What You Need to Start a Lawn Care Business
The list of what you need to start a lawn care business is shorter than most people expect. On the equipment side it is a commercial walk-behind mower, a string trimmer, a blower, safety gear and the consumables to keep them running.
On the paperwork side it is a registered business, liability insurance, a separate bank account and three client documents, which are a price list, a service agreement and an invoice. With a little marketing added, that comes to roughly $3,100 with new equipment, using the default figures in our startup cost calculator.
This post is the checklist itself. For the order to do things in, from choosing a niche to finding the first clients, the guide on how to start a lawn care business covers each step.
The equipment you need on day one
The day-one kit is the smallest set of machines that can deliver a finish a homeowner will pay for every week. Each piece below earns its place on the first visit, and nothing on the list is there for looks.
Here is the kit, with the figures our startup cost calculator uses as defaults.
| Item | What it does | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 21-inch commercial walk-behind | Cuts the lawn, built for daily use | $900 |
| String trimmer | Cuts along fences, beds and trees | $300 |
| Backpack blower | Clears clippings from paths and drives | $350 |
| Eye and ear protection, boots, gloves | Keeps the operator safe | $150 |
| Fuel cans, oil, spare blades, sharpener | Keeps the machines cutting cleanly | $300 |
| Day-one kit | Everything needed for a full visit | $2,000 |
The word commercial matters on the mower line. A homeowner's mower is built for an hour a week, and it will not survive thirty or forty hours. A commercial walk-behind costs more up front but has a heavier deck and an engine meant to run all day, which is cheaper per cut by midsummer.
A vehicle is the one item missing from the table, because most new owners already have one. A pickup or a car with a hitch carries a walk-behind and handheld tools without a trailer, which keeps the trailer purchase off the day-one list.
What can wait until the round pays for it
Plenty of equipment is useful but not needed for the first lawns. Buying it early ties up cash that the business needs for insurance and fuel, and some of it is better chosen once you know what kind of properties you are cutting.
These are the common purchases to put off until the round itself can pay for them:
- A stick edger, about $300. A trimmer turned on its side edges well enough to start, and a dedicated edger can come once clients ask for crisper lines.
- An open utility trailer, about $1,800 for a 5 by 10. It becomes worth buying when the kit no longer fits the vehicle.
- A used zero-turn or stand-on mower, about $4,500. It only pays back on larger lots, and most first rounds are small suburban yards.
- Scheduling and invoicing software, about $250 a year. A spreadsheet and a calendar cope with the first twenty clients.
The rule behind the list is simple. Buy a machine when the work you already have needs it, not when the work you hope to win might.
The paperwork to sort before the first paid cut
The paperwork is less visible than the kit, but it is what makes the business a business rather than a favor for a neighbor. Most of it is quick, and one piece costs nothing at all.
Each item below does a different job, and none of them depends on the order of the others.
- Business registration
- Registering with your state, or filing a trade name if you work under a name other than your own. The SBA's guide to registering your business explains what applies to each structure.
- Local license
- Some cities and counties require a general business license. Mowing rarely needs a trade license, but applying fertilizer or pesticide for pay almost always does.
- Employer Identification Number
- A federal tax number for the business. It is free from the IRS EIN page, and it keeps your Social Security number off client forms.
- Liability insurance
- Covers damage to a client's property or to a passer-by, such as a stone thrown through a window. The calculator budgets $700 for the first year.
- Business bank account
- Keeps business money apart from personal money, which makes taxes simpler and the real profit easy to see.
Two of those items have their own guides. Whether your town asks for a license is covered in do you need a license for a lawn care business, and what the cover should include is in do you need insurance for a lawn care business.
The documents your clients will see
Three more pieces of paper face the client rather than the government, and they do as much for your credibility as the insurance certificate. A homeowner who receives a clear price list, a short agreement and a tidy invoice assumes the work will be just as organized.
- A price list that sets out per-visit rates by lot size and frequency.
- A service agreement that states the visit schedule, what is included and how either side can end it.
- An invoice that goes out on the same day each week or month, so payment becomes a habit.
How to protect the kit once you have it
Equipment theft is a bigger risk in this trade than most new owners realize. In the National Equipment Register's 2015 theft report, riding mowers and garden tractors made up 44% of the 11,493 equipment thefts reported, the largest single category. Only about 22% of stolen equipment was recovered that year.
Small operators feel the same pattern. Across the students we work with at the Lawn Care Business Institute, a little under half of the equipment thefts they have told us about in the last three seasons involved a mower taken from a truck bed or an open trailer. A handful of cheap habits make that much less likely:
- Photograph every machine and record its serial number on the day you buy it.
- Lock the mower to the vehicle or trailer with a chain, even for a five-minute stop.
- Store the kit inside overnight rather than on an open trailer in the driveway.
- Ask your insurer whether tools and equipment are covered away from home, since many basic policies exclude them.
What the whole list costs to start
Adding the paperwork and a little marketing to the kit gives the full day-one budget. It is a useful number to have before you start, because it tells you how much needs to be saved or found before the first client is booked.
The ledger below uses the same default figures as the calculator.
Buying the mower, trimmer and blower used can bring this down a long way, while the insurance and safety lines stay the same.
Your own figure will differ with local prices and what you already own. The lawn care startup cost calculator lets you tick off the items you have and add the ones you want, and the lawn care startup checklist turns the list into something to work through.
Where the Fundamentals course covers this in depth
The Fundamentals Course takes both halves of this list further. Unit 2, Setting Up Your Business, covers registration, insurance, banking, bookkeeping and the policies that stop small problems becoming arguments. Unit 4, Equipment, Mowing Standards and Safety, covers choosing the right kit, cutting height, blade sharpening and a safe way of working on every visit.
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