How to start a Landscaping business?
Call it a real estate market boom or a growing love for gardens and beautiful front yards; the landscaping industry is thriving.
Landscaping is a broader term that involves many tasks. For example – weeding, mowing, treating, and doing lawn maintenance, etc. Whether you have a love for beautiful-looking yards or you love to do gardening work, the Landscaping business is definitely a good choice. It is a growing industry with a growing level of profitability.
If you have a fair amount of skills in landscaping, consider this step-by-step guide to start your landscaping business.
Ideate: Landscaping Business Planning
Before you start your landscaping, consider these questions and find their answers. The economics of starting –
1. Why? Event Planning Market Assessment
You can simply think of doing a lawn care business. But, if you are an expert, you must know how different landscaping is from lawn care. You won’t only be gardening. As a landscaper, you have to take care of weeding, lawn mowing, fertilizing plants, pruning, installing patios, and more.
This is more like a job for someone expert at designing the outdoors of a house. Fencing and courting are also the responsibilities of a landscaper. Landscapers are skilled professionals who make gardens, front yards, and backyards clear and pretty.
Now, the question is – “why should you start a landscaping business?” If you want to start a landscaping business, it’s most important to know why you are entering the market. Do research on the industry, the market, and your audience to identify market gaps.
If your locality lacks a certain type of landscaping service like lawn-mowing, you can make that your reason to start a landscaping business. Your business expenditure will be based on the landscape services you prioritize and the market gap you are trying to fill in.
2. What? Value of Your Landscaping Services
Once you know your purpose to enter the landscaping industry in your locality, you should start focusing on the services you will provide. It’s best to clarify niches under your landscaping business to communicate what you offer to your climate.
Here are some common examples of services you can provide in your landscaping business –
Landscaping architecture – As a landscape architect, you will work on features like walls, gardens, and driveways.
Lawn Care & Maintenance – Mowing, trimming, watering, and pruning are some common responsibilities in the lawn care business. You can work as a lawn care expert and provide services to customers who need only these services.
Sod & Lawn installation – this is the job of the heavy lifters. Lawn installation also demands higher pay because it includes maintenance costs as well.
As you start your landscaping business, it’s critical to identify the services you will provide, which, in turn, will shape the kind of business you are working on.
3. Who? Target Customer Research
It’s important to learn who your target customers are if you want to continue your business successfully. Will your firm provide services to residential property owners? Or is it for commercial properties? Your landscaping service can be tailored for both residential property holders and commercial clients.
The kind of services you offer determines the labor you need, the equipment you have to purchase, and the skills you will require.
With residential properties, you have to focus more on appealing landscapes. However, commercial work will require landscaping jobs on bigger premises. So, you will need more employees.
Residential landscaping work means you will work with private property owners, and you are likely to get more gigs. On the other hand, commercial landscaping work means you will work with big companies and institutions and work on high-pay gigs.
However, commercial clients are also hard to get, and you will get fewer jobs. Consider your skills, your resources, location, and the type of business you want to run, and choose your target audience wisely.
4. Where? Choose a Location for Your Event Planning Business
Your business has a lot to do with the level of success you achieve from a landscaping business. Does your locality have enough residential properties with lawns? Is your service relevant in your location?
Also, the location where you start your business defines the number of clients you bring in. Initially, it’s good to start your business at home. But as you expand and want to grow your handyman business, you’ll need more skilled employees working under you, and you’ll need a commercial workspace.
Consider the following points when you choose a location for your small business –
- Choose a place your customers can access through public transport.
- The place where you work should have natural light and ventilation.
- Ensure that you opt for a flexible lease. This way, you can expand your business easily.
- Don’t go for workspaces that require more spending for renovation and redesigning.
5.Start a Landscaping Franchise/ or Build from Scratch?
You can start a landscaping business from scratch or get a franchising option. According to USLawnsfranchsie.com, taking a franchise would be a good option in today’s time. However, finding industry-recognized brands for franchising is challenging. If you want to follow the proven track record of a successful brand, franchising can be a good option.
But, if your business plan is strong enough to compete in the competitive market, you should try building your business from scratch. Who knows, you might be selling franchises a few years down the line.
6. Write a Business Plan
A successful landscaping business requires a strong business plan. Here’s how you create a successful business plan –
Landscaping Business Plan
- Executive summary: the mission, vision, and expected achievements of a landscaping business should be written in your landscaping business.
- Business Overview: The business overview section summarizes the aims of your business, the vision, and the customer and industry problems your business will solve.
- Product and Services: the products and services part includes the landscaping services you offer to your client. These can be yours. In this portion, include all the services your business is providing.
- Market Analysis: The landscaping business industry has many competitors and customers looking for services. This portion of your business plan should include the market analysis, Analysis of landscaping business trends, target market, and demand factor analysis.
- Competitive Analysis: Find the strengths and weaknesses of your landscaping business competitors. List them down here in this portion.
