Sample Landscaping Business Plan Template
LAWN LANDSCAPING BUSINESS PLAN SAMPLE
If you have always enjoyed working outside and taking care of your garden, lawn, and anything that involves beautifying your yard or garden, you can turn that passion into a business.
Starting your own landscaping business would be a great idea to make money and become your boss.
Landscapes contribute to the beauty of our environment. It also helps to improve our quality of life and general well-being. Landscaping contributes in no small measure to the global economy.
The market for landscaping is a huge one and still has a lot of room for growth.
The industry has an estimated value of over $70 billion (US dollars). Practitioners in the landscape business come in different forms and sizes.
The industry comprises of such professionals as irrigation professionals and contractors, landscape contractors, lawn and landscape maintenance, landscape architects and designers, including the product suppliers.
All these groups of people contribute to the landscaping industry.
How much money does it take to start a lawn care business? Do you have to have a license to do landscaping? How do I get lawn care customers? How do you become a landscaper?
To go into the landscaping business, some knowledge or experience of horticulture is important.
Step 1: Get Knowledge
Before you decide to start a landscaping business, you must understand the industry properly and have the most required knowledge to succeed as a landscaper. So you need some fair grasp of trees, plants, flowers, and sods.
You also need to understand the weather. You need to understand the various aspects and segments of the business. Good knowledge of practices in the industry will go a long way in helping your landscaping business.
A good understanding of practices like irrigation is important. Knowledge of the types of soil and the right soil for the plants and flowers is crucial. The person intending to go into the landscaping business should also understand practices like mulching and edging of the lawn.
You also need to understand decoration and the use of colors to improve the beauty of your work. Knowledge is very important and an understanding of all these and more will go a long way in determining your success in the landscaping business. All these are vital considerations when writing a landscaping business plan.
Step 2: Get the Required Tools
How much does it cost to start a landscaping business? Armed with the right knowledge about the landscaping business, one also needs a list of the items and tools to procure for the business. The tools required for the landscape business include:
· Edger
An edger is an important tool required for the landscaping business. It is used to make sidewalks and driveways and is usually gas-powered. It can also be used to whack off weeds from the lawn.
· Truck
You will need a truck as a transportation tool for your tools and supplies. A pickup truck would be a great utility for the landscaping business for ease of movement.
· Lawn Mower
Different types of lawn mowers exist for different purposes. Buying the right lawnmower is important. For a landscaping business, a commercial lawn mower is most advisable.
A lawnmower designed for private home users won’t be appropriate for the landscaping business because of the frequency of use the lawnmower for commercial landscaping would be exposed to due to the nature of the landscaping business.
You should also be careful while using the lawnmower and adopt the right safety practice to avoid injury as some lawnmowers such as the electric and gasoline-powered ones can cause injury to an inexperienced and careless user.
· Fertilizer
Fertilizer is also needed for application on the client’s lawns when growing new plants and flowers.
· Safety Gear
Landscaping business has its risks when working on lawns. For someone intending to go into the landscaping business, safety gear is needed for protection from potentially harmful plants and equipment.
One should be properly covered at all times while working on the lawns. When growing a plant, the poison ivy, utmost safety precautions should be taken to avoid direct contact with the plant.
· Leaf Blower
The leaf blower is used when working on driveways and sidewalks for gathering leaves and other unwanted objects around the lawn. The leaf blower offers ease of use when compared against a manual rake.
Listed above are some of the most important items and tools required for starting the landscaping business. These things should be purchased for the business.
Step 3: Business Incorporation
Having armed yourself with the necessary knowledge and tools, the next step becomes to incorporate the business.
The landscaping business should be properly and duly registered with the appropriate authorities in your jurisdiction.
A limited liability entity structure would be most advisable, to limit the risk of liability to the owner.
Step 4: Know your Pricing
Having registered your business, the next step is to know your pricing. What will be the cost of your services? What will it cost a potential customer to procure your services?
Charges are usually based on per square foot of work. Being a new business, it’s important not to set your pricing too high to attract customers.
As a guide, you also need to find out what the charges are for your location amongst those in the landscaping business.
Step 5: Marketing
As a new business, marketing would be important to let potential customers know about your services.
You can market your landscaping business using social media like Facebook and Instagram ads, sharing of flyers in your neighborhood, and running adverts in newspapers.
Word of mouth is still another effective way to let people know about your business as it is free.
