Winterizing Your Landscaping Business
The weather outside is getting colder. For landscapers and lawn care providers, that may mean work starts to slow down. But that doesn’t mean your business needs to follow. The following are five tips for how to winterize your landscaping business, from keeping income flowing to preparing to make next year your most profitable one yet.
- Start transitioning your services in the fall
If you haven’t already, figure out how you can adapt some of your landscaping services to the late autumn/winter months. From landscape lighting (hello, Christmas lights) to snow removal and even splitting wood, there are plenty of smaller services you can provide to get through the slower season.
Don’t forget to let your customers know about your winter services. Update your website, make announcements on your social pages, and give your customers flyers while performing your fall cleanup projects.
- Map out your equipment maintenance
Winter is a great time to start working on equipment maintenance in preparation for next year. From your fleet to lawn care equipment, use these slower months to ensure your inventory is still safe and efficient.
Got a feeling you might need a new mower? Prioritize winter maintenance early, as you’re more likely to find steep discounts and deals on landscaping and lawn care equipment.
- Talk to your insurance agent
The business insurance you had during your busy seasons may need to change to accommodate the fact that you’re slowing down. Besides, you don’t want to overpay for coverage you’re not using, so it’s worth checking out how your landscaping insurance policy may be impacted by the winter months.
Here are a few key signs that you may want to temporarily change your coverage levels:
- You’ve temporarily let go of some or all your employees.
- You’re storing your tools and equipment somewhere other than your home.
- You’re not working on client sites for a specific period of time.
- You’re offering different services, such as snow plowing or exterior lighting.
Resist the urge to cancel your business insurance outright, as this move could end up costing you more money to start your policy back up in the spring.
- Plan out the next year
Your slower months can give you a much-needed chance to breathe. Why not take that time to plan out your budget and goals for the upcoming year?
Set a yearly objective for your business (such as how much revenue you want to make) and break that objective down into monthly goals. From there, detail how many clients and projects you’ll need to achieve those goals. Add in any additional details, such as how many employees you’ll need to tackle these projects and what you’ll have to charge to achieve your objective.
Having this objective set out before your year begins can be essential for avoiding any nasty mid-year surprises – such as finding out you’re not bringing in enough money.
- Get started earlier than your competition
Depending on where you live, your landscaping business may be gearing up for the busy spring season as early as March. But if you want to get a head start on your competition, we recommend starting your spring work as early as February.
A few examples of early spring work include:
- Meeting with customers to create a lawn care plan for the new year.
- Setting up pre-payment options for your regular customers (entice them with a discount if they opt to pay up front).
- Get any training and licensing you may need to offer new services throughout the year.
- Start looking for new hires, as the slower season means you can really focus on finding the right fit.
By the time spring rolls around, your landscape or lawn care business will have already left your competition behind.
Article provided by Simply Business, an online business insurance brokerage that lets customers compare and buy policies from top insurers. With over a decade of experience (and still growing!), we’re aiming to make business insurance clear and simple for busy professionals. After all, you’ve got a business to run. That’s we offer the best coverage to protect it. For more information, visit https://www.simplybusiness.com/business-insurance/landscaping/
