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Lawn Care Business Plan Template

A short, fill-in-the-blanks business plan for a mowing and yard care business. It covers what you sell, who you sell it to, what it costs to start and how many visits you need to break even. Download it as a Word file, print it or save it as a PDF.

Download Word (.docx)

How to use it

  1. Download the Word file, or copy the text into your own editor.
  2. Fill in every [highlighted] part. Rough numbers are fine for a first draft; the point is to see whether the business adds up.
  3. Work out your prices with the lawn mowing price calculator and your startup costs with the list in how to start a lawn care business.
  4. Check the break-even line. If you need more visits a month than you can physically do, change the price, the costs or the plan before you spend money.
  5. Update it once a year, before the season starts.

Lawn Care Business Plan

Business plan for [Your business name], prepared by [Your name] on [Date].

Replace every highlighted part with your own details and delete anything that does not apply. A plan for a one- or two-person lawn care business can fit on four or five pages.

1. Summary

[Your business name] offers [weekly and every-two-weeks mowing, trimming, edging and spring and fall cleanups] to [homeowners] in [your service area].

Goal for the first season: [40] regular customers at an average of [$45] a visit, which is about [$7,200] a month from [April] to [October].

Money needed to start: [$ amount, or none], to be used for [equipment, insurance and marketing].

2. Services and prices

  • Weekly mowing, trimming, edging and blowing: [$ per visit] for a typical [¼-acre] lawn.
  • Every-two-weeks mowing: [$ per visit].
  • Spring and fall cleanups: [$ per job, or $ per hour].
  • Add-ons: [mulching, hedge trimming, aeration, leaf removal].
  • Winter work, if any: [snow removal at $ per push or $ per season].

Prices are based on a target of [$ per hour] for each crew member, including drive time, and are reviewed every [spring].

3. Service area and customers

Service area: [ZIP codes or neighborhoods], all within about [15] minutes' drive of [home base].

Typical customer: [homeowners with ¼- to ½-acre lots who work full time; retirees; landlords and property managers].

Households in the area: [number, from the Census Bureau or your city's data].

4. Competition

Main competitors: [names of local companies and solo operators].

What they charge: [price range, from quotes, websites or neighbors].

How we will stand out: [same day every week, text reminders, photos after each visit, clear written agreements].

5. Marketing

  • Door hangers and flyers: [number] by [month], in [neighborhoods].
  • Google Business Profile with photos and reviews, set up by [date].
  • Neighborhood groups and Nextdoor: [how often you will post].
  • Referral offer: [$ off a month for each customer who refers a neighbor].
  • Yard signs and business cards: [number].

Marketing budget for the first season: [$].

6. Operations

Equipment: [mower, string trimmer, edger, blower, trailer, truck].

Schedule: [which areas on which days], aiming for [number] stops a day.

Paperwork: [estimates, service agreements and invoices], kept in [software or spreadsheet].

Help: [working alone / a helper from June to August].

7. Legal, licenses and insurance

Business structure: [sole proprietorship / LLC], registered with [state] on [date].

Licenses: [city or county business license; state pesticide applicator license if spraying or fertilizing for hire].

Insurance: [general liability, commercial auto, tools and equipment], about [$] a month.

Tax: [EIN if needed, sales tax registration if your state taxes lawn care, quarterly estimated tax payments].

8. Startup costs

  • Mower: [$]
  • Trimmer, edger and blower: [$]
  • Trailer and safety gear: [$]
  • Insurance, first payment: [$]
  • Licenses and registration: [$]
  • Marketing for the first season: [$]
  • Software and phone: [$]
  • Cash reserve for slow weeks and repairs: [$]

Total: [$]. Paid for by [savings / a loan / equipment financing].

9. Monthly costs and break-even

Fixed costs each month: [insurance, phone, software, loan or equipment payments] = [$].

Cost of each visit: [fuel, trimmer line, blades and repairs, dump fees] = about [$].

Visits needed to break even each month: [fixed costs] ÷ ([average price] − [cost of each visit]) = [number].

10. First-year sales forecast

  • [April]: [customers] customers × [visits] visits × [$ price] = [$]
  • [May]: [customers] customers × [visits] visits × [$ price] = [$]
  • [June to August]: [customers] customers × [visits] visits × [$ price] = [$]
  • [September and October]: [customers] customers × [visits] visits × [$ price] = [$]
  • [Fall cleanups and other extras]: [$]

Total for the year: [$]. Owner pay planned: [$ a month], taken once costs and tax savings are covered.

11. Milestones

  • By [date]: business registered, insured and licensed.
  • By [date]: first [10] customers signed.
  • By [date]: [30] regular customers and a full [Tuesday to Friday] route.
  • By [end of season]: decide whether to [hire a helper / add snow removal / buy a second mower].

Where to get the numbers

Prices

Start from your own time, not from a competitor's flyer. A price per visit should cover the drive, the mowing, the trimming and blowing, and a fair hourly rate for you. The mowing calculator does this from your mower size and lawn size. To see what homeowners are used to paying, compare your number with the lawn care pricing chart.

Service area and households

Draw your area by drive time rather than by city limits, because windshield time is unpaid time. The Census Bureau's QuickFacts gives the number of households and the share of owner-occupied homes for most towns and counties, which is a quick way to see how many potential customers live in your area.

Startup and monthly costs

Get equipment prices from a local dealer, new and used, and insurance quotes from at least two agents. Our lawn care insurance guide lists which policies to ask about and the median prices insurers publish, so you can tell whether a quote is in the normal range.

A break-even example

Say your fixed costs are $600 a month: $150 for insurance, $50 for your phone, $40 for software and a $360 equipment payment. Fuel, trimmer line, blades and repairs come to about $8 a visit, and your average price is $45. Each visit then leaves $37 toward the fixed costs, so you need $600 ÷ $37 = 16.2, or 17 visits a month, before you earn anything for yourself. Everything above that is your pay and your tax money.

Sales forecast

Count visits, not customers. In most of the country mowing slows in late summer and stops in late fall, so a customer is worth more visits in May than in September. Forecast month by month, and keep the first season modest: it takes time to fill a route.

Questions

Do I need a business plan to start a lawn care business?

Not to get started: nobody checks. But a few pages of numbers stop the most common mistake, which is charging too little to cover insurance, equipment and slow weeks. If you want a loan or equipment financing, the lender will usually ask for one.

What do lenders look for?

Mainly whether the numbers are believable: prices that match the local market, costs you have actually checked, and a sales forecast that grows step by step. The SBA's guide to writing a business plan explains the longer, traditional format if a lender wants it.

How long should a lawn care business plan be?

For a one- or two-person business, four or five pages is plenty. Spend your time on the prices, costs and break-even sections; those are the parts you will come back to.

Is there a PDF version?

Use “Print or save as PDF” above and choose “Save as PDF” as the printer. You get a clean copy of the template without the rest of the page.

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