Lawn Landscaping Business Plan

Greens Manicure Service will be targeting one specific segment of the population, suburban middle-class families with no children and larger lawns. This group of people are the most likely to use a lawn care service such as Steve’s.

Steve will be canvassing his parents neighborhood, developing a client list. For the second year, Steve will expand service beyond his general neighborhood, utilizing advertisements in the local newspaper to develop visibility for Greens Manicure Service.

4.1 Service Business Analysis

Greens Manicure Service will be working in the lawn care industry. The industry is both residential business (individual home) and commercial businesses (apartment complexes, business parks, schools, etc.).

The commercial side is generally serviced by larger landscaping services. The residential side is serviced by both landscaping companies and basic lawn care service companies.

The lawn care business is made up of many small companies. This occurs because of the high labor intensity, low start-up costs, nature of the industry. The industry is also vulnerable to recessions as lawn care is a luxury. Lasty, lawn care is seasonal, the high season is spring through fall. There is little activity in the winter.

4.1.1 Competition and Buying Patterns

The lawn care business can be divided into two types, residential and commercial. As a smaller company or start up business, it is much easier to enter into the residential market compared with the commercial market. The commercial market is dominated by larger, established companies.

Within the residential market, there are two competitors: full-scale landscaping companies and basic lawn care services. The full-scale landscaping companies will generally be handling jobs outside of Green’s range. They are servicing even larger homes that require other landscaping activities that need more equipment and higher-skilled employees. The margins are therefore larger for the full-scale companies because they can charge more for the higher-skilled work. The other competitor is the basic lawn care services, not unlike Greens Manicure Service. Most markets, including Greens, the competition is not overwhelming and often lacks basic quality and professionalism.

More often than not, residential customers make purchasing decisions based on referrals and perceived professionalism and quality.

4.2 Target Market Segment Strategy

Greens Manicure Service’s segment will be initially targeted by canvassing the neighborhood and offering a free estimate and cut. Steve will be basing the business out of his parents home, right in the middle of a target neighborhood. Steve will walk the neighborhood and leverage his relationship in this community to gain a foothold. Although some people are put off by solicitors, Steve is their neighbor so he will generally be able to make his spiel.

Once Steve  has built up a steady list of customers he will begin to run advertisements in the local paper to gain a foothold in different neighborhoods. This will take place during the second year as Steve will have sufficient business for year one in his neighborhood.

4.3 Market Segmentation

Greens Manicure Service will be targeting one specific group of customers, the suburban middle class. Greens is targeting middle-aged homemakers as they are more likely to rely on a lawn service. Younger homemakers are more likely to do their lawn themselves. Greens will also be targeting homes that do not have teenage children, as the youngsters are likely to help out with the lawn. The median income is $60-$120K, just enough to have disposable income for the care of their lawn. Greens Manicure Service will be targeting larger size lawns, from 4,000-7,000 square feet. This is done because the margins are higher with larger lawns once you factor in transportation time and costs. Lastly, white collar families will be targeted instead of blue collar families as the blue collar families are more likely to do the lawn themselves.