Embarking on the journey of establishing your own landscaping business can be very exciting. With that said, building a successful business takes a lot of work. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The first thing you need to figure out is the type of landscaping business you want.
The 2 Types of Landscaping Businesses You Can Start
For the most part, all landscaping businesses will offer the same types of services. What sets landscaping businesses apart is the type of customers they serve: residential or commercial.
1. Residential Landscaping Business
If you’re considering starting a residential landscaping business, you’ll be focused on working with individual homeowners. By providing services such as lawn care, garden design, and tree maintenance, you can help clients create beautiful outdoor spaces perfect for relaxation.
Building strong relationships with your customers is essential in this sector. Word-of-mouth recommendations can significantly increase your client base. Essentially, a successful residential landscaping business is creative and opts to improve the home’s overall value.
2. Commercial Landscaping Business
On the other hand, if you decide to start a commercial landscaping business, your primary focus will be on maintaining and improving the outdoor areas of businesses or commercial properties. Given that your clients have large budgets, it’s crucial to deliver high-quality work consistently.
To thrive in the commercial landscaping market, ensure you have the necessary equipment and skills to handle more extensive projects while maintaining top-notch customer relations. You should also utilize tools like Joist’s landscaping app for easy estimating and invoicing.
What Services Do Landscaping Businesses Offer?
When you start a landscaping business, you have the option to offer a wide variety of services. In some cases, it pays to specialize in one area, but most businesses offer multiple types of services. These range from complex to simple, but all of them improve the landscape.
Here are 15 services you could offer in your business:
- Lawn Bed Maintenance: Wedding, planting flowers, and applying fertilizer
- Spring Maintenance: Preparing gardens for the warm summer months
- Dethatching: Removing lawns of dead grass or materials from lawns and trees
- Trimming: Cutting overgrown hedges, bushes, or trees to promote plant health
- Yard Cleanup: Removing leaves and weeds, cleaning gutters, and general cleanup
- Hedging: Shaping bushes and shrubs into appealing designs and maintaining them
- Lawn Protect Services: Lawn-based pest control or pre-emergent weed killers
- Irrigation Startup or Shutdown Services: Setting up or taking down sprinklers
- Pruning: Maintaining plants and fruit trees to reduce the spread of disease
- Mulching: Adding wood chips to help the soil maintain its moisture
- Lawn Mowing Services: Ensure that grass maintains its neat appearance
- Lawn Aeration Services: Helping air or water reach plant roots easier
- Hardscaping Lawn Care Services: Installing patios, walkways, or retaining walls
- Landscape Design Services: Designing a drawn/digital landscape for the clients
- Landscape Softscaping Services: Focuses on living elements of the landscape
Both residential and commercial landscaping businesses can offer these services, but the frequency and complexity of the service will change based on the customer. For example, a business may require more hedging, whereas an individual would get more use out of trimming.
7 Tips on How to Build a Landscaping Business
Now that you have the knowledge you need to start building your landscaping business, you can use our tips to create a company that’s attractive to prospective customers and clients.
1. Market Research
Before launching your landscaping business, invest time in researching your local market. Identify the competition, potential clients, and any service gaps that you could fill, ensuring demand for your offerings. It could also reveal whether or not your business is needed.
2. Develop a Business Plan
A solid business plan is essential for outlining goals, target clients, budgets, and other vital elements of your new venture. This document will help guide your decision-making process as you grow your company. Not only that, but you’ll need it to pursue bank-based lending options.
3. Obtain Necessary Permits or Licenses
Ensure you have all required permits or licenses for operating a landscaping business in your area. Check with local authorities, as regulations can vary from location to location. With this due diligence, you’ll ensure that your operation is legal, which builds customer trust.
4. Acquire Equipment and Materials
Getting started means investing in essential tools such as lawnmowers, trimmers, blowers, and more. Don’t forget to acquire wholesale supplier contacts for materials like plants and mulch to garner cost efficiency without sacrificing quality. Consider renting your equipment if necessary.
5. Create Marketing Strategies
Develop an effective marketing strategy consisting of tactics like social media presence management, traditional advertising, and networking events attendance. You’ll want to get the word out about your business, especially when you’re new and dying for repeat customers.
6. Establish a Pricing Structure
Create competitive but profitable pricing structures for services offered, but make use to take overhead costs into account. Charging hourly or by projects allows for flexibility and helps you adapt to varying client needs. Make sure to add all inclusions on your invoices as you go.
7. Hire Quality Employees
As the business expands, consider hiring employees who bring complementary skill sets to increase efficiency, allowing for simultaneous project completion. Also, don’t forget to fully stock your customer service department. You’ll need these professionals to handle complaints.
In Conclusion
Now that you have gained valuable insights into different types of landscaping businesses and services to offer, it’s time to put these ideas into action. With hard work, dedication, and skillful execution of proper strategies, you can cultivate a flourishing landscaping business.
