How to Start a Lawn Care Business

Thinking of starting a mowing business or another type of lawn care venture? This is a great field to get into since you can get started with minimal barriers to entry.

In fact, the steps to starting your own lawn care business are pretty straightforward. Below, we walk you through them one by one so you know exactly what you need to do to get your lawn care business off the ground.

10 Simple Steps to Starting a Lawn Mowing Business

1. Conduct market analysis and decide what to offer.

Your first step should be to analyze the lawn care market in your area to identify potential clients and what services they need.

If possible, you should look for gaps in what other lawn care businesses are offering. What needs are going unaddressed? What vacuums are waiting to be filled?

Once you identify real market demand, you will know what you should focus on in terms of your services and marketing. You can then build your business around meeting that demand.

2. Come up with a lawn care business plan.

Next, you need to lay the foundations for a successful business by creating a lawn care business plan. This process will help you get organized and anticipate obstacles and pitfalls. A business plan for lawn care startups should include:

• An executive summary and business overview, including a lawn care business description.
• A list of the services you intend to offer.
• Your market analysis.
• Your budget.
• Your pricing.
• An analysis of what your competitors are doing.
• Marketing strategies.
• Whether you will hire employees, and at what rates of pay.
• Anything else you feel is important in helping you plan your new lawn care business.

If you are applying for financing (see below), make sure you also include a cover letter and table of contents when you put together your business plan. You want to make it as easy as possible for potential lenders to understand what you are building.

3. Raise capital.

Next, you will need to find a source of funding for your equipment, marketing, licensing fees, and any other startup costs.

Hopefully, you already have the money you need to finance your business yourself. But if you do not, you could apply for a personal loan or an SBA-backed loan.

You might have other options as well, depending on your situation. If you own sufficient home equity, for example, you could borrow against it. If you have a supportive family, they might be willing to lend you some of the funds or even donate them outright. The only way to find out is to ask.

If you are having a difficult time with this step, you could always try to start small and build your way up. For example, you could just do lawn mowing in the beginning, and as you make money from your business, you could use it to purchase new equipment and start expanding your services.

4. Register your business and apply for licenses and permits.

Now it is time to register your business with the government and apply for any necessary licenses and permits.

With a lawn care business, this paperwork tends to be pretty minimal. You will need to first apply for a business license. Depending on the types of services you will be performing, you might next need to apply for permits. These are commonly required, for example, if you will be working with herbicides and pesticides.

This is also the time for you to decide on a structure for your business. Different types of business structures include sole proprietorships, partnerships, corporations, S corporations, and limited liability companies (LLCs).

Sole proprietorships are a common default for small business owners, but as a lawn care professional, you should consider forming an LLC.

Why? Well, from a taxation standpoint, operating as an LLC with a small business is no different from operating a sole proprietorship. But there is a massive difference when it comes to liabilities.

If you operate as a sole proprietorship, you and only you are solely responsible for any and all liabilities your business might incur. From a legal standpoint, you and your lawn care company are synonymous.

That means that anything your insurance does not cover, you personally will have to cover. You are on the line for all of it.

But an LLC is a limited liability company. If you form an LLC, you and your business are separate entities. That does not mean you may not sometimes find yourself personally liable for certain things, but it does make it less likely in general that a lien will be put on your personal assets to repay business debts and liabilities.

To avoid personal liability, you need to make sure you are not acting as if your LLC is a sole proprietorship. A lawyer can advise you as to how to conduct your business to minimize your personal liability while operating as an LLC.

With some types of businesses, operating as a sole proprietorship is no big deal, since liabilities are unlikely.

But in lawn care, there is a lot that can go wrong. A tree you are cutting down could injure someone or cause property damage. A pesticide or herbicide you use apply result in problems with a garden’s ecological balance. You could accidentally let the owner’s pet out of the yard, etc. 

Given all the things you could be liable for, it makes sense to give yourself as much protection as possible. So, an LLC may be worth it.

