How to start a landscaping or lawn care business

The three businesses inside “landscaping”

The Census definition is wide. NAICS 561730 covers establishments “providing landscape care and maintenance services and/or installing trees, shrubs, plants, lawns, or gardens,” and those that add “the design of landscape plans and/or the construction (i.e., installation) of walkways, retaining walls, decks, fences, ponds, and similar structures” (NAICS 561730).

In practice a new company picks one of three, and the pick decides which licenses apply:

• Maintenance. Mowing, edging, cleanups and season agreements, sold by the visit or the year. Usually no state license, until a crew sprays a weed.
• Lawn treatment. Fertilizer and weed control rounds. This is where pesticide and, in Florida, fertilizer certification start.
• Design-build. Planting, hardscape, irrigation and lighting, sold by bid. Licensed contracting in California and North Carolina above set amounts, with irrigation licensed separately in Texas.

HOAs and property managers buy through bids with their own insurance terms. In the desert West, water agencies create installation work: the Southern Nevada Water Authority pays “$5 per square foot of grass removed and replaced with desert landscaping” on the first 10,000 square feet, and warns that “Removing your lawn without our approval will make your conversion ineligible” (SNWA), so the contractor who knows the paperwork wins the job.

Pay, crews and how small most companies are

BLS figures on O*NET OnLine put the median landscaping and groundskeeping worker at $18.82 an hour, or $39,150 a year, in 2025. The occupation employed 1,192,500 people in 2024, with average growth of 3% to 4% projected to 2034 and 158,200 openings. On O*NET, 65% of respondents work outdoors in all weather every day, and 61% work more than 40 hours a week.

Two related roles show where pay goes up. Supervisors of landscaping and lawn service workers earned a median $28.09 an hour (O*NET 37-1012.00), and vegetation pesticide applicators $22.28, with 83% of respondents saying the job requires a high school diploma (O*NET 37-3012.00).

The field is crowded with small firms. The Census Bureau’s 2023 County Business Patterns counted 117,969 landscaping establishments with paid employees, employing 802,899 people, and 70.6% of those establishments had fewer than five employees (CBP 2023 national file, our calculation from its size classes). Tree services share the same code, so the count includes them, and it leaves out the many owner-operators with no payroll at all.

What is licensed: the work, not the name

No federal agency licenses landscapers, and no state below licenses mowing on its own. Licensing attaches to four activities: installation and hardscape, pesticide application for hire, irrigation and, in Florida, fertilizer. Cities and counties add business licenses on top; the SBA says what you need “will depend on your business activities and business location.”

The federal pesticide floor. EPA’s 2017 certification rule says restricted use pesticides “may be bought and applied only by a certified applicator or someone working under his or her direct supervision,” sets a federal minimum age of 18 for applicators seeking certification and for anyone using those products under supervision, and caps recertification at five years. “All 50 states, the District of Columbia, four tribes, six territories, and five federal agencies” run the programs (EPA). Most lawn herbicides are not restricted use, but as Texas and Florida show, states license for-hire application of ordinary products too.

State	Agency	What you need	Key requirements, as the agency states them
California	Contractors State License Board; Department of Pesticide Regulation	C-27 Landscaping license for installation; Maintenance Gardener Pest Control Business license for occasional pest control	C-27 when a project needs a permit, uses additional workers or reaches $1,000; four years of journey-level experience; $25,000 bond. MGB “$180 per calendar year” with a qualified applicator
Texas	TCEQ; Texas Department of Agriculture	No landscaping license; Landscape Irrigator license; pesticide applicator license	Irrigator: training, criminal history attestation, $111 fee, 70 percent on each exam section, no experience required. TDA: any pesticide on lawns for hire, “including general-use”
Florida	FDACS under Chapter 482	No landscape contractor license found; fertilizer certification; pest control business license for lawn spraying	Fertilizer certificate since 2014, valid four years; limited maintenance certificate covers plant beds, not lawns; penalties up to $5,000 per violation
North Carolina	Landscape Contractors’ Licensing Board, G.S. 89D	Landscape contractor license above the threshold	Required once contracts for one job site reach $30,000 in any 12 months; $10,000 bond or letter of credit; exam at least twice a year

Fees are as of October 2026. Requirements change, so confirm each with the issuing agency and your city or county before you bid, spray or advertise.

