How to Start a Lawn Care Business that Makes a $100,000 Profit per Year. Residential lawn care truck

Starting a Lawn Care Business in 2023: The Ultimate Guide

This article is going to be a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to starting a lawn care business.

Check’s mobile app will help your new lawn care business be organized and look professional from day one

Lawn Care Pricing Chart

One of the biggest questions about starting a lawn care business is:

Is starting a lawn care business worth it?

Wrapped up in that one question is a lot of underlying questions like:

Spoiler Alert: Yes, it’s worth it.

This article is going to be a comprehensive, step-by-step guide on how to start a lawn care business. And the first step happens to also be the easiest way to prove to you that starting a lawn care business is worth it.

In this article, we’ll cover:

It’s important to note that this article is written from the perspective that this lawn care business is a side hustle, not a full-time job. If you want to turn your lawn care side hustle into a career, most of the numbers we mention in this article won’t apply. But it might be exactly what you need just to get started!

Sketching Out a Rough Business Model

Don’t worry. we’re keeping the emphasis on “rough.” We’re not going to be using complicated equations here. We just want to do a little napkin math to answer a few questions that are important to the success of our business:

• How much will it cost us to get started?
• How much will it cost us to run our business on a monthly basis?
• How many Clients do we need to get to cover those expenses and start making money?

As with any business model, we have to make certain assumptions but we’ll try to be conservative and back up our assumptions as much as possible. For the sake of this exercise, we’ll be building out everything from scratch. If you already have equipment or even a few Clients, you’re already a few steps ahead. Well done!

Before we dive in, the first number we need to nail down is how much money we want to make out of this business. Let’s say we’re wanting to mow as a side-hustle to put an extra 15,000 in our s each year. Knowing what we’re working towards will help us reverse-engineer our business to make sure we know exactly what we need to do to get there.

Startup Costs

Let’s start by determining our startup costs. These are one-time expenses just to get the new business up and running.

Startup Costs: One-time expenses that are incurred in the process of starting a business, such as equipment.

• Push Lawn Mower: 400
• Weed Eater: 150
• Blower: 75
• Gas Can: 20
• Safety Glasses: 15
• Ear Plugs: 5
• Gloves: 10

Of course, it would be really easy to jump down the equipment rabbit hole and spend thousands of dollars on a nice set up. But if the budget is tight or if this is just a side gig, we can get started from scratch for about 700 with a residential-grade setup. Let’s assume you have a truck or SUV (or are willing to roll down the road with your car’s trunk open) so that you don’t have to buy a trailer.

Pro Tip: look on Craigslist or Marketplace for used equipment if you need to lower your startup costs further.

A ZTR (zero turn radius) mower, a stick edger, a customized trailer… all of these things can improve the speed and quality of our service. But since we’re just starting out, it’s probably worth it to get started with the bare bones and improve our set up as we can afford it.

Operating Expenses

We’ve got our equipment and we know our goal is to make 15,000 per year. Now we have to figure out our Operating Expenses which is basically determining how much it costs to run our business on a monthly basis, but here’s the hard truth: it depends. I’m sure it sounds like a cop-out. But really, it depends on quite a few things such as:

• Fuel prices.
• How well we treat and maintain our equipment.
• How quickly we go through blades and trimmer line.
• Insurance (which we recommend!) and the amount of coverage we purchase.
• Even though it’s not technically an operating expense, we’ll even throw in savings for new equipment.

To start off, we’ll set aside 25% of our revenue for everything mentioned above and adjust from there. This is definitely an over-simplification, but we have to start somewhere. If we want to build a large company, we’ll need new equipment at some point. However, if this will remain a side hustle, then we can go ahead and run that 21” Toro into the ground.

Operating Expenses: The money you spend running the business day-to-day such as insurance and gasoline.

Awesome, our business is up and running! Now, it’s time to make money. Since we want to put an extra 15,000 in our s, that means we need to generate more revenue than that so we can cover our expenses. We’ll calculate that below.

With a job such as lawn care, there are a lot more variables in play than if we were making widgets in a factory. Things that we can’t control such as weather, lot size, and traffic. Since we can’t nail down exact numbers, we have to use assumptions that are averages based on how we think we’ll do in a given mowing season. If we get rained out two days one week, we may have to work a few extra days the following week to make up for it. You get the picture.

So let’s talk about a few assumptions:

• A 6-month (26-week) lawn care season from April to September.
• We’ll mow 3 days per week.
• A 40 average price tag per yard.
• Cutting the grass every week of the season. Of course, this varies all across the country, so take this into consideration!
• Your operating expenses and savings for new equipment stays constant at 25% of revenue.

Great! Now let’s use those assumptions to determine how many clients we need:

Step 1: Divide our take-home target of 15,000 by.75 (125 for Operating Expenses) to get the amount of revenue we need to generate. 15,000 /.75 = 20,000 in Gross Revenue needed.

Gross Revenue: In case you’re not familiar with the term, gross revenue isn’t disgusting. It’s simply the money coming in before we’ve paid for all of our expenses. Once we’ve paid for our expenses, the money left over is called Net Revenue. That’s what we take home.

Step 2: Divide our 20,000 Annual Revenue Goal by the 6-month season (26 weeks) to get our Weekly Revenue Goal of 770.

