Private Equity Firms Buying Landscaping Companies

Commercial landscaping and grounds maintenance has been a steady target for private equity for years. Office parks, homeowner associations, hospitals and retail centers need mowing, planting, irrigation and snow removal every season, usually under contracts that renew year after year. The industry is also made up of thousands of local companies, which gives a buyer with a regional platform a long list of businesses to add.

Buyers draw a sharp line between maintenance and project work. Recurring maintenance contracts are valued most, because revenue is predictable and customers rarely switch when service is good. Installation and enhancement projects are welcome but are treated more like construction. Residential lawn care, tree care and snow removal each have their own buyers: some platforms focus only on commercial grounds, others on residential lawn and pest programs, and a few on tree work for utilities and towns.

In diligence, expect questions about contract renewal rates, the share of revenue from the ten largest customers, crew productivity and where labor comes from, seasonality, and the state of the mowers, trucks and other equipment. Many landscaping companies rely on seasonal workers hired through the H-2B visa program, so buyers will want to know how dependent the business is on it. Snow removal revenue swings with the weather, so buyers often look at several winters before putting a value on it.

Most firms on this page already own a landscaping or outdoor services group and buy local companies as add-ons. For an owner, the important questions are whether your branch managers and account managers will stay in their roles, whether your brand will survive, how your crews' pay and benefits will change, and whether part of the price will depend on keeping key contracts after closing.

It also helps to think about timing. Buyers prefer to see a full season of results, and a sale that closes just before your busiest months may be priced differently from one that closes after them.

Greymont is paid by buyers, never by owners. Greymont can help you work out which of these buyers are adding landscaping companies in your region now, and which would value your mix of maintenance and project work.