It is important to understand that the landscaping business is a seasonal one and is also affected by the weather. The initial setup cost might be overwhelming. The landscaping business is a competitive one.
LAWN LANDSCAPING BUSINESS PLAN EXAMPLE
Starting up a landscaping business is a great choice even though the business may not be among the most lucrative businesses out there.
One reason why you should start a landscaping business is that the landscaping business has a very large market that is very much readily available.
If you are very keen in starting this business, you must have done your research to know what you are required to do to start up this business.
And so, this article is focused on providing you with a practical gardening and landscaping business plan sample which would aid you in writing a beautiful business plan for your landscaping business.
Here is a sample business plan for starting a commercial interior or edible landscaping business.
BUSINESS NAME: Green Lawn Landscape Company.
- Executive Summary
- Our Products and Services
- Vision Statement
- Mission Statement
- Business Structure
- Market Analysis
- Competitive Advantage
- Financial Plan
- Sales Forecast
- Conclusion
Executive Summary
Green Lawn Landscape Company is a landscaping business that will base its headquarters in Detroit, United States. The business has fulfilled all of the necessary legal requirements such as registration and obtaining a license to practice in Detroit, United States. Green Lawn Landscape Company will be offering several professional services to its customers in various cities across the United States.
To start up this business in Detroit, we will require a total of $100,000, of which $70,000 will be provided by the owner, Romeo McCarthy, from the sales of his assets. The remainder which amounts to $30,000 will be obtained from the owner’s bank.
Our vision for the business is to become the first choice of customers in Detroit and neighboring cities in the United States, as regards landscaping products and services.
Our Products and Services
Green Lawn Landscape Company is a landscaping business that will be positioned in central Detroit, United States.
We are committed to bringing the best out of the environment in terms of aesthetics. We will be offering our customers the following products and services:
- Architecture services
- Lawn maintenance
- Consultancy and Advisory Services
- Snow Ploughing
- Fall Cleanup
- Spring Cleanup
- Retailing of flowers
- Weeding Beds
- Pest control application
- Sod installation
- Landscape Maintenance
Vision Statement
We want to make sure we are the first choice of customers in Detroit and neighboring cities when it comes to landscaping products and services.
Mission Statement
Our mission is to build a landscaping company in Detroit that will become the leader in the industry when it comes to creating aesthetic environments and giving customers professional and quality services that they deserve.
Business Structure
We want to grow Green Lawn Landscape Company to become the dream landscape company in Detroit. We will be having our head office in Detroit, while the scope of our operations will also include other major cities in the United States.
We will make sure to hire only employees that are dedicated and hardworking who are ready to work with us to achieve our goals in this business. Below are the positions in our business that will be occupied by qualified employees:
- Owner and Chairman Executive Officer (CEO)
- Marketing and Sales Executive
- Manager
- Field Staff
- Receptionists
- Landscape Architect
Market Analysis
Target Market
Our target market encompasses the following groups of people:
- Homeowners
- Facilities Managers who focus on historic buildings, botanical gardens, and several other public facilities having green areas.
- Residential and commercial property builders
- Condominiums
- Golf Course managers
- Government establishments
- Retirees who cannot do their property maintenance.
GUIDE: How to Secure Landscaping Contracts
Competitive Advantage
We are very aware of the stiff competition in the landscaping industry. It is for this reason that we had to do the needful by conducting thorough research on how we intend to deal with the competition.
Having done our research, we intend to deal with the competition by ensuring we provide very quality products and customer services, making sure of our core values which are honesty, trust, and competence.
Financial Plan
Source of Startup Capital
Going by the thorough feasibility study we carried out on the industry as regards how much we would require in starting up our landscaping business in Detroit, we have realized that we will need a total of $100,000 which will include the salary of employees for the first three months. This capital will be obtained from the owner, Romeo McCarthy, from the sales of his asset. The remainder which will be a total of $30,000 will be obtained from the owner’s bank.
Sales Forecast
First Fiscal Year $200,000
Second Fiscal Year $300,000
Third Fiscal Year $550,000
Conclusion
Above is a simple and practical landscaping business plan sample carrying the business name, ‘Green Lawn Landscape Company’.
The business will be focused on providing excellent and professional products and services to customers in Detroit and nationwide in the United States.
Green Lawn Landscape Company will be owned by Romeo McCarthy. He will also be the CEO and manager of the business.