Step 3: Divide 770 by the 3 days we work each week to get our Daily Revenue Goal of 256.

Step 4: Divide 256 by the 40 we charge per yard to get the number of yards we need to mow per day which comes to 6.4.

Step 5: Multiply 6.4 yards a day times 3 days a week, times 1 for weekly service. So, 6.4 x 3 x 1 = 19.2 clients. Let’s round up to 20 clients since I don’t think anyone would want only 20% of their yard mowed.

Let’s check our math. Our net revenue should be slightly higher than 15,000 since we rounded up in a few places.

x.75 (75% is what we take home since 25% is for Operating Expenses/Savings)

= 15,600 (Take-Home Cash or Net Revenue)

Nice job! That wasn’t so hard. We can adjust the numbers based on our goals, equipment needs, and other circumstances that unfold as we run our business. Still, this is a solid starting point.

Since we’re making more than we’re spending, our business is Cash Flow Positive.

I think it’s safe to say that starting a lawn care business is worth it! It costs us less than 1,000 to get started and in less than a month we’ve built a profitable side hustle.

Coming Up With a Brand

In the world of lawn care, word-of-mouth is the best marketing. Not only is it the most common way for a lawn care business to grow, it’s the most preferred way for a lawn care business to grow! If a Client passes our name along to their nextdoor neighbor, we now have two properties next to one another which shortens our time on the road. In an ideal world, all of our Clients would exist in a single neighborhood, effectively eliminating drive time and maximizing Route Density. Of course, that’s not always possible, but we can increase our odds by doing two things:

Route Density: This refers to how close together each client’s property is. The closer they are, the denser the route which means less time in your truck and more money per hour.

We’ll cover the first one in another article. For now, let’s FOCUS on optimizing for referrals by building a shareable brand.

Personal Business Name

Since this is a side hustle and we want to keep the operation small, the most valuable asset we have is your name. YOU are the brand.

You’re the voice on the other end of the line when people call asking for a quote. You’re the one pulling up in front of their house and servicing their property. And, unfortunately, you’re the one they’re yelling at if you break a window. We don’t say that to scare you, we say that to establish the power of your name. Simple. Memorable. Personal.

Starting out? Let’s just go with the name you already know. Your own.

Example: John Smith’s Lawn Care or Smith Lawn Care

Here’s a good 4-step approach to coming up with a name:

Step 1: Create a Name — Write out a list of twenty names. Half of them might be horrible but just getting the ideas down on paper (or in your notes app on your phone) will help the creative juices flow. Here is a fun exercise to get started: pick one item from each list and slap them together. If you’re a risk taker, close your eyes and point to the screen.

Here’s an example for you: let’s say my name was Tim Johnson and I was in Dallas, Texas. I could name my company “Johnson Lawn Care Co.” Wow, that sounds solid. Or if I wanted to keep it short and personal, I could just name it “Tim’s Lawns”.

‍Step 2: Check for Availability — Let’s make sure you’re not going to step on anyone’s toes here. Do a quick Google search of your favorite name to see if anyone is using it. It may be helpful to Google your proposed name with your city’s name behind it to double check. If someone is using it that’s around you or has a trademark on it, go to your next option. It’s not worth getting into a legal battle. If we’re looking to have a social media presence (which we recommend!) it’s good to do a quick check to see if the names we like are available on all of the web and social channels. We’ll use a service like NameCheck.com (it’s free) and search for our business name which will give us a comprehensive overview of the name’s availability.

Step 3: Create a Logo — Once we’ve landed on which name we’re going with, we need to create a logo for the business. Read this article to learn more about how to create a logo that’s memorable, noticeable, and professional. We cover everything from colors to fonts to icons and more. If you’re ready to pay for a professionally designed logo or brand kit, our Brand Services team can take care of you. But if we’re just starting out, there’s no need to drop cash on a high-end logo yet. let’s FOCUS on getting some money in our first.

Step 4: Claim Your Name — A quick win is to set up a new Gmail account so we’re not emailing Clients from that firewizard89@yahoo.com email from high school. Next, we’ll use that new email to sign up for the various social media platforms and create an account with GoDaddy so we can register the.com URL for our website. For now, we won’t worry about those social media accounts or the website. You can read this article if you want more information on creating a social media plan. We just need to make sure we create accounts with each so that no one else can take them.

Commercial Business Name

Down the road, if we decide we want to turn this new side-hustle into a fully-fledged operation with multiple crews, a fleet of trucks, an office manager and a huge book of business, using your own name might not be the best option. You might not be the one picking up the phone, mowing their lawn or handling broken window claims. So providing the business with a commercial brand would be a good choice.

Coming up with a name that isn’t cheesy but IS memorable can be a difficult task. But here are a few things we’ll want to keep in mind:

• Keep it short. Long names are harder to remember.
• Keep it simple. Words that are hard to spell or are purposely misspelled can make it harder for Clients to find us with a quick Google search.
• Keep it unique. Using a generic name like “[Your City] Lawn Care” blends in and doesn’t stick in the mind. This is perhaps the most difficult part of coming up with a name.