- Sales & Marketing: your business plan needs a sales and marketing plan for the landscaping business you are about to start. Draft down your promotional strategies, advertisement tactics, and channels in this section.
- Management Team: List the names of the roles and people to whom those roles are assigned in your business. Your management team consists of people with certain types of required qualifications to run and manage the business successfully.
- Operation: your business operations and day-to-day tasks should also be written in the form of operations. It means the entire process of handling the equipment, attending to customers, and delivering services.
- Financial Plan: the financial Plan of your landscaping business includes the start-up cost required, revenue forecast, and your landscaping business plans.
- Appendix: compile all the other additional information related to your business ( such as spreadsheets, contracts, and other supporting documents) and include them in the appendix part of your business.
Start: Establishing Your Landscaping Business
Once you are sure that you will start a landscaping business and you have a business plan, you are one small step away from starting it. This step is – choosing a landscaping business name.
7. Choose Your Business Name
The best landscaping business name is one that’s relevant to your customers and your market. But, if you want suggestions, read the following steps to help yourself come up with a great landscaping business name.
- Find out short, easy-to-remember, and catchy names for your landscaping business.
- Ensure that your business name reflects the core set of services your business provides.
- If you find struggle to find the right name for your business, try checking out your competitors. They can give you a direction.
- It’s good to ask your friends, family, and partners to suggest names for your business.
- It’s better not to use complex words, jargon, etc.; you want a business name for your customers to remember easily.
- Look for the values your business provides.
- Are you still struggling to find the right business name? In that case, use a business name generator to get a direction.
8. Get Your Event Planning Business Domain
Nowadays, it’s important for every business to have an online presence. You cannot build a website without a domain. So, once you have a business name, it’s time to find the domain in that same name. Remember to use the same name for your domain, social media, and marketing materials to make your business stand out as a brand. It’s best to have a social media account.
Once you have the right business name, it’s time to go on to platforms like GoDaddy, Namecheap, or Hostinger to buy your business domain. After buying your domain, you are ready to start a website and get your business moving forward.
9. Incorporation: Register Your Event Planning Business
It’s mandatory to incorporate your landscaping business under a legal structure to formally run your business. Getting a business name, a plan, and a domain are the primary steps in starting your business. But before you start practically running your business, you have to incorporate it. Here are some common business structures you can choose from –
Sole Proprietorship: As a sole proprietor, you will be solely responsible for the liabilities of your business. In addition, you will also be the sole enjoyer of the profit that your business makes.
General Proprietorship: Under general proprietorship, there has to be a minimum of two members sharing the liabilities and profits of the business.
LLC: for a landscaping business, LLC is the most suggested business structure. LLC comes with the protection of a corporate business where the owner doesn’t share the liabilities of the business. But they enjoy the profit of the business.
C Corp Business: Under a C Corp business, the owner doesn’t share the liabilities of the business, but they earn the profit through the dividends.
Most small businesses, like handymen or landscape businesses, follow an LLC structure for easy and risk-free legal, operations, and operational benefits.
10. Get Your EIN
It’s mandatory to get your Employer Identification Number when you start a business. You cannot file taxes without your business EIN number. You’ll need your EIN when you set up your business bank account. Your EIN is also important for getting your licenses and permits to operate your business.
11. Get Funding: Fund Your Landscaping Business
Start with some research. Look for what loans, grants, and opportunities your landscaping business qualifies for in your location. There are different types of grants available for different reasons, such as – opening new locations, purchasing new equipment for your business, and hiring more people for your business. If you are just starting out, you don’t require much in startup costs. However, here are some ways to get funding for your landscaping business –
- SBA-guaranteed loans.
- Ask from your friends and family.
- Break the bank.
12. Obtain Licenses
If you are starting a landscaping business, you need the following licenses –
- Landscape Construction Professional License for individuals.
- Landscape Contracting Business License for businesses.
However, according to your state regulations, some licenses and permits might be exclusively mandatory for you. It’s best to check your state regulations to identify the licenses your business needs.
- Health license from OSHA
- Copyrights
- Permits
- Trademarks
- Patents
13.Business Bank Account
Keep your business and personal finances separate. Get a business bank account that you’ll use to carry out your landscaping business transactions. Whether it is for taking payments or paying bills, use a separate business account to carry out your expenses.
14. Get Your Insurance
Protect your landscaping business from any unforeseeable events with suggested insurance. You can start with general liability insurance to protect it from injury and property damage-related lawsuits. Commercial property insurance will help you safeguard the commercial workspace you buy.
Launch Your Landscaping Business
The landscaping business is rewarding if you know your niche and your craft. It’s all about your skills in cleaning and beautifying the lawns, backyards, and front yards of your clients. So, ensure that you have the skills to back up your passion and a capable business plan to support your dream. Once those are taken care of, you are ready to start your landscaping business.
Did you find this article insightful? Share your thoughts. Also, if you have a story about starting a landscaping business, we’d like to hear from you.
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