How To Start A Lawn Care Business?

No one can resist the allure of the traditional home, with its well-kept grass and charming white picket fence in the front yard. No homeowner can dispute the beauty and fragrance of a newly cut lawn and the sense of accomplishment that comes with a lush green lawn. However, who has the time and energy to do that?

Thus,  if you have been thinking about starting a lawn care service, now is a great time to do it! Only a lawnmower is required, and you will be ready to go!

With the correct planning and preparation, you  can grow your business.

In this post, we will cover the steps that will help you know how to start a successful lawn care business from scratch and is it worth it to start a lawn care business?

Lawn care businesses offer services including trimming,  the margins of lawns as well as cleaning up waste and maintaining turf.  It also includes fertilizer and weed control.  

The business owner provides service on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis, to meet the demands of their consumers. Services can be provided to both residential and business clients.

Why Starting A Lawn Care Business Is Worth It?

So, you are asking if the lawn care business is worth it or not!  The answer is Yes! The lawn business provides ample opportunity within the service sector. One of the best things about starting a lawn care business is that the business has a high potential for success.

If you see lawns around us, there are always weeds to pull and grasses that need mowing. Lawn care businesses are everlasting. Your customers will always require their lawns trimmed once a week, ensuring a steady stream of income. Also, they need special fertilizers and treatments for weeds and bugs nearly every four to six weeks.

This is not only the reason, according to the survey, but a lawn care business owner can also earn within the range of $54,000 – $115,000. In most cases, the salary of the business owner can range from about 10% of the total sales done by the company.

How To Start A Lawn Care Business From Scratch With No Experience

1. Market Research And Decide Services To Offer

Before entering this sector, decide what different types of service you want to offer. Once you have decided, you will know what equipment you will need. Lawn care is competitive and ongoing business, so if you meet the criteria, go for it without a second thought.

You might be your own boss or hire lawn care employees. For business planning, you need to do research. Research about the industry, demand, types of equipment, potential clients, and workflow. The research is a time-consuming process but you cannot skip it as it is essential.

For research and business planning, you need to check on the following points:

• Target market
• Competitors
• Demand in the locality
• Name and logo of the business
• Skilled mower
• Machinery
• Advance technology
• Know what service you want to offer
• Set up your business contact information

2. Write Lawn Care Business Plan

No business can be successful without planning. So write a clear lawn care business plan before starting a lawn care business. It will help you map out the specifics of your business and discover some unknowns. 

Here are some sections you can consider while planning

• Title Page with Table of Contents
• Executive Summary
• Business Description
• Description of Product or Service Provided
• Market Analysis
• Analysis of Your Competition
• Organizational Logistics, Operation, and Management
• Financial Components
•  Any Relevant Documents

3. Get The Right Lawn Care Tools And Equipment

Obtaining the appropriate lawn care tools, equipment and supplies is a requirement of the business and are essential for its success in the long run.

However, when it comes to purchasing, most individuals make the mistake of opting for the most costly option on the market. It’s not that you should buy the cheapest mower available, but you also don’t have to finance the most expensive mower available and place that financial weight on your firm if you are just starting out in the industry.

You can easily get the used commercial-grade mower for thousands of dollars, less than the new one.  It will cost you around $300 to over $5,000. 

Once you start growing your business through the right marketing and with your hard work, then you think of buying one.

Here is the name of some of the equipment

• Mower
• Edger
• String trimmer
• Leaf blower
• Mowing goggles
• Safety earmuffs
• Gardening gloves
• Gas cans
• Lawn bags

4. Register Your Lawn Care Business Legally

Once you have started the lawn care business, secure your lawn care business legally. 

The existence of a legal business entity is insufficient when it comes to safeguarding a company’s future. You’ll need general liability insurance to protect your business. 

Obtaining general liability insurance will safeguard you in the event that a customer or third party makes a claim against you for personal harm, medical expenses, or property damage resulting from your lawn care job.

To make your business legal, you can apply and make your lawn care business legal in the market. Fertilizer application certification and employer identification number (EIN) are other methods to make your lawn care business legal. If you are a limited liability company or a sole proprietorship company, you will need a business license.

Following are the steps to follow to complete the legal formality for lawn care businesses:

• Register business name
• Legal certification
• Open a business bank account
• Get business insurance

5. Create A Business Bank Account And Get Insurance

After you’ve registered your lawn care business, the following step is to open a business bank account and get it insured. Create a business bank account to guarantee that you are correctly taxed and create a credit profile for your firm, as well as keep your personal and professional accounts distinct.

Why do you need business insurance?

Almost all lawn care professionals need to purchase general liability insurance to protect against damages that occurred on customer property. Still, the question is why?

Let me give you one example, a customer or client sued you for damaging their lawn and asked you to pay for it. 

Now being a lawn care business owner, your pocket would not be heavy (at least at the beginning of the business). In this situation, if you have insurance, you will easily be able to pay the bill.

The insurance will pay for attorney fees to cover damaging lawn or personal assets, repairing the property, medical bills, and replacement landscaping.