Setting Your Pricing

Before we get too deep in the weeds (pun intended) with marketing our business and finding Clients, we need to define our pricing first. While setting pricing might seem straightforward at first glance, it can quickly become complicated.

• The Services we offer.
• The Time it takes to complete them.
• The Quality at which we execute.
• The Size of the lot we’re servicing.
• The Complexity of the lot we’re servicing.

That list can be overwhelming since there are a lot of unknowns such as lot size and complexity. This makes it important for us to have a system for pricing that is more thoughtful and systematic than simply looking at it and pulling a price out of our grass. So we’re going to break this down into smaller portions and tackle it one bite at a time.

Step 1: Determine your services.

Since we’re just getting started, let’s keep it simple and start with the lawn care basics like mowing, blowing, weed eating and edging. Depending on the state, other services may have strict licensing requirements so we need to make sure we know which ones we’re legally allowed to offer. A Google search and a bit of research should answer that question in no time.

Step 2: Understand the market.

Based on the services we’re offering, let’s find some middle of the road prices. We can start by reaching out to neighbors or friends that live nearby to see what their lawn care operator charges them. We’ll take into consideration the size and complexity of their property and what services the operator provides. If we have a friend who cuts grass, they could really help us out here. What we’re trying to do here is get a general idea of the market so we can better position ourselves in it.

Step 3: Determine your hourly rate.

You’ve heard it said that time is money, right? It’s true! Our time is valuable and we need to know it and believe it. Starting off, a good hourly rate is 45-55 per man hour. As with any profession, we’ll be able to raise our hourly rate as we gain experience and can prove the quality of our service. Remember, this may be much higher depending on the cost of living in our city, which is why we included step #2!

When it comes to bidding yards, think about it in terms of how much time it will take to complete. It takes a bit of experience to be able to glance at a property and accurately estimate this, but don’t worry too much. We can always adjust later on or fire a client (no joke!) if we really mess up a bid and they won’t agree to pay more.

Step 4: Determine your minimum.

Setting a minimum helps us make sure that the yard is still worth our time. Let’s say our hourly rate is 50 and we’re bidding a yard that will take 15 minutes. Just because it is a 12.50 yard (50 x.25 hours = 12.50) by our hourly rate doesn’t mean we should charge 12.50! It depends on the city, but our minimum should be between 60-70% of our hourly rate. So, a 50 hourly rate would mean our minimum should be between 30-35. There are a lot of opinions out there, but using 30 as a minimum isn’t a bad starting point.

Step 5: Go get repetitions.

We’re not going to get it right every time, and that’s okay. Repetitions help us dial this skill in so let’s get out there and cut ourselves some slack! Pay attention to the nuances of each yard and learn from others.

• If two yards are the same size, and one of them requires more weed eating, we should charge more for the second yard. Remember, bid by the time it takes to service it, not necessarily the yard size.
• If someone has multiple properties with us, we could give them a discount for their business. Along those same lines, if someone has a larger property, we could offer them a price break since we’re not having to travel to other jobs to work the same number of hours (remember route density?)
• Ask new clients to talk with their neighbors and pay them a referral bonus if they bring in a new client. We may even consider offering a group of neighbors a discount if they all sign up with us. This increases route density a lot!
• We’re not going to be “that guy” that says “any yard for 20”. First of all, it’s not good for business. We’re worth more than that and we simply can’t sustain it. Secondly, it’s not good for the industry. Cutting grass is good, honest, hard work. It takes a tremendous amount of skill to provide quality lawn care service. It’s not cheap or easy work and shouldn’t be painted as such. Okay… we’ll get off the soapbox now.

We wrote about pricing in greater detail in our article, “How to Price Lawn Mowing Jobs,” and also created a powerful pricing chart that you can download for free here.

Getting Your First 10 Clients

It’s time to get down to brass tacks: finding people to give us money.

Who is our target audience?

The first thing we need to do is understand WHO needs our service. There are really only two necessary characteristics:

The best place for us to start is by using our existing network. Social media is an extremely powerful way to get information out there. If you’re not on any social media platforms, just twist your friend’s arm to help you out.

Post on Social Media

A simple post on a few platforms, such as and Instagram, is sure to get us a few clients. Let’s copy the paragraph below and fill in the blanks.

Hey, everyone! I’m starting a lawn care company called [enter the name of your business] and would love the chance to service your property. I’m offering [enter your services] and estimates are completely free! Shoot me a message and we can go from there.

If you’re willing, please share this with anyone you know who you might be interested!

Simple, but effective! You could also use that as a script for a video if you feel comfortable with that.

Using Other Websites

There are a few other great options out there to help us get the word out about our business such as Craigslist and Nextdoor. The Nextdoor app allows people in the same area to talk about relevant topics to their neighborhood. Many people use it to request services such as lawn care. We’ll keep an eye on these.

Identify Target Neighborhoods

Pull up Google Maps and find your house. From there, let’s look in a 5-mile radius for any neighborhoods that you’re familiar with or have contacts in. The closer to your house, the better as that will cut down on drive time and help us make more money per hour.

Where to begin?

Once we’ve found a couple neighborhoods, we’ll start by reaching out to the people you know first. If we can convert that friend to a paying customer, fantastic! That’s one down. If not, we can ask if they would mind introducing us to a neighbor. A simple introduction by a neighbor can be a huge vote of confidence for a homeowner. The more we can inspire trust, the more likely they are to give us their business.

