Hedgerow Landscapes
“Maintenance contracts carry the winter. Build jobs pay for the vans.”
Estimate · Based on similar landscaping businesses in Australia, including ones that closed.
Estimate
✓Your budget should cover this.
Bills run about $680 a month (fuel, insurance, rent, phone). Most owners make a profit after about 3 months. Keep this much aside to pay bills until then.
Pay tip fees. Some states need a licence to carry certain waste.
Only if you spray: a chemical user or pest management licence from your state.
Get a free ABN from the Australian Business Register. Register a business name with ASIC (about A$45 a year) if you trade under one.
Free to about A$10 a month. Keeps business money apart from yours.
Sets up your books and files your first tax return.
Estimate · Before costs. Busiest April–October.
| Slow | Typical | Strong | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | $3.4k | $6.4k | $12.2k |
| Year 3 | $8.9k | $15.3k | $26.3k |
| Year 5 | $11.2k | $19.9k | $35.4k |
Slow: 1 in 4 make less than this. Typical: half make more, half make less. Strong: 1 in 4 make more than this.
Estimate
“Maintenance contracts carry the winter. Build jobs pay for the vans.”
“We sell the winter pruning contract in October, before anyone thinks about their garden.”
Mow Better Lawns earned well from April to September and almost nothing from November to February. With no winter work and no savings plan, Jake Lowe ran out of cash every January and borrowed to restart in spring. After the third winter he stopped.
Estimate
$13.3k
about $124k
Starting costs about $111k less. Buying costs more, but you earn from the first month and skip the risky early years.
“The brand brings the phone calls. Keeping the crews busy in February is still my job.”