strong online presence. That includes:

1. An SEO-optimized website
2. A Google Business Profile
3. Photos of before/after jobs, if you have them
4. Social media profiles (Facebook at the minimum.)
5. Online booking ability (optional, but makes it enticing for new customers)

A few other worthwhile marketing activities for lawn care business owners:

1. Set yourself up on the Nextdoor app as a listed business (bonus points for getting your first couple of customers to leave you reviews there!)
2. Advertise locally at events or in publications
3. Build relationships with related companies who may refer business to you (such as construction companies, pest control, pool cleaning, asphalt/paving, and other homecare businesses).

Starting your marketing engine isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it deal. It takes time and hard work. New business owners often end up with 2 full-time jobs—doing the actual lawn care and marketing it.

That’s another edge that an established business has over starting a new one.

Established businesses already have some customers. Instead of marketing to your first customer, you’re marketing to build on that base. 

Buying a business also means you inherit the staff. You won’t need to worry about taking care of people’s lawns and being your own chief marketing officer.

6. Scale Your Lawn Care Business

You can start growing your lawn care business once you’ve got a few customers under your belt.

The 2 most important levers you have for scaling are:

1. Hiring more staff to take the stress off your shoulders
2. Expanding your services

Hiring and training employees gives you more coverage and ability to service a bigger region. If you hire an operator/manager, you don’t have to get your hands dirty at all since this person will run everything for you.

And, let’s face it: you don’t want to be the person mowing the grass and trimming the hedges forever.

When you hire an operator, it speeds up the time it will take you to get out of the day-to-day weeds and begin thinking about ways you can expand.

Expand your services into things like:

• Landscaping
• Selling plants
• Decks/patio care
• Power washing
• Window cleaning
• Gutter cleaning

When you can afford it, invest in more technology to streamline things and stay in touch with customers.

All of this takes time when you start a new business. Building up a new venture is a grind.

But you can get right to the scaling step with an existing business.

You can keep the owner or a longtime employee on staff to act as your operator. You’ll get an experienced staff and a book of customers. That frees up your time to think about what you can do to expand revenue.

Weedwhack Your Way to Wealth

Owning a lawn care business doesn’t require you to get much specialized training. You can also start with minimal equipment investments. That’s faster profits and more options for scaling for you.

But you can get to profitability much quicker by buying an existing lawn care company.

If you love the idea of being your own boss or spending time outside, it’s hard to beat the flexibility and potential for a lawn care and landscaping business.

Decide what you want to offer in a lawn care business, write your business plan, acquire your equipment, and get the word out there to get started now.