Get to know LCOs

I’ve been with Lawn & Landscape for almost 12 years in different editorial roles. I’ve always viewed maintenance, design/build, irrigation and lawn care as the four main services provided by landscapers. Tree care always seemed to be its own entity because arborists do a lot of their work in the air and not on the turf.

But in recent years, I’ve heard from both lawn care operators and landscapers that lawn care is almost its own industry, which surprises me.

I understand the products and equipment used to apply those products can be different but, overall, you are keeping a lawn healthy.

Those conversations ended up resulting in the 2022 Lawn Care report, which is our cover story this month that starts on page 32.

We wanted to find out how the lawn care market is performing, in particular. For the research, we printed the results from companies that generate 50% or more of their revenue from lawn care services.

But here, I want to show some numbers from all of the people who took the survey compared to those who have more than 50% of revenue generated from lawn care services.

• For the 50% or more portion, 9% said they sub out lawn care while 19% of everyone who took the survey sub out lawn care work.

• 47% of those in the 50% or more club offer organic lawn care services, while 38% of everyone who took the survey offer organic.

• As far as the challenges we asked people to rank, the order of concern was pretty consistent for both camps. Fuel was at the top, along with keeping up with demand and weather. Callbacks were at the bottom of the list.

• Early order programs are becoming more popular, with 64% of the heavy lawn care companies participating while only 47% of all respondents participate.

• One significant difference is perceived customer confidence. For the lawn care heavy group, 70% described customer confidence in the market as strong, while it was only at 56% for all respondents.

So do you see lawn care as its own industry, or are there more similarities than differences? Let me hear your thoughts at bhorn@gie.net.