If we don’t know anyone in that neighborhood, that’s okay! We’ll start with a simple door knocking campaign. Face to face conversations are always better than phone calls or emails. It helps homeowners feel more comfortable with the person they’re letting into their backyard.

A couple things to be aware of… some subdivisions prohibit solicitation, which could get us in trouble if we go knocking on doors. It’s just better to avoid these all together. To help people feel comfortable, knock on the door, and step back 5-6 feet. This will show the potential client that we respect them, which is always a good way to start a relationship.

From there, we’ll use a simple script like this:

Hello! My name is [your first name] and I own [your business name]. I was wondering if you would be okay if I gave you a free estimate for lawn care services. Are you interested?

Pro Tip: If you’re going door to door, don’t dress in the torn up, dirty clothes that you’ll be mowing in. Throw on a nice pair of jeans and a clean shirt. You don’t have to dress up in slacks and a button down shirt, but look presentable. People are more likely to answer the door and give their business to someone who looks like they have their act together.

What’s next?

Got your first customer? That’s a huge win! You now have a legitimate, money-making business. As we begin growing our book of business, we’ll want to keep a couple things in mind:

• By now, we’ve talked about route density a lot. In a perfect world, all of your Clients would exist on one street so you can move house to house without ever having to get back in your truck. We can aim for tight route density, but when we’re starting up we shouldn’t be afraid to take jobs that are a little further apart than we may prefer. You can always let a client go in the future.
• Second, an introduction from an existing Client drastically increases your probability of closing other Clients. So don’t be afraid to ASK. Simply ask, “would you mind introducing me to your next door neighbor? I would love to mow their yard as well and it would mean a lot.”

Pro Tip: To further increase your chances of an introduction, explain to your Client that, since you won’t have to pack up and drive, you’ll give both them AND their neighbor 5 off if they’ll be so kind as to introduce you and their neighbor ends up becoming a Client.

Avoiding Common Pitfalls

Alright, we’ve got some Clients! Let’s address some of the common pitfalls that young lawn care operators run into. If we can avoid those, we’ll be off to a great start.

Pitfall 1: Not putting a monetary value on their time.

Let’s say that a yard takes us an hour and a half to service and we make 60. It can be exciting to do some quick math and think, “wow, I’m making 40 an hour!” While we may have worked on the property for an hour and a half, we haven’t taken into account all of the time it takes to run the rest of the business.

• Scheduling all of the jobs out on a calendar.
• Rescheduling them because of rain.
• Communicating with the Clients about when you’ll be coming out.
• Loading up the trailer.
• Filling up the gas tank in the truck and all the equipment.
• Creating an invoice for each job.
• Sending those invoices to your Clients.
• Collecting payments.
• Logging those payments and the receipts for gas in Quickbooks.
• Etc.

When we begin adding up all of the time it takes us to run the business and divide the amount we made by the number of hours we spent, we’re no longer running a 40/hr business. That’s not to say we aren’t still making good money! It just might be less than we expected.

The solution is fairly straightforward: maximize our efficiency and streamline as many administrative tasks as possible so we make more per hour. We’ll get into this more in a bit.

Pitfall 2: Not collecting basic Client information.

You might be surprised how many lawn care professionals don’t even know the last name of their Clients. Or their email address. Or even the address of the house they’re servicing! They’re simply showing up at “Sam’s neighbor’s house by the 7eleven.”

• If we don’t have an address, we can’t effectively manage your routes.
• If we don’t have an email address, we can’t send an official invoice or receipt.
• If we don’t have a phone number, we can’t communicate with the Client.
• If we don’t have a service frequency, we can’t effectively schedule jobs.
• If we don’t have a price, we might invoice them for the wrong amount.

And as we start to grow the business, we can’t simply hold this information in our heads. We need a system to efficiently collect and store our business information.

We should have the following information on file for every single Client:

• First and Last Name
• Phone Number
• Email Address
• Property Address
• Special Instructions
• Service Frequency
• Services
• Price

Pitfall 3: Not treating lawn care as a legitimate business.

A lawn care business is still a legitimate business and there are some simple things we can do to spruce up our professional image and help make it easy for folks to recommend us to others.

We’ve heard story after story of lawn care providers simply not showing up when they said they were going to. Some just disappeared, never to be heard from again. We can’t afford to be those guys. In lawn care, your reputation is everything and being seen as a quality lawn care business is 80% about just showing up and doing the job you were hired to do.

Second, we can communicate clearly and often.

We can let them know when we’re on our way, when we’ve arrived, when we’ve finished the job, when we’ve sent an invoice and when we’ve received payment.

Third, we can leave a paper trail.

We can regularly send invoices for the jobs we perform and send receipts when payments are made so there’s a paper trail of how much is owed and how much has been paid.

All of these things are common courtesies that help our Clients trust us and feel confident recommending us to their friends.

Managing Your Clients and Jobs

Now that we’ve got a handful of Clients, we need to work on putting basic systems in place to run our business well. In order to maximize our efficiency, we’ll want to automate as much as possible.

We can use an app like Check which automates a number of time consuming tasks, completely eliminating those things from our to-do list.

