Winter is the Time to Peform Other Jobs and Prep for Spring
As a landscaper, spring and summer are your busy seasons. You’re performing landscape maintenance services. Your lawn care business is busy around the clock maintaining customer landscapes. Exploring new business directions can help you turn your lawn care company turn a profit year-round with multiple streams of revenue throughout the winter months.
But what do landscapers do in winter to earn extra income during those long winter months? Winter landscaping isn’t a possibility in northern climates where the ground is frozen and often encased in snow.
Winter Landscaping Services
As the colder months approach beginning in the fall, you’re going to have to offer a different variety of services to your customers. With the growing season ending in October or November for most grass varieties, lawn mowing will stop being a primary activity in the fall. If your landscaping service revolves around keeping residential yards in shape, you’ll have to be creative to come up with creative ways to make money during fall and late winter.
Services that you can perform as the winter season approaches are:
- Weed removal services: Weeds can take over once grass stops growing.
- Yard preparation: Prepare yards for the spring with lawn aeration, turfing, fertilizing, or liming. Educate your customers about how these practices support healthy lawns.
- Planting: You can still plant hardy shrubs and trees as long as the ground hasn’t frozen. Some oak species, cedars, willows, and pines can thrive in the fall and winter.
- Winter mulching: This practice insulates perennials from cold temperatures and helps annual crops thrive year-round.
Winterize Yards
Some landscaping professionals offer winterization packages designed to get yards ready for the cold weather in the upcoming winter months.
The great thing about winterization packages is that you can adapt the services to the unique features of each property.
What’s more, it’s an opportunity to educate customers about potential issues in their yard and upsell additional services that could lead to long-term client relationships.
Here are a few things your landscaping company can include as part of your winterization packages:
- Rake and clear out yards before getting rid of dead leaves, old plants, and weeds.
- Mow the yard one last time before the grass enters its dormant period. Cut it very short in order to prevent snow mold from taking root and causing damage to the lawn during the upcoming winter season.
- Lawn repair and seed some spots if needed or add another cover drop.
- Wrap evergreens in burlap to help these resilient trees absorb water once the ground freezes.
- Add tree wrap to protect trees from injuries caused by frost.
- Chicken wire installation or other similar methods to protect plants from wildlife.
- Blowout inground sprinklers – this removes the water from the inground sprinkler pipes which can freeze, expand and cause costly damage and repairs
Leaf Removal
Did you know that an acre of forest could produce as many as two tons of leaves each year? Leaf removal gives lawn care companies a steady revenue stream for the fall since most of your existing customers will need this service.
You can invest in a leaf vac or blower and get a chipper or shredder to dispose of the leaves.
In addition, offer leaf management solutions to stand out from the competition. A growing number of homeowners are turning their dead leaves into mulch or compost. You can also till the dead leaves into the ground to enhance the soil’s ability to retain water and nutrients.
Tree Care Services
You can offer your landscaping customers tree care services after the growing season has completely stopped and leaves have fallen. This is the perfect time to engage in tree pruning and tree trimming activities. Trees are dormant during this time frame, and with proper cuts, you won’t be harming trees. Just be sure that the tree services you offer are ok for your location. Many locations require a certified arborist to perform tree maintenance activities to residential customers.
Snow Removal
You can transition your lawn care business to a snow removal service to generate extra income. Snow removal is a popular seasonal activity among landscaping contractors. The snow removal season will typically correspond to your slowest months for your lawn care service, but the demand for the service can help offset any downturn in revenue.
To start, you’ll likely have to invest in a snow plow in order to be able to efficiently clear out heavy snow, but you could initially utilize a snowblower to clear and de-ice pathways and driveways. Elsewhere, you can reach out to commercial customers who need snow removal for parking lots.
You can sell year-round packages that include lawn maintenance and snow removal or offer a monthly subscription for snow removal only.
Snow removal can become a lucrative business to keep you going in the winter months until the snow melts. Experts predict that this market will grow at a rate that exceeds 4% a year in the near future. Regardless, the service may be an opportunity to meet new customers who might decide to use your lawn care company in the spring.
Pressure Washing
Branch out with a pressure washing service. It’s something you can do year-round, but it can keep you busy toward the end of winter when homeowners and businesses need help cleaning debris accumulated by snowplows.
You can pressure wash walls, driveways, and parking lots once you invest in a commercial pressure washer.
Gutter Cleaning
If you decide to invest in a pressure washer, you can extend your services to include gutter cleaning. In the fall, leaves will accumulate in gutters and form clogs, giving landscapers another revenue stream.
You can clean gutters with a specialized tool if you don’t want to purchase a pressure washer. Besides cleaning, your company could provide related services such as fixing cracks and leaks in gutters or installing gutter guards.
If you’re comfortable with heights, think about expanding into roof cleaning.
Christmas Lights Installation
What do lawn care companies do in the winter? Some landscapers provide Christmas light installation and removal services.
Americans buy 150 million Christmas light sets every year, meaning your company could profit from bringing some Christmas cheer to your community. You can even design original displays and start selling light sets.
If your Christmas light displays are a success, think about extending your services to Halloween displays for fall!
Landscape Design
You can take advantage of the down season to work indoors and focus on landscape design. Getting started in the fall or winter gives you plenty of time to find leads and create unique designs for your new customers.
Offering consultations to create customized designs can help you secure lifelong customers who will rely on your services to maintain the landscape you created.
You’ll have the time to research the latest trends and come up with beautiful designs that incorporate hardscape elements, outdoor lights, drought-tolerant plants, and other sustainable practices.
You might even want to think about forming business partnerships with other contractors who can help you make your vision come to life. For instance, you could work with professionals who install decks and patios or build firepits and outdoor cooking amenities.
Prepare for the Next Season
There are various tasks you can complete indoors to prepare for the next season and help your business thrive:
Remember Deadlines
The deadline for filing taxes is in March, but you can do tax prep in December. Sit down and go over your income and expenses for the year. As you review your findings, set some financial goals for the new year.
Review Revenues
Take a closer look at your company’s activities with the highest return and identify the revenue streams that are the least lucrative.
You can decide to make a few changes to how your business operates, whether to focus on the most profitable elements or figure out how to boost revenue from “underperforming” services.
Plan Out a Marketing Campaign
Prepare for the spring by designing a fresh marketing campaign. You can reach out to local outlets like radio stations, TV channels, social media pages, and relevant websites.
Take some time to learn about digital marketing for landscapers. For instance, writing blog posts about lawn care tips or weed control on your official site can help you generate leads and bring in new traffic. You should also look into social media marketing, SEO, and paid ads.
Start Hiring
Hire and train new employees ahead of the spring. You can take the time to conduct interviews and start training recruits before you get busy.
Invest in Yourself
Lastly, when considering the question, “what do lawn care companies do in the winter?” some landscapers focus on personal development.
With that in mind, take advantage of the slow season to obtain a new landscaping certification or learn about new tools and techniques. Understanding how to install irrigation systems could open up exciting opportunities for your business. You can also sign up for online business management classes.
The winter can even be a chance to take some time off work or achieve a better work-life balance so you get to spend some quality time with your loved ones before the busy season.