California

CSLB defines the class: “A landscape contractor constructs, maintains, repairs, installs, or subcontracts the development of landscape systems and facilities” (CSLB, C-27). A license is needed “if the project requires a building permit or uses any additional workers or the total cost (labor and materials) of one or more contracts on the project is $1,000 or more” (CSLB, before applying). Since January 1, 2025, “Unlicensed individuals can now advertise for work up to $1,000 (from $500) provided they disclose in the advertisement that they are not licensed” (CSLB, AB 2622 bulletin).

Applicants need “at least four (4) years of experience” at journey level or above, with up to three years creditable from training or education (CSLB, experience), and all new applicants take an open-book asbestos exam. From July 1, 2026, the C-27 exam’s largest sections are “Hardscape Installation (21%)” and “Drainage, Irrigation, Lighting, and Plant Installation (21%)” (C-27 study guide). The state charges $450 to apply and $200 for a sole owner’s initial license or $350 for other business forms (CSLB fees), plus a $25,000 bond or cashier’s check (CSLB, issuing your license).

Two limits matter to maintenance companies. The contractor law excludes “a gardener who in the normal course of routine work performs incidental pruning of trees measuring less than 15 feet in height after planting” (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code 7026.1); a taller tree or a removal is tree contracting under its own license. And pest control needs DPR: “You must possess a Maintenance Gardener Pest Control Business (MGB) License if you are a maintenance gardener who occasionally engages in pest control in support of your primary gardening business for hire,” with a qualified applicator holding “the Landscape Maintenance category B or Maintenance Gardener subcategory Q,” and registration with the county agricultural commissioner before work begins (DPR, MGB packet). A company whose main business is pest control needs a full Pest Control Business License, and the packet’s examples are commercial grounds, so ask DPR how it treats residential yards.

Texas

Texas has no landscaping license, and two agencies license the add-ons. TCEQ says “A person may not sell, design, install, maintain, alter, repair, service or inspect an irrigation system - or consult in these activities - in this state, unless the person is licensed by the TCEQ.” The Landscape Irrigator license needs no education or work experience, but the exam runs six hours, licenses are “valid for three years,” and renewal takes 24 hours of continuing education (TCEQ). The advertising rule is strict: “it’s against the law to conduct or advertise landscape irrigation services without a Texas landscape irrigator’s license,” and that covers “business cards, flyers, published ads, signs, lettering on trucks or trailers,” each of which “must display a valid landscape irrigator’s license number” (TCEQ RG-498).

TDA covers the spray rig: “Applicators who want to apply any pesticide (regardless of classification and including general-use) to ornamental plants, trees, lawns, or weeds for hire must be licensed by the Texas Department of Agriculture,” while “Applicators who apply only fertilizer do not need to be licensed.” The routes are category “3A Landscape Maintenance” or a Structural Pest Control Service license in “Lawn and Ornamental” (TDA).

Florida

Florida starts with fertilizer: “Beginning January 1, 2014, any person applying commercial fertilizer to an urban landscape must be certified under this section.” The certificate “expires 4 years after the date of issuance,” and renewal takes four classroom hours, at least two on fertilizer best management practices (Fla. Stat. 482.1562).

The limited commercial landscape maintenance certificate lets crews “apply herbicides for controlling weeds in plant beds, driveways, sidewalks, and patios,” using only “portable, handheld application equipment and backpack sprayers,” and it “expires 1 year after the date of issuance” (Fla. Stat. 482.156). It does not reach the lawn. FDACS says it “does not allow you to make applications to lawns or turfgrass, nor to operate a pest control business,” that anyone applying insecticides, herbicides or fungicides, “including ‘weed-n-feed’ products,” needs a pest control business license, and that “Penalties for breaking the law can be as high as $5,000 per violation!” (FDACS). That business license carries insurance minimums: bodily injury of “$250,000 per person and $500,000 per occurrence” and property damage of $250,000 per occurrence and $500,000 in the aggregate, or $500,000 combined single limit (Fla. Stat. 482.071).