6. Set Up A Pricing Plan

How much should you charge lawn care services is the most important question that riddles most lawn care business owners. However, it’s not that hard, you just have to keep a few things in mind while pricing for your lawn care business. Let’s see what are those:

• Find Out Your Target Audience

  Figuring out who your target audience is – is the most crucial step to set up a pricing plan. Like, which types of clients do you expect to work with the most, businesses or homeowners? Commercial clients are often willing to spend more than the general public when it comes to price expectations.

• Understand Your Competitors

  Understand your competitors by looking at how much the competitor is charging for the same service. And keeping your charge in the same range as going too low can make your business untrustworthy for your clients.

• Hourly Rate Or Flat Rate: What Will You Consider?

  Another area in which market research might be beneficial is here. Many customers like to be offered a fixed cost for lawn care services since it allows them to plan for the final payment. However, It’s true that you may base that flat charge on the hourly rate you require to make a profit.

• Consider Overhead Cost

  It costs a lot of money to run a lawn care business. So, consider overhead costs like taxes, health insurance, business insurance, marketing materials, cell phone, gas, vehicle, and equipment maintenance.

  Most lawn care businesses add an additional 15–20% on top of their estimate to account for overhead costs.

  Additionally, you should also account for the expense of purchasing and maintaining the necessary lawn care equipment. Lawnmowers may still need engine maintenance or spark plug replacements even after you’ve paid off the loan.

  There are some lawn care firms who charge two times the hourly cost of labor only to have their equipment on the job site.

• Profit Margin

  Pricing is all about being profitable.  Thus, to measure how profitable your business is, figure out how much lawn care profit margin you end up with after an average job. With a profitable business, you will be in a  position to withstand any unforeseen charges and expand your lawn care business over time.

7. Launch Your Lawn Care Business and Start Getting Your Customers

Once you are done with planning, insurance, and legal formality, it is time to launch your business and start getting your customer. A successful lawn care business is valued by its work, so provides enhanced customer service. 

8. Use Lawn Care Business Software To Schedule And Dispatch Jobs Easily

Scheduling is the bane of many lawn care companies, including gardening and landscaping companies. Today, every client demands flexibility and accuracy in their service and expects you to provide them with undelayed deliveries. FieldCamp makes that possible by automating 90% of routine lawn care operations in just one tap. 

With FieldCamp, you can organize your lawn care jobs, resources, clients, and bills without being in the office and operate everything virtually from anywhere.

Other services this lawn care scheduling software provides are:

• Assign and dispatch lawn mowing, leaf blowing, and walkway and driveway edging services on a real-time basis
• Trace and plan your technician’s activity by observing their statuses – ‘Job Scheduled’, ‘On the way,’ Staff Reached’, ‘Job Started’, ‘Job Finished’, ‘Generate Invoice’, and ‘Invoice Paid’
• Store customers’ data and record unique needs requested for their lawn care
• View job history and track job status to plan upcoming lawn care tasks
• Avail reports on profit and loss incurred at your selected time range

How Much Does It Cost To Start A Lawn Care Business?

The cost of starting a lawn care business can range anywhere from $5,000 to $15,000 for a small lawn care business and upwards of $250,000 for a medium-sized business.

The cost of equipment is a major factor in the final cost. However, if you have your own pickup vehicle, garage space, or lawnmower, you can considerably reduce the cost. The equipment you need depends on the kind of service you are offering to your customers. 

Standard landscaping may include lawnmower, edging shears, string trimmer, backpack blower, hand tools, wheelbarrow, turfing iron, weed chemical supplies, brooms, half-moon cutter, and leveling rake.

How To Market Your Lawn Care Business

Now, it’s high time to highlight your business globally. In simple words, you need to build marketing strategies for your lawn care services and business so that everyone can know about your business.

To be on top of the competition, lawn care business owners need to create a marketing plan in such a way that it directly affects your business productivity and enhances customer experience.

Initially, you need to create a responsive website for your business, mentioning the complete details about your services and contact information. It is an ongoing business that needs to be updated and worked on consistently. You have to manage new clients, existing customers, repeat customers, and build a client base.

In your lawn care business, you need to focus on startup costs and marketing costs. Expand your client base with promotional advertisements like online marketing, word of mouth, and by creating a lawn care business website. Tell your customers about your work, how you are unique from others, and what services you provide.

Start investing in marketing to grow your business, online marketing helps to expand the business. Follow these activities to advertise your lawn care business:

• Run a local advertisement service on Google
• Get listed your lawn care business on Google
• Create social media accounts like Instagram or Facebook
• Post about your services on social media platforms
• Send marketing emails with MailChimp or GetResponse
• Give a customer referral code to boost your new lawn care business

Start Your Lawn Care Business With FieldCamp

So, starting a lawn care business requires a lot of work and perfect planning. In this blog, we have come across detailed information on everything related to starting the lawn care business from deciding the name to marketing your business. Consider these points in mind while entering into the lawn care industry and make your company successful.

To make it easy for you, you need to adopt FieldCamp in your business. It is a field service scheduling software that allows you to create and manage the task for your workers to perform at a client’s location. This software solution helps you automate your lawn care business operations with ease and enhance your business productivity.