• Automatically sending invoices at the completion of a job.
• Automatically scheduling jobs on a regular cadence (eg. every week).
• Automatically generating the shortest route for the day.
• Automatically calculating each Client’s balance based on invoice and payment activity.

It also makes other tasks much easier, such as:

• Logging Client payments (and how they paid).
• Capturing and storing critical Client information.
• Rescheduling or canceling jobs due to weather or equipment malfunction.
• Keeping track of job details and special Client requests.

By eliminating or reducing the amount of time it takes to manage the admin part of the business, it frees us up to take on more Clients and thus, earn more money with less of a headache. If you have a few Clients already, getting started should take less than 15 minutes.

Step 1: Sign Up For an Account

We just have to add some basic information like name, phone number, email address and services. It should only take a minute.

Step 2: Download the Mobile App

Download the mobile app for free from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store and log in with your new account.

Step 3: Import Your Clients

Check allows you to import Clients from your contacts on your phone so if you’ve added their name, phone number, email and address into your contacts, adding them to Check is as simple as importing them. If their information is in your notes app on your phone or written down on paper somewhere, it’s still easy to do but estimate it taking about 20-30 seconds per Client to fill out their information.

Step 4: Set up Recurring Jobs

Now that our Clients are in Check, we can add Recurring Jobs to each Property. If a Client has more than one Property, we can add both Properties in their profile first. Then, simply go to each Client’s profile, and add a Recurring Job for each set of services that need to be scheduled on different cadences. For example:

Now that we’re set up with Check, we can spend a lot more of our time focusing on the work itself and less time thinking about the pile of invoices we have to create when we get home this evening.

Wrapping it Up

We certainly hope that this guide has been helpful and we wish you the best of luck with your lawn care journey! If you have questions that we didn’t adequately answer in this guide, please reach out to us at support@hellocheck.co. We’d love to chat with you and make sure that we answer all of your questions.

And, as always, if you have any ideas or suggestions about how we can improve Check, please let us know! We want to build the best product for YOU.

How to Start a Lawn Care Business that Makes a 100,000 Profit per Year

According to IBIS World there are 615,000 lawncare and landscaping companies in the US alone. The industry ranges from middle schoolers with a push lawnmower picking up accounts in their neighborhood, to large and sophisticated commercial companies with thousands of accounts and employees.

In this article I want to outline how to start a lawn care business that will actually generate a profit.

The common steps to start a lawn care business include:

• Determine whether you plan to target residential or commercial customers
• Calculate the cost to acquire the necessary equipment to startup
• Set your based on customer research
• Develop a plan to acquire customers
• Create financial projections for your lawn care business to determine your breakeven
• Ensure that your projections show that you can generate a profit
• Secure startup funding from investors, lenders or personal savings
• Launch your business

How much does it cost to start a lawn care business?

The first question is whether you are looking to start a low cost, residential lawn care business where your startup costs can be quite low, or do you want to start a commercial lawn care business? We have done some research on the startup costs for both.

Residential Lawn Care Business Startup Costs

The average cost to start a residential lawn care business is 6,900.

Based on 3 different sources (LawnLove, lawnmowing101, yourgreenpal) you can expect the following startup costs for your residential lawn care startup:

• Minimum startup cost for a residential lawn care business = 500
• Maximum startup cost for a residential lawn care startup = 15,000
• Average startup costs for a residential lawn business = 6,900

Commercial Lawn Care Business Startup Costs

The average cost to start a commercial lawn care business is 75,000.

Based on 3 different sources (taskeasy.com,nerdwallet.com,krain.com) you can expect the following startup costs for your commercial lawn care startup:

• Minimum startup cost for a commercial lawn care startup = 15,000
• Maximum startup cost for a commercial lawn mowing business = 250,000
• Average startup costs for a commercial lawn business = 75,000

The majority of startup costs for a lawn care business will fall into 4 categories:

• Lawnmowers
• Trucks Trailers
• Small equipment (weed whackers, leaf blowers, fertilizer spreaders, etc)
• Working capital (advertising, fuel, salaries, rent, utilities, etc)

In this video I will show you how to enter your startup costs and lawn care business expenses into our lawn care financial projection template.

Target gross profit based pricing

Another approach is to aim for a specific gross profit margin. For example, Turf Books estimates that the average gross profit margin for a lawn care business is 50 to 55%. So in order to quote a price to a customer that would earn a 50% profit margin, you need to know:

• How long will it take to provide the service including cutting and cleanup
• How much will you pay in labor cost to your employees
• How much fuel will you need to use

If we have a 1 acre plot and we estimate that it will take two employees 1 hour to complete the job and you pay the employees an all in cost of 15 per hour and you estimate 5 of fuel cost for the job, your total variable cost is 35. In order to earn a 50% margin you need to multiply your variable cost by 2 in order to come up with a price quote for the customer. In this example that would be 70.

How many times does a yard need to be mowed per year?

The average yard will need to be mowed once per week to every other week during mowing season.

Once you determine what you should charge a customer per mowing service, you need to estimate how many times the customer will need their lawn mowed per year. A simple Google search with a nearby large city should yield some results. There could be a significant difference between a lawn in Texas and a lawn in northern Michigan. For example, I searched for how many times a lawn should be mowed in Texas and found a range of once per week to once per every other week.

