Buying a Landscaping Business: What It Costs to Buy an Existing Landscaping Company

An existing US landscaping or lawn care company cost a median $425,000 to buy across 2021 to 2025, based on 945 closed BizBuySell sales, on median revenue of $708,412 and median owner earnings of $187,761. Financed with an SBA 7(a) loan at 10 percent down, the cash you bring to that purchase is about $51,106 for the equity injection and the SBA guaranty fee, before working capital and closing costs. The trucks and mowers usually come inside the price. What they will cost you to replace is the number that decides whether the deal works.

Most pages that answer this question price starting a company: a used truck, a trailer, two mowers and some marketing. Buying a running company is a different purchase. You pay for customers, crews and route density that already exist, and the price is set by the company's earnings, its contracts and what a lender will lend against them.

How much does it cost to buy a landscaping business?

The median landscaping company sold for $425,000, which is 2.26 times its $187,761 of seller discretionary earnings. The published median multiple is 2.30x and half of all landscaping and yard service companies sold between 1.70x and 3.01x. In 2025 the median sale was $480,000, the highest in the five-year record, and the average earnings multiple rose in every year from 2.30x in 2021 to 2.55x in 2025.

Seller discretionary earnings (SDE) is net profit plus the owner's pay, benefits, interest, depreciation and one-time costs, the cash one full-time owner takes out. If you need a refresher on how to calculate SDE from a seller's tax return, start there. Then read the price off the earnings of the company in front of you:

Which column applies depends mostly on size and on how much of the revenue is under contract. BizBuySell states that a company consistently generating close to $1.5 million of sales may sell for more than 3x, and a yard care business below $400,000 around 1.7x or lower. The sold revenue quartiles, $344,007 and $1,429,968, sit close to those thresholds. The full distribution, the year-by-year record and a comparison with sixteen other service categories are on our landscaping business valuation page.

How much money do you need to buy a landscaping business?

On a $425,000 landscaping company financed with an SBA 7(a) loan, plan on about $51,106 of cash for the 10 percent injection and the guaranty fee. A small route at the lower quartile needs about $19,306. Here is the arithmetic at three price points, computed at 10 years and 10.5 percent:

Fee tiers follow the FY2026 SBA schedule: 2 percent when the guaranteed portion is $150,000 or less, 3 percent on loans from $150,001 to $700,000. Add working capital, because a landscaping company pays crews every week in spring while commercial customers pay on 30 or 60 day terms, plus legal fees, title transfers on every vehicle and trailer, and new insurance. Our guide to using an SBA loan to buy a business covers the full closing list.

The last row is the one to study. The small company cannot carry both a full owner salary and an equipment budget, which is why companies that size sell to owner-operators who still run a crew themselves. The median company can, with about $15,500 a year of cushion.

Is the equipment included when you buy a landscaping business?

Usually, yes. In a typical small landscaping asset sale the trucks, trailers, mowers, skid steers and hand tools transfer with the business and sit inside the purchase price. That is exactly why the equipment deserves more attention than the price. You are buying a fleet at whatever age the seller left it, and replacing it comes out of the same cash flow that pays the bank.

The market already prices this. Our calculation on the landscaping valuation page shows that a lender would support about $591,566 for the median company at an $80,000 owner draw, yet the median sale is $425,000. The difference equals setting aside about $30,342 a year to replace equipment, roughly 4.3 percent of revenue. Before you make an offer:

• Get a unit-by-unit equipment list with year, hours or mileage, condition and replacement cost. A fleet replaced in the last two or three years is worth paying above the median for; one running ten year old trucks is worth less.
• Check titles and liens. Trucks and big mowers are often financed. The seller's equipment loans must be paid off at closing, and every title must transfer clean.
• Compare depreciation to real spending. If the seller's depreciation add-back is large but they bought almost nothing in the last two years, the earnings look better than the fleet is.

What should you check before buying a landscaping company?

