Lawn Care & Landscaping
A recurring-route trade where weekly contracts tame brutal seasonality and route density makes the money. Here is how a lawn care company actually pencils, and why the contract base (not one-time mows) is what makes it stable and sellable.
Read the launch plan: every step from deciding to opening, free →The Snapshot
Is this worth your attention?
Estimated Typical bands for this kind of business, estimated from adjacent public data where no direct benchmark exists; treat them as rough. Estimates, not forecasts; a specific business varies with its location, lease, equipment and owner. Last reviewed 2026-10-26. smbnest is a self-assessment tool, not individualized advice.
A fit if you...
- Can lead and keep a field crew through a long, hot season
- Want an essential, recession-resistant trade
- Will build recurring contracts, not just chase one-time jobs
- Can run routes, sales, and the numbers
Probably not if you...
- Want a passive, absentee investment from day one
- Dislike managing crews and working outdoors
- Cannot recruit or retain seasonal labor
- Have no appetite for marketing and door-to-door sales
Step Inside the Layout
A live look at one tool inside
This is the actual 3D floor from the full model. Drag to explore it. Inside, you configure the space yourself and watch the economics move with every choice.
Sources and method13 public sources, with the year and a link where the source gives one. The benchmark bands on this page are estimated from adjacent data and labeled as estimates.
Sources & Method
Figures are estimated from the public sources below and from adjacent data; the bands are labeled as estimates
How these numbers were built: landscaping-worker wages come from the BLS OEWS (SOC 37-3011, median ~$18.50/hr in May 2024); industry structure and the typical revenue range come from the U.S. Census Bureau (NAICS 561730 Landscaping Services); sale prices, owner earnings and multiples come from BizBuySell’s landscaping and yard service benchmarks; lawns per crew come from Lawn & Landscape and Service Autopilot, the mowing ticket from GreenPal’s 2026 price survey, per-truck sales and fleet and materials ratios from Lawn & Landscape benchmarks and Aspire; insurance from Insureon; licensing from the Texas Department of Agriculture as an example state; financing terms from the SBA; and survival and loan-default signals from Census/BLS business-dynamics data and published SBA-performance analyses. The simulator averages the year: about 18 lawns a crew on 15 working days a month stands for roughly 22 days a month in a 36-week mowing season and little in winter, so a real operator should still model peak and off-season months separately. Figures are current as of 2024-2026.
Wages come from BLS, revenue per truck and the fleet ratio from Lawn & Landscape benchmarks, lawns per crew from Lawn & Landscape and Service Autopilot, the materials band from Aspire, and the margin band is read against BizBuySell’s landscaping SDE median; the marketing band and the recurring-revenue range are estimates, so overall confidence is estimated rather than fully sourced.
This is just the surface
The full model is the complete, interactive deep-dive, and every business here is built to the same standard: a live economics simulator you tune to your own numbers, an interactive 3D walkthrough, a location scorecard, an owner-fit assessment, a buy-versus-build comparison, and the full breakdown of how it makes money and what quietly kills margin.
then $29 a month
Time to choose and start, then month to month.
$99 today for your first 3 months, then $29 a month until you cancel.
about $17 a month
The best price: a year to decide, open and run it.
$199 today, then $199 each year until you cancel.
Renews until you cancel. Cancel any time from your account; you keep access to the end of the period you paid for, and your saved plans stay in your account. What membership opens
smbnest is a self-assessment tool. It does not give individualized financial, investment, legal or tax advice. Figures are estimates and benchmarks, not forecasts. Speak with a qualified financial adviser and a licensed attorney before you start, buy, finance or sign anything.