When it comes to lawn care or landscaping jobs, for a long time the belief was that these types of roles were no more than part-time gigs or something that you might do while actively searching for something better.
But that’s simply not the case.
The truth is, lawn care or landscaping jobs can be great careers, assuming that you find the right company to work for. These types of positions can be rewarding and offer generous benefits—and yes, they can pay well too. After all, without a decent salary, it wouldn’t matter how much you might love a certain job! It’s simply not sustainable if it doesn’t pay the bills.
Whether you’ve worked in the industry before or not, you might be wondering how much do lawn care workers or landscapers make at Grassperson? You want to know if this is potentially a career for you.
We’re going to give you the inside scoop.
Before getting into salaries and answering how much do landscapers make, we first need to explain the various career opportunities that exist at our company as these will impact the earning potential.
Here are the three primary positions that we’re likely to be hiring for:
Let’s look at how much each of these roles pay. (This article is published in early 2020).
At Grassperson, our minimum wage is dictated by the Department of Labor’s prevailing wage rate, since we utilize the visa program. This year, that wage is set at $13.75.
The starting wage for crew members on either a maintenance or landscaping crew is between $13.75 and $16 an hour, depending upon experience.
For crew leaders, the range is more like $16 to $19 an hour, also depending upon experience.
Our lawn care technicians require a different skill set and are compensated more heavily as a result. Lawn care technicians are typically in a truck, by themselves, working autonomously. They must have incredibly strong communication skills as they are generally communicating directly with the client more than other positions. They also require more training for the job tasks that they are performing.
For these reasons, the average lawn care technician salary is usually around $15 to $20 per hour.
It’s also worth mentioning that we do also hire irrigation technicians, which is even more of a specialty trade than our other roles. These pros must have horticultural knowledge and a good understanding of landscape water requirements. There is also a strong need for mechanical aptitude since irrigation techs are diagnosing and fixing problems.
Irrigation technicians make between $18 and $25 an hour.
When we hire for any of these roles we’ve discussed, we are looking to hire people who want to stay with the company for the long-haul. We’re committed not only to providing a competitive wage (better than average in our local area), but other attractive incentives.
Some of the things that help us work toward our goal of being the “employer of choice” in our region include the fact that we offer year-round employment (rather than “seasonal” like most landscaping companies), we pay weekly, and we offer competitive benefits.
Another really big incentive is that we offer overtime. While you might be making $14 an hour, you have the opportunity to earn $21 an hour with overtime. Now you’re talking about a more substantial yearly salary. Plus, there’s room to grow and continue to climb the pay scale.
Of course, this is not how all lawn care or landscaping companies operate.
For a lot of lawn care and landscaping jobs, workers do need to go out and find a second job. But our business model is that we’d rather provide you with those additional hours you might want so that you don’t have to go out and work somewhere else in order to be able to earn a living.
These days, there is more awareness of the importance of skilled trade professions than ever before. Because there is such a lack of skilled tradespeople out there, roles such as carpenters, roofers, and road crews are more desired than ever (and they’re paying better as a result).
But landscaping has really climbed that list, perhaps faster than others. In fact, US News & World Report recently named landscaping as one of the best jobs without a college degree for 2020.
But how does Grassperson stack up against other trade industries in our area?
While we aren’t sure exactly what other trades pay, we can tell you that we have crew leaders who are making $50,000 to $60,000 a year. They came in as crew members and took advantage of the opportunities to advance.
We have irrigation technicians who are making as much as $60,000 to $70,000 a year.
We suspect that if you compare this to what other skilled tradespeople are making, it’s a good living. Plus, it so happens to be a career choice that many people really love. You get the opportunity to spend a lot of your time outside and to see the fruition of your hard work result in a noticeable change. A lot of people find lawn care and landscaping quite rewarding for these reasons.
If this sounds like something that you’re interested in pursuing, then we invite you to learn more about Grassperson. In fact, we have an entire Career Center dedicated to answering some of the questions that you might have not only about landscaping or lawn care technician salary details but about what it’s like to work here on a daily basis.
If you’re considering a career in the lawn care or landscaping industry, we want to be here to support you.
Plus, we know that you just want to be able to earn an honest living at a place where you actually enjoy working. At Grassperson, we are incredibly focused on making our workplace just that.
At Grassperson, we are always looking for great people to join our team, regardless of whether they have worked in the industry before or not! If this sounds appealing to you, we invite you to check out our open positions today.
