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How to Start a Landscaping Business
Landscaping and lawn care are easy to enter and built for recurring revenue, because mowing the same yards every week gives you a predictable book of business. The trick is route density and reliability. Here is how to start and grow one.
Founder, Smarfle · Updated September 26, 2026
Quick facts
- Startup cost
- $5,000 to $25,000
- Time to start
- 2 to 4 weeks
- License
- Business license + insurance (pesticide license to treat)
- Earnings
- $40k to $70k+ solo
- Difficulty
- Moderate
Is a landscaping business worth starting?
Landscaping is one of the most fragmented trades in the country, dominated by solo operators, so reliability and recurring contracts are how you stand out.
634,541
U.S. landscaping businesses[1]
81%
have no employees[1]
$40,080
Grounds maintenance median wage[2]
How much does it cost to start?
A typical landscaping business costs $5,000 to $25,000 to start. A truck or trailer plus commercial mower and handheld equipment is the main cost. You can start lighter with lawn-care-only gear and scale into design and installation.
| Startup cost | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Commercial mower | $3,000 to $12,000 |
| Trimmer, blower, edger, handhelds | $800 to $2,500 |
| Trailer + truck (or used) | $1,500 to $15,000 |
| License + insurance | $600 to $2,500 |
| Marketing + website | $200 to $2,000 |
Ranges are typical and vary by market and scope. Confirm licensing costs with your state.
How much can you earn?
Solo lawn-care operators commonly net $40,000 to $70,000; landscaping companies with crews and design/install work clear well into six figures. Profit is driven by route density (more yards close together) and recurring maintenance contracts, not raw hours.
How to start a landscaping business, step by step
- 1
Start with maintenance, add services later
Weekly mowing and yard maintenance is the recurring foundation. Add mulch, cleanups, fertilization, and eventually design/installation for bigger tickets once you have a steady route.
- 2
Buy reliable equipment
A commercial mower, a good trimmer, blower, and edger, and a trailer to haul them. Buy used to keep startup low, but buy reliable: a broken mower in peak season costs you the whole week.
- 3
License, insure, and handle disposal
Get a business license and liability insurance. If you apply fertilizer or pesticides, many states require a pesticide applicator license. Plan for green-waste disposal too.
- 4
Build a tight route
Profit in lawn care is about density: the more yards you service close together, the less you spend driving. Target neighborhoods, not scattered one-offs, and price recurring weekly/biweekly visits to fill the route.
- 5
Land your first accounts
Google Business Profile, yard signs on jobs you are already doing, neighborhood flyers, and HOA or property-manager relationships for multi-property contracts. Door-to-door in a single neighborhood is highly efficient early on.
- 6
Run the crew on autopilot
Route-aware scheduling, crew dispatch, recurring billing, and automatic review requests turn a one-mower operation into a real business. Recurring maintenance is easiest to run with card-on-file billing.
Licensing and insurance
A business license and liability insurance cover basic mowing and maintenance. Applying fertilizer or pesticides requires a state pesticide applicator license in most states. Landscape design/installation or irrigation work may require a contractor or irrigation license. Confirm with your state agriculture and licensing boards.
How to price your work
Mowing is commonly $30 to $80 per visit depending on lot size; full maintenance plans run monthly. Mulch, cleanups, and installation are priced by the job or by the cubic yard/hour. Price weekly and biweekly recurring routes first; they are the profitable backbone.
| Service | Typical price |
|---|---|
| Mowing (per visit) | $30 to $80 |
| Full maintenance (monthly) | $120 to $400 |
| Mulch install (per yard) | $60 to $120 |
| Spring / fall cleanup | $200 to $600 |
| Design + installation | by project |
Example prices are typical U.S. ranges and vary by region, scope, and demand.
Pros and cons of starting a landscaping business
Pros
- Built-in recurring revenue (weekly mowing)
- Can start with used equipment
- Demand grows with new housing
- Easy to add higher-ticket design and install
Cons
- - Seasonal in cold climates
- - Equipment plus truck/trailer is a real upfront cost
- - Crowded market (about 81% solo)
- - Pesticide application needs a state license
Common mistakes to avoid
- Taking scattered jobs instead of building a dense route (drive time kills margin)
- Pricing one-off mows instead of selling recurring plans
- Applying chemicals without the required pesticide applicator license
- Letting a broken mower in peak season cost you a full week
How crowded the landscaping market is where you live
Where you start decides how much competition you start against. Across the country there are about 19 landscaping businesses for every 10,000 residents, but that runs from 3.5 in the District of Columbia to 35 in Mississippi, a 9.9x spread.