Lawn care business revenue potential

Once you have done this work and research you should be able to estimate your potential revenue by taking your # of customers X # of mowing service calls per year X amount per mow.

A one person lawn mowing business might be able to earn approximately 75,000 during an 8 month mowing season based on the following assumptions.

• 8 lawns mowed per day
• 6 days per week
• 50 average price
• 4 weeks per month
• 8 month mowing season
• = 76,800 in annual revenue.

According to Lawnmowing101 a person could cut up to 12 yards per day. If we took the same equation, but assumed 12 yards instead of 8 the projected revenue would be 115,000.

A 75,000 annual business might be a great start, but probably isn’t a long term sustainable business which is why most lawn care businesses are going to grow beyond just one person and a lawnmower.

So, let’s look at some industry averages in terms of revenue.

Lawn Care landscaping Business Annual Revenue

The average revenue for a lawn care business is 297,000 per year.

Based on 3 different sources (lawncrack.com, greenindustrypros, Landscape professionals.org) you can expect the following annual revenue for your residential lawn care startup:

• Minimum revenue for a lawn and landscaping business = 50,000
• Maximum revenue for a lawn and landscaping startup = 1.1M
• Average revenue for a lawn and landscaping business = 297,000

How to Get your First 100 Lawn Care Customers

Getting the first 100 customers for your lawn care business will probably be the hardest customers to acquire. In order to get 100 lawn care customers you need to get the word out about your services. Consider taking out ads in local newspapers or on local radio or television stations. Make sure to list the services you offer, your rates, and any special deals or discounts you may have available. Take advantage of social media, utilizing sites such as and Instagram to advertise your business. Create a website, complete with a frequently updated blog, that specifically highlights the services you offer. Another option is to approach business owners and locally-owned establishments to ask if they would be interested in having their lawns serviced.

You can also offer incentive programs to current customers as a way to get more lawn care customers. Consider providing discounts to customers that refer you to friends and family, or discounts when they book multiple services. Word of mouth can be one of the most powerful tools in your process of getting 100 lawn care customers. Have customer brochures available and make sure to follow up with those you’ve provided services for. Additionally, customer loyalty rewards are a great way to show appreciation and develop strong relationships with existing and potential customers. By implementing these strategies, you should be well on your way to increasing your customer base and reaching your goal of your first 100 customers.

What are common expenses for a lawn care business?

Your operating expenses for your lawn care business will be split into variable expenses and fixed expenses. Variable expenses are expenses that increase or decrease with the amount of lawns you are mowing; whereas, fixed expenses are going to be the same whether you mow 1 lawn or 50 lawns. Here are some of the most common expenses.

Variable expenses for a lawn care business

• Fuel expense for your equipment
• Fuel expense for your trucks
• Credit card processing fees
• Vehicle and equipment maintenance
• Fertilizer or other materials used on lawns
• Hourly Labor

Fixed expenses for a lawn care business

• Accounting services
• Insurance
• Advertising
• Supplies
• Salaried employees
• Equipment rental
• Building rent

How much profit can a lawn care business generate?

The average lawn care business can generate 41,580 in profit annually.

We calculated this by taking the average annual revenue of a lawn care business of 297,000 x the average profit margin for a lawn care business of 14% to come up with 41,580.

Clearly the amount of profit that you can generate in a lawn care business can vary dramatically depending on your size, equipment, customer base, etc. Some industry ranges can be found below.

Lawn Care Landscape Business Profit Margin

The average profit margin for a lawn care business is 14%.

Based on 3 different sources ( Lawn Care Millionaire, lawnandlandscape.com, lawnsite.com) you can expect the following startup costs for your residential lawn care startup:

• Minimum profit margin for a lawn and landscaping business = 3-5%
• Maximum profit margin for a lawn and landscaping startup = 25%
• Average profit margin for a lawn and landscaping business = 14%

Now that we have filled out our template with startup costs, projected revenue, and operating expenses I will show you in this video how to calculate your projected profit for your startup lawn care business.

Hopefully you now have all of the information you need to be able to create a financial forecast for your own lawn care business. Make sure to use our lawn care financial model to create your projections and let me know if you have any questions as you progress. Best of luck!

Banner Image: Photo by Magic K from PexelsCorner image: Photo by Lisa from Pexels

I STARTED a Lawn Care Business with 1200��

Lawn Mowing

Our crews will arrive and quickly get to work with mowing, edging, trimming, and blowing your property free of clippings and debris.

Crew members are highly-trained in the proper operation of all equipment to consistently give you the best results possible. Our team will leave your property with all hard surfaces free of clippings and leaves and all gates closed and locked (when applicable).

This is how we do it:

While on a YardVarks Maintenance Program, your property will be assigned a designated day for service. Crews are trained for proper mowing heights for:

Bermuda Zoisia Fescue We adjust mowing patterns as appropriate.

Safety First.

YardVarks LLC maintains both liability and worker’s compensation insurance. While many of today’s small lawn care operators fail to carry insurance in order to offer a better price, you can be left paying the cost for a broken window on your house or car, or damage to your mailbox, paint, electrical lines, etc.

