If you’re starting a new lawn care and landscaping business, then you already know there’s more to it than just buying a lawnmower and cutting people’s grass. But what other equipment do you really need and which equipment is optional?
In this article, we’ll be taking a quick look at the different types of equipment that will be useful to you as a lawn and landscape professional. Some of this equipment you’ll use no matter what the focus of your business. For other equipment, whether or not you need it will depend on which services you offer starting out and how you plan to expand in the future.
Lawnmower
Yes, I know we said this article is going “beyond the mower.” And it will. We just need to spend some time talking about mowers first because there are so many options for a lawn and landscaping business. Gas or electric? Walk-behind or ride-on? Sitting or standing mowers? The list of possibilities just goes on and on. If you’re still trying to figure out which lawnmower, or mowers, will work best for you here are some articles that can help:
- Top 5 Reasons Landscape Professionals Still Like Using Intermediate Walk-Behind Mowers
- 5 Facts That Will Make You Want A Stand-On Mower For Your Lawn Care Business
- Pros and Cons of a Zero-Turn Mower
- Click here to access our lawnmower archives for more helpful articles
Trimmers and Edgers
One of the ways to make your lawn care services stand-out from someone who’s just casually mowing lawns is by trimming and edging the yard. Lawnmowers can’t go everywhere, and so you’ll need trimmers for the hard-to-reach places. Trimmers help you keep customer lawns looking clean and properly maintained.
Edgers serve a similar function. They’re used to create sharp, clean edges along sidewalks, driveways, patios, and flower gardens. You can make do with a trimmer for this task. However, using an edger is the fastest, easiest way to achieve a professional look to the edges of a lawn.
If you’re going to offer landscaping services in addition to lawn care, you’ll probably also want to invest in at least one style of hedge trimmer. These tools help you quickly cut overgrown hedges and trim hedges to keep them from becoming overgrown. A double-sided gasoline-powered hedge trimmer is a good choice for most trimming tasks. You can also get extended reach and single-side models.
Clean-Up Tools
Blowers are another tool that help you keep customer lawns clean. They’re very useful in the autumn after leaves start falling. You can also use them year-round to clean loose dirt and cut grass off patios, porches, and sidewalks.
Leaf vacuums can also be very useful. These tools pick up leaves instead of just moving them around, making them a great choice for cleaning up a yard. Most also shred the leaves so they take up less room when you’re disposing of them.
Spreaders and Sprayers
If you want to go beyond mowing and also offer services that will help keep the grass lush and healthy, then you’re probably going to need a spreader. These tools are used for applying dry fertilizers and herbicides, as well as for seeding a new lawn. We carry manual walk-behind models as well as powered spreaders here at Richardson Saw. The power spreaders also double as sprayers.
Sprayers are useful tools for applying liquid fertilizer and/or weed killers. Available sprayers range from small hand-held models that hold less than half a gallon, to large back-pack sprayers powered by a gasoline motor.
Lawn Renovation Tools
Not every lawn care business needs turf renovation tools like an aerator, sod cutter, and lawn roller, at least when you’re starting out. Whether or not you purchase these tools is going to depend on exactly what services you’re offering and how much you’ll use each tool.
For example, there’s little point in purchasing a sod cutter if you’ll only use it for one project every couple of years. In that case, it’s more cost-effective to rent one for the day. To use another example, if you’ll be aerating every customer’s lawn once a year it might work out well for you to purchase your own aerator. Which tools you’ll need all depends on what services you offer.
Vehicle and Trailer
Assuming your customers aren’t all your next-door neighbors, you’re going to need a way to get your lawn equipment from one location to the next. Landscaping experts recommend a heavy-duty flatbed truck, preferably one with a locking toolbox mounted on the flatbed. Depending on the exact type of work you’re doing, it may be really useful if the truck has a dumping mechanism for quickly unloading topsoil and mulch.
You’ll also need a utility trailer if you haul lots of equipment, don’t want to hoist everything in and out of the truck, or need to haul larger mowers that won’t fit in the back of a truck. Most trailers like this are not specifically designed for landscapers. You can customize your trailer for lawn equipment using straps and mounts such as the ones by Trimmer Trap. These are designed to hold landscape equipment and keep it safe during transport.
Safety Equipment
Maybe you don’t think about needing safety equipment just to work with something like lawnmowers and trimmers, but it’s still a good idea. This is true even if you’re the only employee and it’s especially important once you start hiring others to work for you.
Hearing protection is vital since most lawn equipment operates at a sound level that’s at or above the level where OSHA guidelines say hearing damage can occur. You’ll also want eye protection to keep debris from flying back into workers’ eyes. Work gloves protect your hands and provide a sturdier grip on equipment handles. Steel-toed work shoes are also a must since you’ll be using equipment with sharp cutting blades at ground level.
We carry most of the equipment on this list here at Richardson Saw and Lawnmower. Our friendly, knowledgeable equipment professionals will be happy to help you by answering any questions you might have about your options for commercial lawn and landscaping equipment. Just stop by and visit us, give us a call at 972-235-2086, or send an email to sales@RichardsonSaw.com.