A dense state means winning work on price against operators who already have the routes. A thin one means fewer competitors and customers who wait, which usually supports a higher rate, though it can also mean the population simply is not there. Alaska has added the most since 2019, up 41%, so competition there is still building.
| State | Per 10k | Businesses |
|---|---|---|
| Mississippi | 35 | 10,223 |
| Louisiana | 33 | 15,364 |
| Vermont | 33 | 2,151 |
| Georgia | 31 | 34,226 |
| Alabama | 30 | 15,246 |
| State | Per 10k | Businesses |
|---|---|---|
| District of Columbia | 3.5 | 246 |
| New Mexico | 11 | 2,253 |
| Nevada | 11 | 3,618 |
| New York | 11 | 21,995 |
| Alaska | 12 | 863 |
Most landscaping businesses per 10,000 residents
Business counts are U.S. Census Bureau County Business Patterns employer establishments plus Nonemployer Statistics firms for NAICS 561730, so a one-person operation counts the same as a company with twelve vans. Population is the American Community Survey. CBP 2023, NES 2023, ACS 2024. See all 50 states.
Cite this data
The state figures above are free to reference with a link back. Cite the underlying study rather than this guide, because the startup cost and pricing figures here are editorial estimates and the state data is not.
Ihor Lavrenenko (2026). Landscaping Business Statistics by State. Smarfle. https://www.smarfle.com/small-business-statistics/landscaping-business-statistics
What year one actually looks like
The parts of landscaping work nobody warns you about, which show up once you have customers rather than while you are deciding whether to start.
The busy season has to fund the quiet one
In most of the country the mowing money arrives across roughly eight months and the truck payment arrives across twelve. Owners who come through their first winter intact are the ones who priced the season knowing it was carrying the whole year.
You will not know which properties make money
Two lawns on the same street at the same price can have very different margins once you count the time actually spent on each. Without recording hours and materials against the individual property, the unprofitable accounts stay hidden and you keep them for years.
Whoever you train in spring sets your summer ceiling
Crew capacity is decided months before the peak, because a new person is slow for weeks and you cannot hire into a rush. The number of properties you can hold in July is effectively fixed by who you brought on in March.
Run it like a business from day one
The operators who pull ahead in any trade are the ones who systematize the boring parts, meaning booking, scheduling, invoicing, payments and reviews. Smarfle is the all-in-one CRM built for landscaping operators, so you can take on more work without drowning in admin.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to start a landscaping business?+
Typically $5,000 to $25,000, driven mostly by a commercial mower, handheld equipment, and a truck or trailer. You can start lower with lawn-care-only gear bought used and scale into design and installation.
Do I need a license for a landscaping business?+
A business license and insurance cover basic mowing. Applying fertilizer or pesticides needs a state pesticide applicator license in most states, and design/installation or irrigation may need a contractor license. Check your state.
Is a landscaping business profitable?+
Yes, especially with recurring maintenance contracts and a dense route. The market is crowded (about 81% solo), so route density, reliability, and reviews are what separate a profitable operation from a break-even one.
How do I get landscaping customers?+
A Google Business Profile, yard signs and flyers in the neighborhoods you already serve, and HOA or property-manager contracts for multiple properties. Targeting one neighborhood at a time keeps your route tight.
How much should I charge for lawn care?+
Mowing typically runs $30 to $80 per visit by lot size, with full maintenance billed monthly. Price recurring weekly/biweekly plans to fill the route, and charge per job for mulch, cleanups, and installs.
Sources
- [1] U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns and Nonemployer Statistics (2023)Count of U.S. landscaping businesses (NAICS 561730) including sole operators, and the share of them with no employees.
- [2] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Grounds Maintenance Workers (May 2025)Median wage of $40,080 and 1,299,200 jobs in the occupation landscaping work falls under.
Startup costs and earnings ranges on this page are our own editorial estimates, built on the federal figures above. Every business is different, so treat them as a starting point rather than a forecast.
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