North Carolina

North Carolina licenses landscape contracting but exempts “Any landscaping work where the price of all contracts for labor, material, and other items for a given job site during any consecutive 12-month period is less than thirty thousand dollars ($30,000),” and adds that “A local governmental unit shall not enact a local ordinance or regulation requiring licensure for landscaping work” below that line (G.S. 89D). Because it counts every contract at one site over a year, maintenance plus a spring installation at one property can cross it. Applicants must be 18, pass an exam the board gives “at least twice a year” and post a $10,000 bond or letter of credit; the statute caps the application fee at $100, the exam at $250 and the individual license at $100, and requires seven continuing education units a year. A licensed landscape contractor does not need a general contractor license for landscape work over $40,000. Irrigation contracting falls under a separate law, Chapter 89G, which we did not review.

A voluntary credential. NALP’s Landscape Industry Certified Technician exam offers “five specialty areas to choose from: Softscape Installation, Hardscape Installation, Turf Maintenance, Ornamental Maintenance or Irrigation,” costs $575 for the full exam as of October 2026, and is “Now offered in Spanish!” (NALP).

Setting up the company

Entity and EIN. The SBA says LLCs “protect you from personal liability in most instances,” and the IRS issues EINs free. Use one legal name on every filing, license and profile.

You are not the homeowner’s yard worker. IRS Publication 926 lists “Yard workers” among household workers, then uses a lawn business as its example of someone who is not one: “The worker runs a lawn care business and offers their services to the general public. The worker hires their own helpers, provides their own tools and supplies, and instructs the helpers how to do their jobs. Neither the worker nor their helpers are your employees” (IRS Publication 926). Run the company that way, with your own equipment, your own crew and public advertising.

Your crew’s status. The IRS weighs “Behavioral,” “Financial” and “Type of relationship” factors, and a business that treats an employee as a contractor with “no reasonable basis for doing so” may owe that worker’s employment taxes (IRS, contractor or employee). A helper who rides in your truck, runs your mower and follows your route is hard to call anything but an employee.

Sales tax in Texas. “If you do landscaping or lawn or plant care, you should be collecting sales and use taxes,” including on “Planting, mowing, trimming and edging grass” (Texas Comptroller 94-112). A self-employed individual with “no employees, partners or other persons providing the services” and $5,000 or less in receipts over the last four quarters is exempt, which a growing company leaves behind quickly. Decks, retaining walls, fences and “the installation of underground sprinkler systems” follow construction rules instead, so list them separately on invoices: otherwise the whole charge “will be presumed taxable if the taxable portion is greater than 5 percent.” Other states treat lawn care differently; ask yours.

Insurance. The SBA says “The federal government requires every business with employees” to carry workers’ compensation, unemployment and disability insurance. Google’s Local Services Ads require general and professional liability for both the Landscaping and Lawn care categories. In our experience commercial auto and coverage for mowers and trailers belong on the list from the first season, and commercial clients will name their own minimums.

Workers’ compensation:

• California: the state requires coverage from the first employee (California DWC). C-27 is not among the classes CSLB requires to carry it with no employees, so a solo licensee can file an exemption (CSLB, workers’ compensation).
• Florida: four or more employees outside construction, one or more in construction (Fla. Stat. 440.02). We could not confirm whether landscape installation counts as construction under that rule, so ask the state.
• Texas: “Texas doesn’t require most private employers to have workers’ compensation” (Texas Department of Insurance).

Mowers, trucks and software

From what we see across lawn and landscape companies, the first season’s kit is:

• Mowing. Commercial walk-behind and stand-on or zero-turn mowers, trimmers, edgers, blowers and a trailer. Texas taxes them: “There is no exemption for the purchase or rental of wheelbarrows, lawn mowers, string trimmers.”
• The truck. A pickup towing a loaded equipment trailer can reach the 10,001-pound weight rating at which federal rules treat a vehicle in interstate commerce as a commercial motor vehicle (49 CFR 390.5). Check before taking work across a state line.
• Treatment. Spreaders and sprayers, matched to the license: a Florida limited maintenance certificate allows handheld and backpack sprayers, not power equipment.
• Design-build. A rented skid steer or mini excavator, a plate compactor and design software.
• Engines in California. CARB says “By model year 2028, emission standards for smog-forming emissions from new engines are set at zero,” while “The regulations do not affect equipment already sold and in use” (CARB FAQ). Its federal authorization went to Congress for review on June 12, 2026.

Pricing, seasons and cash

No source with a stated method publishes what a landscaping company costs to start, so none is printed here.