While YardVarks strives to avoid damage to any property, you can rest assured you will never be left paying for any damage.

A Cut Above.

While many companies out there can just cut the grass, YardVarks goes above and beyond to offer you the very best in Lawn Landscape Maintenance.

Beginning with your request for an estimate and continuing through every service, you’ll always work with professionals who are passionate about giving you great results week in and week out.

Come see why YardVarks has the best reputation in Tulsa!

Lewis Center, Ohio Lawn Care Maintenance Services

We will help you get the healthy and beautiful lawn of your dreams with our lawn care and maintenance services.

We offer lawn care and maintenance services to commercial, residential, and HOA properties in Lewis Center, OH.

Our services include lawn fertilization, weed control, lawn mowing, and more!

Lewis Center, OH, is an unincorporated community in Delaware County and is home to more than 30,000 people. For many locals, a great way to spend the day is by going to Alum Creek State Park Beach. This 3,000-foot beach is the largest inland beach in Ohio’s state park system and is perfect for people who want to go camping, swimming, boating, picnicking, fishing, or biking!

Our team at Hoffmans Lawn Fertilization proudly offers lawn care and maintenance services to commercial, residential, and HOA properties in Lewis Center, OH. From lawn fertilization and weed control treatments to lawn mowing, you can rely on us to enhance your lawn’s health and aesthetics.

Maintain your lawn’s tip-top condition year-round with our lawn care and maintenance services.

If you want to keep your lawn in Lewis Center, OH, in excellent health all year long, we can help! We provide reliable lawn care and maintenance services that will ensure your grass has everything it needs to thrive.

• Lawn Fertilization: Our 6-step program runs from March to November and utilizes granular fertilizers that provide a consistent supply of nutrients to your lawn!
• Weed Control: We use pre- and post-emergent weed control treatments to eliminate pesky weeds stealing nutrients from your grass.
• Lawn Aeration: We offer core aeration in the fall to loosen compacted soil and ensure nutrients can easily reach the roots of your grass.
• Overseeding: Our team will spread grass seeds on your lawn to bring in new grass. We also offer a soil enhancement treatment to help the seeds grow and flourish!
• Lawn Insect Control: We will treat your grass 4 times throughout the year to target damage-causing lawn pests like chinch bugs, ants, fleas, armyworms, and more.
• Lawn Disease Control: Our crew provides preventative and curative treatments against common lawn diseases in Lewis Center, like rust, red thread, and dollar spot.
• Lawn Renovation: This service involves tearing up bad spots on your lawn, tilling the soil, adding a seed mix, and applying lawn fertilizers to improve your turf’s appearance.
• Tree Shrub Disease Insect Control: We use preventative and curative treatments to protect your trees and shrubs from problematic diseases and insects.
• Lawn Mowing: Our lawn mowing service includes string-trimming, edging, and blowing to maintain your lawn’s manicured appearance.
• Trimming Pruning: We will trim and prune your plants regularly to help them remain healthy and beautiful during the year.
• Mulch Rock Installation: This service will give your landscape beds a nice finishing touch and protect your plants from extreme temperatures.
• Leaf Removal: You can schedule this service weekly or whenever you need it; rest assured that we will thoroughly eliminate the leaves in your yard to keep it clean!
• Yard Cleanups: We offer this service in the spring and fall and include trimming, weeding, landscape bed edging, mulching, and more.
• Bush Hogging: If your lawn is filled with overgrown grass and weeds, our bush hogging service will restore its tidy appearance!
• Landscape Bed Weed Control: We remove weeds either by spraying them with weed control treatments or hand-pulling them to keep your landscape beds looking good.

If you own a business in Lewis Center, OH, you can take advantage of our commercial snow removal service.

We provide pest control services to protect your property from creepy crawlers.

Whether you own a home or business in Lewis Center, OH, it should be free from pesky creepy crawlers! With our pest control services, you can rest easy knowing your property is thoroughly protected from pests.

• Perimeter Pest Control: We’ll apply our treatments to your building’s foundation, entryway, and any cracks or crevices to stop pests from entering your home or business.
• Flea Tick Control: Our team uses top-quality treatments to eliminate fleas and ticks from your property.
• Chigger Control: This service involves applying our treatments to different areas on your property to effectively get rid of chiggers.
• Mosquito Control: Our mosquito control service involves treating various areas in your yard to keep your property in Lewis Center mosquito-free.

Give us a call today to sign up for our lawn care and maintenance services.

If you want your lawn to look its best throughout the year, we have you covered. Our team at Hoffmans Lawn Fertilization offers professional lawn care and maintenance services to commercial, residential, and HOA properties in Lewis Center, OH. Give us a call today at (740) 318-5296 to sign up for our service.

We guarantee you will be absolutely thrilled with our Lawn Care Services. If there is ever an issue or you have any dissatisfaction with our work, we will be there to fix it and make it right. You can count on Hoffman’s Lawn Fertilization. We stand behind 100% of our work. Every time. Nothing is more important to us than your complete and total satisfaction.

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Starting a Lawn Care Business: Equipment Needed

We all know the kid who spent his or her summers going from neighbor to neighbor with a push mower and rake to make some extra cash. This scenario is surprisingly not too far from the reality for many people starting out as a lawn care professional.