5. Buy your equipment.

Now you are finally ready to start buying equipment for your business. The exact equipment, tools and supplies you need will depend on your specific services. Some examples might include:

• A mower
• An edger
• A leaf blower
• Trimmers
• A spreader
• A sprayer
• Pesticides or other chemicals
• Bags for collecting leaves and debris
• Gloves
• Shears and other hand tools
• Safety equipment

Again, there is nothing wrong with starting small and acquiring more equipment and offering more services as your budget permits. You do not necessarily need to get everything you need all at once.

6. Purchase insurance.

Next, you are going to need to apply for lawn care insurance. At a minimum, this should include general liability insurance. But you might also want to apply for other types of policies such as commercial property insurance, contractor’s tools and equipment insurance, professional liability insurance, commercial auto insurance, business interruption insurance, and (if applicable) workers’ compensation.

On our site, you can discover a lot more information about the different types of lawn care insurance and how you can save money on your policies while still getting great protection for your lawn care business.

7. Start marketing and offering your services.

You now have everything you need to start performing services. But, to do any work, you will need to find clients.

This is often the hardest part of starting any new business (or keeping an established one going, for that matter).

A good way to start is to make a website or social media page for your business, and then get your business listed on Google Maps. Be sure to claim your listing.

Social media groups may allow you further promotional opportunities; just make sure you are allowed to promote on any local groups you join before you do so.

In terms of other forms of local advertising in your community, you could attend local events, host workshops, and advertise on your vehicle.

You also may want to think about where your customers are shopping. If they are trying to do something with their lawn on their own, they might drop by a local hardware store or plant nursery, for example. See if you can drop off business cards there for staff to hand out to customers who might want professional help with their lawn care.

If you can, try and get on a regular schedule with some of your customers for ongoing lawn care. Doing so can help you break free of the “feast or famine” scenario that often goes with self employment.

8. Hire employees if you need them.

Depending on the scale of your prospective business, you might also need to think at this stage about bringing other people onboard.

Hiring employees will allow you to serve a larger geographical area in a shorter amount of time, bringing in more revenue and potentially spreading your name more rapidly throughout the broader community as well.

Of course, employees also bring complications. You need to make sure that you are hiring trustworthy, experienced staff who will be able to carry out their jobs efficiently while minimizing risks to your business. It is also a legal requirement that you purchase workers’ compensation for all staff.

If hiring employees seems like too much to deal with as you are just getting your business going, you could always come back to it later. Just start up doing your own lawn care work, and begin hiring when you feel ready (or not at all, if you want to keep things small).

9. Figure out your accounting and taxes.

One more step you should take early on when starting a lawn care business is coming up with systems and strategies for managing your money.

You should either work with an accountant or do your own accounting on a regular basis so you fully understand the money flowing in and out of your business. That way, you will be able to identify areas where you can cut costs.

Additionally, you should start thinking about taxes immediately. Look up how taxes work for the business structure you have chosen, and do not forget to pay your estimated taxes. Doing so from the start will help you to avoid underpayment penalties.

You should also learn about self-employment taxes, the tax impacts of earning income unevenly throughout the year, and other tax issues specific to small businesses.

10. Continue to assess and adjust to seize new opportunities.

In the weeks, months, and years after you launch your lawn care business, you should regularly evaluate your progress. Are you meeting your goals or falling short? If you are meeting your goals, are you ready to aim for higher ones?

Along with looking for ways to better meet your budget, you should try to refine your hiring strategies, marketing techniques, and the methods you use for lawn care itself. That way, you can continue to boost revenue, increase customer satisfaction and grow your business.

Need Help Forming an LLC for Your Lawn Care Business?

Now you know the basics of how to start a lawn care business, including how to draft a business plan, structure your company, and find your first customers.

Creating an LLC is simpler than creating a corporation, but does involve more legwork than creating a sole proprietorship. Need help forming an LLC for lawn care? Click below to quickly start your LLC with a fast and easy online process.