Mowing is usually priced per visit by lot size or time and sold as a season agreement; treatment as a set number of rounds a year; cleanups and aeration per job; design-build by bid with a deposit and progress payments. Thumbtack’s platform data puts the national average for one professional mow at $56 to $163 (Thumbtack), a platform average, and a reminder that one cut rarely repays the cost of winning a customer.

The lawn sets the calendar. Penn State Extension notes that “During peak periods of growth in the spring, you may need to mow your lawn more than once per week,” that “Late summer to early fall usually is the best time to establish a new lawn from seed,” and that core aeration means “six to eight passes over the lawn” (Penn State Extension). In cool-season regions that puts revenue between March and November, which is why so many northern companies add snow work, and why our post on selling fall aeration and leaf work in July argues for marketing ahead of each window.

Hiring crews, H-2B and safety

Seasonal visas. Many companies fill spring crews through H-2B. The statutory cap is 66,000 visas a year, “distributed semiannually,” and for fiscal year 2026 DHS authorized “up to, but not more than, an additional 64,716 visas.” In the January 1 to 3, 2026 filing window, the Department of Labor “received requests to certify 162,603 worker positions for start dates of work on April 1, 2026.” Of more than 232,400 positions certified in fiscal year 2025, the sector that includes landscaping “accounted for 42.6 percent of labor demand” (Federal Register, February 3, 2026). Plan a first season you can staff with local hires.

OSHA. “Landscaping and horticulture hazards are addressed in specific OSHA standards for general industry if work is considered maintenance activity and construction if work is considered building activity,” so a patio crew and a mowing crew can fall under different rules. OSHA also “requires that employers conduct all required training of workers in a language and vocabulary workers can understand” (OSHA, landscaping). For heat, federal OSHA relies on the General Duty Clause, which requires a workplace “free from recognized hazards” (OSHA, heat); write a water, shade and rest plan before June, and check whether your state has its own heat rule.

Finding the first customers

Google Business Profile. Most lawn companies serve customers at their properties, so Google says to “remove your address from your Business Profile” if you do not serve customers there, and lets you set “up to 20 service areas” (Google, service areas). A rented mailing address used as a virtual office “isn’t eligible” (Google guidelines). “Verification methods are automatically determined by Google and can’t be changed” (Google, verification).

Local Services Ads. Google runs two categories with the Google Verified badge. Landscaping services describes a provider who “designs, installs, and maintains gardens and landscapes”; Lawn care covers those who “maintain lawns, including installation and maintenance, such as weed control, mowing, and seeding” (Google Local Services requirements). Both require general and professional liability insurance, state licenses where local law requires them and a “public and verified Google Business profile,” and screening averages 3 to 4 weeks. Lawn care was in the August 2026 first phase of the move into Google Ads; landscaping was not named, and the remaining categories move in late 2026 or 2027 (Google Ads, migration).

Reviews. In BrightLocal’s 2026 survey, 47% of consumers said they will not use a business with fewer than 20 reviews (BrightLocal). Ask after the first cut and after every cleanup, and never trade a discount for a good one: the FTC’s 2024 rule bans incentives “conditioned on the writing of consumer reviews expressing a particular sentiment.”

The street. In our experience the cheapest new stop is next door to a current one: yard signs after visible work, door hangers on streets already on the route, and a referral ask when the lawn looks its best. HOAs tend to rebid in winter.

Our page on marketing for landscaping and lawn care companies covers the calendar, the two Google categories and the first ninety days in depth. Start with your Google Business Profile and local SEO for the ZIP codes you want denser.

What trips up new landscaping companies

• Spraying without the license. Texas licenses general-use products on lawns for hire, and Florida fines up to $5,000 per violation.
• Selling weed and feed on a Florida plant bed certificate. The limited certificate does not cover lawns or turfgrass.
• Irrigation ads with no number. Texas requires the irrigator license number on cards, flyers, signs, trucks and online ads.
• Installation over the line. California licenses jobs of $1,000 or more; North Carolina counts every contract at one site over 12 months.
• Pruning the wrong tree. A California gardener may prune only trees under 15 feet as part of routine work.
• Counting on April visas. H-2B requests for April 2026 ran far above the visas available.

Questions people ask before starting a landscaping business

Do you need a license to start a lawn care business?