Although you don’t need to begin with expensive and advanced tools, you’ll need to adapt to the increase of jobs and new services you’ll offer as you start a lawn care business.

From the right mower to a quality laptop, in this article, we’ll break down the equipment you’ll need to manage your business, different tools for different jobs you might encounter, and the importance of caring for them properly.

It may seem like you need a wealth of expensive tools to operate your lawn care business, but in reality, a push mower and rake are all you need to begin.

As you gain more clients and expand your services, you can begin reinvesting that money into more equipment, including:

Equipment Needed for Lawn Care and Landscaping

The type of tool you need to start a lawn care business depends on your budget and the services you offer. When you first start out, a push mower and weed eater can keep your neighbor’s lawn green and healthy, but what if they need aeration or want to add new mulch?

As you gain a more extensive customer base or take on different jobs like hedge or tree trimming, the tools you need will change.

Some of the equipment you need as you start on your lawn care journey include:

• Leaf Blower
• Edger
• Weed Eater
• String Trimmer
• Hedge Trimmer
• Snow Shovel
• Rake
• Bags for Leaves
• Leaf Blower
• Aerator
• Spade
• Hand Pruner
• Spreader
• Lawn Mower
• Oil for Gas Engines
• Garden Hose
• Fertilizer Sprayers
• Mulcher
• Diggers
• Markers
• Measuring Line
• Storage Space

Some lawn care companies also decide to offer winter maintenance services as their business grows to keep the money flowing in the lawn care off-season. Common winter services offered by lawn care companies include snow removal, pressure washing, tree pruning, and holiday light installation. You’ll need different equipment for each of these jobs, as well.

With the amount of equipment listed here, you may be thinking, ”I’m going to need a bigger shed.”

Thankfully, you don’t need to get all of these tools right away, and you can take your time learning how each tool works and what style works best for you.

Check out our pricing guides on all types of lawn care equipment like leaf blowers or mowers, so you can make the best decision on what equipment you need without breaking the bank.

Pro Tip: Always make sure your mower blades are sharp, check the oil in your gas engines before starting, and store your equipment securely when it’s not in use.

Care and Maintenance of Your Equipment

The equipment listed in this article needs to be cared for to avoid damage to yourself, your customers, or the yard you’re working in. For example, you don’t want a string trimmer’s faulty line to whip a blade of grass into your eye.

Lawn mowers, string trimmers, edgers, leaf blowers, and other lawn care equipment needs to be maintained properly, and that includes winterizing your lawn mower.

Caring for your equipment also means cleaning underneath your mowers and stinger trimmers at the end of a job or making sure your mower batteries are charged and your mower blades are sharp.

Truck and Trailer

Having reliable transportation is essential to any successful lawn care business, and you’ve probably seen the classic white lawn care van or the nice truck with detailing on the side and a mower in the bed.

From getting to each appointment on time to storing equipment, having a truck with a large bed or a trailer for all your tools can make your job much easier.

Note that if you’re hauling your lawn care equipment in a trailer you’ll use more fuel and have trouble squeezing into tight driveways.

Pro Tip: Check GasBuddy for the lowest gas in your area and hit that station on the way to or from a job.

Safety Gear

Having safety equipment in your truck, van, or trailer is just as essential for every lawn care professional as measuring tape and a hammer. From thick gloves to shielf your hands from poison ivy to sunscreen to avoid a classic farmer’s tan, you should be as protected as possible while mowing, trimming, and edging a yard.

Some examples of safety equipment you should have on hand include:

• Goggles
• Gloves
• Ear Protection
• Face Masks
• First Aid Kit (Check our guide detailing what you should include in your Lawn Care First Aid Kit)
• Boots
• Sunscreen

Lawn Care Software and Laptop

Lawn care is a business, so you’ll need more than the tools of the trade to get started. You’ll need to make some technological investments as well.

Some tools that can keep your business organized and running smoothly include:

• Laptop
• Lawn Care Software (check out our comparison/review of your 10 Best Lawn Care Software options)
• Accounting Software (if that’s not included in your lawn care software suite)
• Printer
• Business Cards
• LawnStarter Pro App

Why do you need a printer, lawn care software, and a laptop? You can print flyers promoting your business. lawn care software is essential to make sure you don’t have issues around tax season, and a good laptop can help you do it all.

How LawnStarter Can Help: The LawnStarter Pro App uses geographical information to show mowing, weeding, and other outdoor jobs near you, so you can build your customer base faster within your community and grow your business more quickly.

What’s Next to Start Your Lawn Care Business

Having the right lawn care tools doesn’t mean you’ll make six figures with your business. Far from it starting out Check out our articles on the Pros and Cons of Starting a Lawn Care Business, How to Stand Out as a Lawn Care Business, and How to Start a Lawn Care Business to help get a better picture of what you need to be successful.

How Much Do Lawn Mowing Business Make

LawnStarter can help take some of the stress of running a lawn care business. Check out our lawn care pro FAQ and some testimonies from current pros to see if we’re the right fit for you.

Leanna Doolittle

Leanna Doolittle is a freelance writer and photographer with a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Florida-Saint Petersburg. She enjoys spending time with her cat Oscar and tending to her many indoor plants and succulents.

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