Blog

Thinking about starting your own landscaping company? 

Great choice! The landscaping industry in the U.S. is booming, with a market value of $153 billion in 2024. More than 661,000 businesses are already operating. This means there’s a huge demand for landscaping services. If you have the right tools and skills, you can meet that demand and start running a successful business.

Before sharpening up your pruning shears, it’s important to decide what landscaping company services you want to offer and how to market them to the right audience. Building trust and a good reputation is key.

And if you’re already running a landscaping business, you know how important offering excellent services is. Adding new services that complement your specialities can help boost your businessfurther. 

Let’s explore some of the most popular landscaping services to help your company grow and thrive.

RELATED ARTICLE — Handyman Services List: 15 General Handyman Services to Offer

Types of Landscaping Services: A Complete List

There are many different types of landscaping work. To help you decide what to offer, here’s a list of common landscape services:

1. Lawn Bed Maintenance

What It Is: Lawn bed maintenance is all about keeping flower beds and garden beds healthy and clean.
What It Involves: This service includes removing weeds, dead leaves, and stray branches. You may also offer pruning services to promote healthy plant growth.
How It Works: Imagine a customer with a flower bed full of weeds. You would pull the weeds, clean up debris, and prune the plants to help them grow better.

2. Spring Maintenance

What It Is: Spring maintenance is the cleanup and preparation of the garden after winter.
What It Involves: This service includes raking leaves, trimming plants, dividing perennials, and mulching to prepare the garden for spring.
How It Works: After the snow melts, a client’s garden is messy and in need of some attention. You would tidy up the leaves, trim any dead branches, and refresh the garden bed with mulch.

3. Dethatching

What It Is: Dethatching removes the thick layer of dead grass and leaves that sit on top of the soil.
What It Involves: Using a special rake or machine, you pull up the thatch to allow water, air, and nutrients to reach the grass’s roots.
How It Works: If a lawn looks patchy and unhealthy, dethatching can help it breathe. After removing the thick layer, the grass can grow stronger and greener.

FROM ONE OF OUR PARTNERS — 6 Tips & Tricks to Effectively Manage a Landscaping Business

4. Trimming

What It Is: Trimming involves cutting back overgrown trees, hedges, and bushes.
What It Involves: You use tools like hedge trimmers or clippers to shape the plants and keep them tidy.
How It Works: A customer has overgrown bushes blocking their windows. You would trim them down, making the garden look neat and allowing more light into the house.

5. Yard Cleanup

What It Is: Yard cleanup involves removing debris, such as fallen branches, dead leaves, and trash.
What It Involves: You would rake, bag up leaves, and clear away any mess that’s gathered on the lawn or in garden beds.
How It Works: After a storm, a client’s yard might be filled with broken branches. You would clean up all the debris, making their yard look fresh again.

6. Hedging

What It Is: Hedging shapes trees and bushes into neat, often geometric forms.
What It Involves: Using specialized tools, you carefully trim hedges to create clean lines or fun shapes.
How It Works: A homeowner wants their hedges cut into a square shape. You would use trimmers to neatly cut each hedge, giving the garden a sharp, elegant look.

7. Lawn Protect Services

What It Is: Lawn protection services keep lawns safe from diseases and pests.
What It Involves: You inspect the lawn for signs of damage, then apply treatments to prevent problems like fungus, bugs, or brown patches.
How It Works: If a customer’s lawn has patches of dead grass, you could apply a fungicide or weed control treatment to stop the damage and revive the lawn.

8. Irrigation Startup or Shutdown Services

Professional landscaping gardener using push spreader to fertilize lush green residential grass lawn

What It Is: This service ensures irrigation systems are properly set up for the season.
What It Involves: In spring, you turn on the system and check for leaks. In the fall, you shut it down to prevent damage from freezing.
How It Works: Before winter, you might visit a customer’s home to turn off their sprinkler system, drain the pipes, and protect the system from freezing. You could also install irrigation systems for homeowners who don’t have one yet. 

9. Pruning

What It Is: Pruning removes dead or damaged parts of plants to encourage healthy growth.
What It Involves: You cut back dead leaves, stems, or branches to make room for new growth.
How It Works: Say a customer’s rose bushes are full of dead branches. You would prune them, allowing new flowers to bloom in the spring.

FROM ONE OF OUR PARTNERS — How to Get More Landscaping & Lawn Care Leads

10. Mulching

What It Is: Mulching adds a protective layer to the soil to retain moisture and reduce weeds.
What It Involves: You spread mulch (wood chips or other material) over the soil to help the garden stay healthy.
How It Works: After cleaning up a flower bed, a landscape professional would add a fresh layer of mulch to protect the plants and make the garden look more polished.

