How to buy a landscaping business: where deals come from, what to check and how to pay

Part of the Landscaping guide: buying, selling, valuation and who is buying.

This guide is for someone who wants to own a landscaping company and has never bought a business. By the end you will know how to buy a landscaping business step by step: where deals come from, the checks that matter in this trade, how crews and seasons change the numbers, and how an SBA loan fits. It sits under our landscaping buying and selling hub.

Step 1: What kind of landscaping business do you want?

Decide this before you look at a single listing. Landscaping covers very different businesses.

• Commercial maintenance: contracts with office parks, homeowner associations and apartment owners. Steady and recurring, but bid hard on price.
• Residential maintenance: many small accounts, more customer churn, often higher prices per visit.
• Design-build: one-off projects such as patios, walls and plantings. Good margins, but you must sell every job again.
• Specialty: irrigation, tree care, snow removal, lawn treatment.

Then set your buy box: price range, how far from home, minimum earnings, and whether you will run it yourself. A buyer with $150,000 of cash and no landscaping background should usually look for a maintenance company with a manager or senior crew lead in place.

Step 2: Where do landscaping deals come from?

There are two pools of deals.

Listed deals sit on business-for-sale marketplaces and broker sites. In our October 2026 asking-multiples report, our agents read 42 landscaping listings across 15+ marketplaces. The 41 with a disclosed price asked a median $900,000, and the middle half sat between $500,000 and $1,600,000. So most listed landscaping companies are small and owner-run.

Off-market deals come from owners who have not listed. You reach them through letters, calls, equipment dealers, suppliers and advisors who know which owners are tired. Less competition, more work. Good buyers run both pools at once.

Step 3: How do you check the contracts and revenue?

The contracts are the asset you are paying for. Ask for every maintenance agreement and check:

1. Renewal rate. What share of last year's contracts renewed? Ask for three years.
2. Term and notice. Many commercial contracts can be ended on 30 days' notice. Know how many.
3. Transfer. Some contracts need the customer's consent to move to a new owner. Your lawyer should read them.
4. Concentration. One property manager over 20 to 25% of revenue is a risk the price should reflect.
5. Mix. Split revenue into maintenance, enhancements, design-build and snow. Value the recurring part higher.

Then match the revenue to the bank statements and tax returns. Cash jobs that appear in the seller's story but not in the deposits are not earnings you are buying.

Step 4: How do you check the crews and H-2B workers?

Labour is the hardest part of landscaping. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' grounds maintenance workers page puts median pay at $40,080 in 2025 and says some work is seasonal, busiest in spring, summer and fall. Ask how many crew members return each year, and what crew leads are paid.

Many landscapers fill seasonal crews through the H-2B visa program. The Department of Labor's H-2B program page says an employer must get an approved temporary labour certification from the Department before petitioning immigration authorities. USCIS states the yearly cap is 66,000 visas, and the cap for the first half of fiscal 2027 was reached in September 2026. A Congressional Research Service report names landscaping workers as a top H-2B occupation in recent years.

What this means for you:

• Count how many workers depend on visas, and what happens to revenue if they do not arrive.
• Check that the H-2B filings are current and complete. The DOL's Wage and Hour H-2B page lists the employer's duties, including the required wage for the whole certified period.
• Ask an immigration lawyer how a change of owner affects pending filings.

Step 5: How do you check the equipment and licences?

Mowers, trucks, trailers and skid steers wear out fast. Get a list with the age, hours and condition of every unit. Ask what was replaced in the last three years and what is due. If the fleet is worn, the price should reflect what you will spend in year one, or the seller should leave you a reserve.

Check licences next. The EPA's certification standards page says anyone who applies restricted use pesticides must be certified, that states issue the certifications, and that some states require certification for other commercial pesticide use. If the seller holds the only applicator licence, plan who will hold it after closing. Irrigation and tree work can have their own state rules too.

Step 6: How do the seasons change the deal?

Look at monthly revenue and cash for three years, not just the yearly total. In most of the country, revenue drops in winter while some costs keep going. You need enough working capital to carry the slow months, and the lender will want to see it in your plan.

Snow removal can fill the winter but swings with the weather. A business in the South may run all year. Time the close so you take over before the busy season, not halfway through it, if you can.

Step 7: How do you finance it with an SBA loan?

Most first-time buyers combine an SBA 7(a) loan, their own cash and a seller note. The SBA states on its 7(a) loan page that the maximum loan is $5 million. The lender rules are in the SBA's standard operating procedure, which requires the buyer to put in equity on a business purchase, usually at least 10% of the project cost. Project cost is the price plus closing costs and working capital.

A seller note keeps the seller interested in a smooth handover. Under the SBA rules, a seller note counts toward your equity only in limited cases, so ask a lender early how your deal would be set up.

Run the payments in our SBA loan calculator before you make an offer. Lenders look at whether the earnings cover the loan payments with room to spare, after your own salary. Acquisitions.com is an advisory firm, not a lender; we introduce buyers to lenders and investors.

Step 8: What are the red flags?

Walk away, or change the price or terms, when you see these:

Most problems found in diligence are solved by structure: a lower price, a bigger seller note or an earn-out tied to contract renewals. If you want an advisor on your side and deal flow screened to your buy box, see how we help buyers.