If you have a passion for working outdoors and growing beautiful greenery, starting your own landscaping business may be a great endeavor for you. With more and more homeowners wanting to enhance their landscapes without having the time to do so themselves, the demand for professional landscapers and gardeners is increasing. By setting up and running your own landscaping business, you get to be in control of what work you accept, when you work, your preferred rates and an agreement to your own terms. (1)
How To Set Up Your Own Landscaping Business
If you have a passion for working outdoors and growing beautiful greenery, starting your own landscaping business may be a great endeavor for you. With more and more homeowners wanting to enhance their landscapes without having the time to do so themselves, the demand for professional landscapers and gardeners is increasing. By setting up and running your own landscaping business, you get to be in control of what work you accept, when you work, your preferred rates and an agreement to your own terms. (1)
However, as with any other industry, starting a landscaping business can also be a huge challenge. With no shortage of lawns and gardens all over the country, it’s no surprise that you will come up against several competitors within your territory who also aim to provide the same or similar service as you. (1)
To help you out, this article aims to provide you with a step-by-step guide on how to set up your own landscaping business and establish your own unique brand that will be able to stand out and compete in the market place:
- Pick a business name
The first thing customers will encounter about your business is its name. With the landscaping industry booming, you need to ensure that your business name stands out and sticks in your customers’ minds every time they think of caring for their lawns. (2)
Here are a few tips to help you pick a compelling business name:
- Go for something original, catchy, and on-point. Long and complicated business names can be easily forgotten.
- Avoid naming your business with a specific service (e.g., Bob’s Mowing Business), especially if you’re offering other services.
- Make sure people can tell that you’re a lawn care or landscaping business.
It’s also essential to select a business name that allows you to get a matching domain name for your company website.
- Create a company website
Since building an online presence is critical in today’s economic climate, whatever business you run, creating a business website is a top priority and should make your landscaping business more reachable and accessible for your target market. That’s why your chosen business name should also be valid as a website domain name. To do this, you can purchase a WordPress template or even better, create one from scratch with the help of a developer. (2)
Give careful consideration to the exact purpose of your website. Can it serve as more than a sales and marketing platform? Business management suites such as this landscaping software from Jobber can be integrated with your website in the form of a ‘client hub’ allowing customers to log in and access your services at their convenience and do things like pay invoices and book an appointment without having to contact you during work hours.
Software like this can significantly help you get your business up and running quickly and in such a way to accommodate growth as it can manage all internal business operations from one central platform. Your quotation system, internal and external communications, team dispatch, appointment scheduling and invoicing can all be done from one centralized place which is highly effective at promoting efficiency and productivity.
Remember, the faster you can deliver your services, the more satisfied your clients will be, enabling you to build a loyal customer base. (2)
- Assess your skills knowledge, and build a portfolio
Like other professionals, setting up a landscaping business means you should also have the appropriate skills, knowledge, and certifications to carry out the required jobs. Having the necessary qualifications and experience will build customer trust and confidence in your business. Showcase the expertise your company can offer by having a portfolio on your website of the work you have completed, along with positive customer testimonials. This will really help to boost your business’s credibility and authority. (3)
If when you start out your experience and knowledge is limited, make a point of taking the time to build your credibility by investing in training, getting certified and/or bringing people into the business who do have the skills you need.
This includes the skills required for all roles, including admin tasks such as responding to queries, managing schedules and simple accounting. Invoicing for example, needs to be given priority for several reasons, not least as this is your only means of generating an income. Learn how to write a professional invoice to ensure your cash flow is healthy and look for other ways to ensure you are adopting best practices wherever possible. (3)
- Clearly define your services
To guarantee your success within the landscaping industry, you need to fully define the types of landscaping services you will provide. Remember that this can be a lot more than just planting or mowing a lawn. Landscaping also involves designing an outdoor space to suit a specification set by a client. Determine in advance whether you can offer full-scale, high-level landscape designing services or if you prefer to offer the more essential maintenance services (e.g., general maintenance, gardening, mowing, weeding). You can then specify these on your website to let everyone know what services they can expect from you. (2)
Determining your services beforehand will also allow you to decide which tools or landscaping equipment you must have for your business operation. As a startup, you may opt to rent your landscaping materials, especially if your startup budget is tight. Once your business grows, you can purchase new, high-quality equipment. (3) (4)
- Decide your rates and prices
To help you with the pricing process, research your landscaping competitors, their offered services, and their rates. This way, you’ll have an idea of how much they charge for their services.
Perhaps you can apply the same rates or try to lower yours a bit to entice customers to try your services. After all, you can always adjust your prices along the way. Furthermore, see if you can also identify any service gaps you could fill in and provide. (3)
- Develop a marketing plan
A marketing plan will give you the essential focus you need to purposefully reach your target market. Without one, it’s easy to get lost and distracted in work that may not necessarily add much real value to your business. While word-of-mouth marketing is the best way to endorse your business. When you are just starting out, it may not be applicable yet, so account for things like this in your marketing plan and specify what marketing and sales tactics you will employ in the short and medium term.
Once you start getting some customers, make it a point to ask them for reviews and feedback so that you can use these to strengthen your credibility moving forward. (2) (4)
Set Up Your Landscaping Business Today
There are many steps to setting up a new landscaping business. Getting started is often the most difficult stage – then the challenge is how to grow. Everything requires hard work and patience. Set up your landscaping business today and work on providing an excellent customer service to your community. If you can achieve this, you will be well on your way to running a sustainable and successful business.
References
- “Landscaping Industry Analysis”, Source: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/landscaping-industry-analysis-70172.html
- “How To Start A Gardening Business”, Source: https://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/knowledge/articles/2018/03/how-to-start-a-landscaping-business-a-simple-guide/
- “How To Start A Successful Landscaping Business From The Ground Up”, Source: https://www.insureon.com/blog/how-to-start-a-lawn-care-landscaping-business
- “How To Start A Landscaping Business”, Source: https://www.taskeasy.com/blog/recent-clippings/landscaping-biz-v1