Usually only a local business license for mowing alone. Licenses attach to added services: pesticides in Texas, Florida and California, irrigation in Texas, fertilizer in Florida, and installation in California at $1,000 or more and in North Carolina at $30,000 per site per year.

Can I spray weeds for customers without a license?

Not in Texas, where TDA licenses anyone applying any pesticide to lawns for hire, including general-use products. Florida’s limited certificate covers plant beds and hardscape only, not lawns, and California requires a Maintenance Gardener Pest Control Business license with a qualified applicator.

What does a California C-27 license take?

Four years of journey-level experience, with up to three creditable from training, the C-27 and asbestos exams, a $450 application fee, a $200 or $350 initial license fee and a $25,000 bond, as of October 2026.

Do I need a license to install sprinklers in Texas?

Yes, a TCEQ Landscape Irrigator license. It requires training, a criminal history attestation, a $111 fee and a passing score of 70 percent on each exam section, and the license number must appear on ads, cards and trucks.

Do I charge sales tax on lawn mowing?

In Texas, yes, unless you work alone with no helpers and took in $5,000 or less over the last four quarters. Irrigation installation and hardscape follow construction rules there, and other states differ, so ask your state’s tax agency.

Can a new landscaping company hire H-2B workers?

It can apply, but supply is tight. Employers requested 162,603 positions for April 1, 2026 starts against a cap of 66,000 a year issued in two halves, plus 64,716 supplemental visas for fiscal year 2026.

Which Google Local Services category should a lawn company use?

The one that matches the work you want most: Lawn care covers mowing, weed control and seeding, and Landscaping services covers garden design, installation and upkeep.

Sources

Checked on October 3, 2026. Rules and fees change, and many are set state by state or city by city: confirm the current requirements with the agency that issues them before you apply.

• NAICS 561730 Landscaping Services, definition and index entries
• O*NET OnLine, Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers (37-3011.00), with BLS wage and projection data
• O*NET OnLine, First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Workers (37-1012.00)
• O*NET OnLine, Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation (37-3012.00)
• Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 national file
• EPA, certification standards for pesticide applicators
• California CSLB, C-27 Landscaping Contractor classification
• California CSLB, before applying for a license
• California CSLB, experience requirements
• California CSLB, C-27 study guide (exams from July 1, 2026)
• California CSLB, fee schedule
• California CSLB, issuing your license and the contractor bond
• California CSLB, workers' compensation requirements by class
• California CSLB, AB 2622 bulletin on the $1,000 limit and unlicensed advertising
• California Business and Professions Code 7026.1, gardener pruning exclusion
• California Department of Pesticide Regulation, Maintenance Gardener Pest Control Business license packet
• California Division of Workers' Compensation, employer information
• CARB, small off-road engine rules FAQ
• TCEQ, landscape irrigator license
• TCEQ RG-498, landscape irrigators must be licensed
• Texas Department of Agriculture, applying pesticides to ornamentals, trees, lawns or weeds
• Texas Comptroller Publication 94-112, landscaping and lawn care services
• Texas Department of Insurance, workers' compensation for employers
• Florida Statutes 482.1562, urban landscape fertilizer certification
• Florida Statutes 482.156, limited commercial landscape maintenance certification
• FDACS, certification requirements for commercial landscape maintenance operators
• Florida Statutes 482.071, pest control business license and insurance
• Florida Statutes 440.02, workers' compensation definitions
• North Carolina General Statutes Chapter 89D, landscape contractors
• Southern Nevada Water Authority, Water Smart Landscapes rebate
• IRS Publication 926, Household Employer's Tax Guide for 2026
• IRS, independent contractor (self-employed) or employee
• IRS, get an Employer Identification Number
• SBA, launch your business (licenses, structure, insurance)
• eCFR, 49 CFR 390.5, commercial motor vehicle definition
• Penn State Extension, lawn management through the seasons
• Thumbtack, lawn mowing cost
• Federal Register, H-2B supplemental visas for fiscal year 2026, February 3, 2026
• OSHA, landscaping and horticultural services
• OSHA, heat exposure
• NALP, Landscape Industry Certified Technician
• Google Local Services, requirements by category
• Google Ads, moving Local Services Ads into Google Ads
• Google Business Profile guidelines
• Google Business Profile, service areas
• Google Business Profile, verification
• BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026
• FTC, final rule banning fake reviews and testimonials, August 2024