11. Lawn Mowing Services

What It Is: Lawn mowing services keeps grass trimmed and neat. You can stick to residential landscape service or branch out into commercial mowing services.
What It Involves: Using lawnmowers, you cut the grass to a consistent height.
How It Works: A customer wants their lawn to stay neat all summer. You can set up a weekly or bi-weekly mowing schedule to keep their yard looking fresh.

12. Lawn Aeration Services

What It Is: Aeration involves poking small holes in the lawn to help air, water, and nutrients reach the soil.
What It Involves: Using an aerator tool, you create small holes that allow the lawn to breathe and grow better.
How It Works: If a lawn feels hard and compact, you can aerate it to loosen the soil and help the grass grow greener and healthier. It’s a great add-on service for landscaping companies because many homeowners don’t own aeration equipment.

13. Hardscaping Lawn Care Services

What It Is: Hardscaping involves adding non-plant elements like patios, walkways, or fire pits to a garden.
What It Involves: You install these using materials like stone, brick, or concrete to create beautiful outdoor spaces.
How It Works: If a homeowner wants a patio in their backyard, you would build it using stone tiles, bricks, or concrete. You may also build retaining walls, install water features, or construct fire pits.

14. Landscape Design Services

What It Is: Landscape design involves creating a plan for how a garden will look, including both plants and yard structures.
What It Involves: You work with the customer to design their ideal backyard and gardens. This can involve choosing plants or deciding where walkways or flower beds should go.
How It Works: A new homeowner wants to redesign their entire backyard. You would help them create a layout with trees, flower beds, and a patio that fits their vision.

15. Landscape Softscaping Services

What It Is: Softscaping refers to the planting and care of trees, shrubs, flowers, and grass.
What It Involves: Plants are added or replaced to improve the landscape’s appearance.
How It Works: Say a client’s garden lacks color. You can add bright flowers and new grass to bring life and beauty to their outdoor space.

RELATED ARTICLE — 7 Tips for Seasonal Cash Flow Management for Lawn Care Businesses 

Popular Landscaping Services Packages

Gardener wearing protective glasses in a garden using an electric hedge trimmer, showcasing professional landscaping

When starting or expanding a landscaping business, you may need to offer more than one service to keep your company busy. Many landscapers offer packages to combine services to make it easier for customers to care for their outdoor spaces. Plus, by providing extra services, your business can increase sales. Below are a few common landscaping service packages. 

Landscape Installation

This package is perfect for clients who need a brand-new landscape or major yard upgrades. It includes services like landscape design, irrigation systems installation, hardscaping, and planting trees or shrubs.

Why It’s Popular: This service is great for customers starting from scratch or needing a complete outdoor makeover. Then, you can offer regular landscape services to maintain their yard’s new look.

Landscape Maintenance Package

This package includes a list of lawn maintenance services such as mowing, trimming, mulching, pruning, and leaf removal. Keep clients’ yards looking neat and healthy all year long.

Why It’s Popular: Clients love these services because they take the hassle out of routine yard upkeep. Their property stays looking great with little effort on their part, and you get a regular paycheck.

Custom Landscaping Service Package

This is a flexible package where clients can choose the specific services they need. Services like yard cleanup, sprinkler installation, lawn protection, or hedging are usual options.

Why It’s Popular: Custom services allow customers to personalize the services they receive based on their unique needs. This makes your business more appealing to those with specific preferences.

RELATED ARTICLE — Landscaping Pricing Guide: How to Price Landscaping Jobs

6 Tips for Running the Most Profitable Landscaping Services Company

Running a successful landscaping company takes planning and good business skills. To help your business grow and succeed, here are some tips you can follow:

  1. Get Clients to Call You. Make sure people know about your services. Use flyers, social media, and local ads to help clients find you. Hashtags with your city and services make you easier to search for on these platforms, too. 
  2. Capture New Clients. Always be on the lookout for new clients. Offer special discounts for first-time customers or ask happy clients to recommend you to others to grow your list.
  3. Know Your Landscaping Client. Understand what your clients want. Some may need regular lawn care, while others want complete landscape redesigns.
  4. Create a Compelling Sales Pitch. Tell potential clients why your services are the best. Highlight what makes your business special, like high-quality work or affordable prices.
  5. Keep Your Clients. Offer great customer service and check in with your current clients regularly to keep their needs met. Happy clients are loyal ones. 
  6. Keep a Record of All Your Sales Contacts. Stay organized by tracking all your sales leads and client details. This will help you follow up and build strong relationships.

FROM ONE OF OUR PARTNERS — 13 Lawn Care & Landscaping Industry Trends

Win More Clients on the Spot With Quick and Professional Estimates

Want to see your landscaping business blossom? So does Joist. 

With our easy-to-use mobile tool, you can create and share professional estimates in minutes. Get helpful features like deposits, markups, contracts, and photo options to impress clients. With Joist’s help, you can stand out from the crowd and watch your landscaping business grow.