Starting a lawn care business care can be a rewarding and lucrative venture in 2024. You’ll contribute to enhancing outdoor spaces in your local community while earning a comfortable income and enjoying a flexible schedule.
Don’t let the initial challenges of starting a business discourage you – success is within reach with the right approach.
This article offers a guide for making your lawn care business idea a reality. Let’s dive in!
How to start a small lawn care business
Starting a lawn care business involves multiple phases:
- Determining services,
- Purchasing equipment,
- Creating prices,
- Marketing,
- Hiring employees, and
- Serving customers.
But every successful company starts by completing critical administrative tasks. Those tasks help create a foundation from which to launch.
How to legally start a lawn care business
Before offering your lawn care services to the public, here’s a six-step breakdown of what you’ll need to ensure your business can operate legally.
- Choose a legal structure: Decide if you’ll become a sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC, or corporation. During this stage, you may wish to consult with a legal advisor.
- Business name: Aim for something catchy and professional. Ensure another company is not already using it, and register it with the appropriate local authorities.
- Licensing: Check with your government to determine the licenses and permits required to operate a business in your area.
- Insurance: Purchase liability insurance to protect your business in case of accidents or property damage.
- Accounting: Set up a reliable accounting system to track income and expenses. Consider hiring an accountant or using accounting software to manage your finances.
- Contracts: Develop clear and comprehensive contracts for your clients that outline services, pricing, and terms.
Once you’ve completed these steps, you’re ready to start getting your business off the ground and attract your first customers!
What lawn care services to offer
As a new business, you must decide what services you’ll offer.
Start small to manage your overhead costs. Lawn mowing and trimming, snow removal, and weed control are popular essential lawn maintenance services that only require some basic equipment.
Equipment needed for starting a lawn care business
Investing in high-quality, reliable equipment will help you do each job efficiently and create happy customers. Here’s an equipment list to help you launch a basic lawn care service.
- Lawn mowing equipment: Push mowers are cheaper and work well for small jobs. Riding mowers, while more expensive, are more efficient for large-scale jobs.
- Transportation: You’ll need a well-maintained truck to transport your equipment and crew to job sites.
- Supplies: Stock up on fuel, lubricants, safety gear, and other supplies needed for daily operations.
How to price your lawn care business
Deciding what to charge for your services is essential before you start advertising and looking for customers.
First, research your competitors to understand their pricing structures. Next, consider labor, equipment, overhead costs, and your desired profit margins.
Finally, consider these three basic pricing models you can apply to different jobs:
- Square footage rates: These are helpful for simple lawn mowing jobs.
- Hourly rates: Work well for larger contracts and packages.
- Flat rates: Work best when you know how long the job will take.
You can now create a lawn care pricing chart to help you make accurate customer estimates.
Marketing and branding your lawn care business
Marketing starts with developing a brand. Create a business logo and use low-cost advertising methods such as flyers and online directories to promote your services.
Building a website and implementing search engine optimization (SEO) can also be a worthwhile investment. Since it’s costly, leave this out until you can afford it.
Hiring and training employees
If you plan to have employees, hire people with relevant experience and provide training on lawn care techniques, customer service, and safety procedures.
How much does it cost to start a lawn care business?
According to getjobber.com, you can expect to invest anywhere from $755 to $1,360 to start your lawn care company (excluding vehicle costs).
Here’s a table outlining the average costs of starting a basic lawn care company that offers mowing and grass-cutting services.
| Lawn care service | Average cost (USD) |
| Push lawn mower | $260 |
| Business registration | $237.50 |
| Liability insurance | $550 per year |
| Truck or trailer | $30,000 |
Growing and expanding your lawn care business
As your business grows, consider expanding your services. A popular option is to create an adjacent landscaping business to further design and beautify your client’s properties.
Summary: Starting your own lawn care business
With proper planning and investments, starting a landscaping business can quickly become highly profitable.
Once you’re up and running, managing client communications with services like AnswerForce is easy. We can manage your calls and chats, take care of appointment setting, and deal with after-hours emergencies. This leaves you more time to focus on growing your new business!