How to Write a Business Plan for Landscaping
A business plan is a crucial part of any successful landscaping business. The business plan isn't just used to get financing. Its also used to create goals, focus on profitable business activity, and measure success. Here's how to write a business plan for a landscaping business.
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Instructions
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Write an executive summary. Your summary should include your landscaping business' mission statement as well as outline its history and accomplishments to date. It needs to define your services, describe your facilities, and provide information about the number of employees. Finally it should include your goals for your landscaping business, including profits as well as expansion plans, if any.
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Conduct a market analysis. Who are your customers? What are their demographics (age, socioeconomic status, etc)? Where can you reach them (where do they go? what do they read? etc) and how do you plan to market to them (advertising, referrals, etc). For example, your market can include homeowners or businesses. Many probably read gardening magazines.
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Determine your competition. What other landscape companies offer services similar to yours? What markets do they target? What do they do well? What do you do better? How can you establish your business identity as separate from your competition? Are you faster? Less expensive? Do you specialize in a specific type of landscaping?
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Describe the management of your landscaping business. Who is in charge of the day-to-day operations? Who are other members of the management team and what are their duties? What are your and your management team's skills and expertise, education and certifications as they relate to landscaping or running a business?
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Provide details of the operations. What are the daily activities involved in running a successful landscaping business? For example, what is the process for scheduling service and notifying the landscape crew? Who makes sure the equipment is in good condition?
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Provide financial information. What are the anticipated expenses and projected earnings of the landscape business over the next 12 months? What are the company's liabilities (e.g. loans)? What is the value of current assets (e.g. equipment)? This section also includes bank and other financial statements for the last few months if applicable (a brand new business will not have past bank statements).
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Add an appendix for additional information. Items that don't fit in the previous categories but are part of the business go here. This includes intellectual property protection, permits or licenses, logos, and contracts.
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Package the business plan into a report. If you intend to use your business plan to attract financing or investors, add a cover sheet and put all the items in a professional folder. But even if your plan is for you only, put it together in a nice report that you can refer to when needed.
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Tips & Warnings
Business plans are not static reports that are written and then filed away. The are living documents that provide direction and can be changed when needed to better achieve the landscape business's goals.