Check three things before the price: how much revenue is under contract, how much of the work the seller does personally, and how concentrated the customers are. Each one moves a landscaping company further between the lower and upper quartile than revenue does.

• The contract book. Ask for every maintenance agreement with its term, renewal date and annual value, and split revenue into recurring maintenance, installation and design, and snow. BizBuySell says buyers look for substantial recurring revenue in maintenance agreements and long-term contracts, and that commercial contracts raise value. Check whether the commercial contracts can be assigned to a new owner or need the customer's consent.
• The seller's own labor. If the seller runs a crew, bids every job and holds the property manager relationships, those hours are inside SDE. Replacing the seller on a crew with a worker at the $40,080 median pay the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports for grounds maintenance workers cuts what an SBA buyer can pay for the median company from $591,566 to about $371,542. Plan the handover before closing: who estimates, who schedules, and how you will route incoming service requests to the right crew leader once the seller is no longer the one answering the phone.
• Customer concentration. CT Acquisitions, an M&A adviser, calls a top ten under 40 percent of revenue healthy for commercial-led operators and over 60 percent a material risk. One HOA or property manager with a large share can walk with the change of ownership.
• Seasonality and snow. In northern markets, find out how much winter revenue is on signed seasonal snow contracts and how much depended on the weather. CT Acquisitions reports a 0.5x to 1x premium for documented multi-winter snow contracts; weather-dependent plowing is revenue a lender will discount.

Can you get an SBA loan to buy a landscaping business?

Yes, and landscaping finances more easily than most small businesses: the median company's earnings cover its debt service about 3.03 times. That is well above the 1.25x a lender typically requires, and it is why a price above the median can still finance if the fleet is in good shape. The constraint is not the loan. It is whether the cash left after the loan pays you and keeps the equipment running.

If the purchase price has an intangible portion above $250,000, the lender will order an independent business valuation for the SBA loan under SBA rules, which is a cost to budget. Our page on what a business valuation costs shows the fee as a share of the price for landscaping and fourteen other sectors: 0.35 to 1.88 percent of a $425,000 sale for a calculation, and 1.18 to 3.53 percent for a full report.

Is buying a landscaping business a good investment?

On the sold record it is one of the more consistent service businesses to buy. Owner margins held between 25.9 and 31.0 percent in every year from 2021 to 2025, multiples rose every year, and the median company earns enough to cover SBA debt three times over. The trade-offs are low barriers to entry, which keep multiples below the service average of 2.62x, weekly payroll through the season, and a fleet that needs steady reinvestment. A company with signed maintenance contracts and a documented equipment list is the version worth paying for.

How much does a landscaping business owner make?

The median landscaping company that sold produced $187,761 of seller discretionary earnings on $708,412 of revenue, a 26.5 percent margin. The lower quartile earned $100,056 and the upper quartile $354,201. A financed buyer of the median company keeps about $125,800 after debt service, before paying themselves or setting money aside for equipment.

What multiple should I pay for a landscaping business?

Half of landscaping companies sold between 1.70x and 3.01x owner earnings, with a median of 2.30x. Pay toward 3x only for a company near $1.5 million of revenue with most of it under maintenance contracts and a recently replaced fleet. Listings ask a median 2.77x against 2.30x for companies that sold, so treat a listing above 3x as asking for the top quarter.

How long does it take to buy a landscaping business?

The median company that sold spent 182 days on the market. Aim to close before spring. A buyer who takes over in March inherits a full season of maintenance revenue to service the loan from; one who closes in November carries payroll and debt service through the slowest months first.

How do I know if a landscaping company is priced fairly?

Rebuild owner earnings from the tax returns, subtract a realistic equipment budget and the cost of replacing the seller's own labor, then compare the asking price with the sold range for a company that size. The landscaping business valuation page carries the full sold distribution and the financing math side by side, and the estimator at the top of this page gives you a range for a specific listing in a few minutes.