Learn About the Landscaper Job Description, Salary, and Requirements.
Landscape Laborer Job Description & Definition
What Does a Landscaper Do?
This career profile will discuss the landscaper job description, salary, and requirements to becoming a landscaper. Note that in this article, we’re discussing a landscape laborer – not a landscape business owner, landscape designer, etc., as they differ in responsibility and pay. A landscaper is responsible for lawn care (keeping lawns cut, manicured, healthy), pruning bushes, weed-whacking, mulching, and more. Landscaping can be done commercially or residentially and involves the landscape business owner securing a number of accounts, and serving them on a regular basis. When you work as a laborer in landscaping, you’ll be responsible for helping do all the various tasks required for each account, whether that’s mowing, laying sod, mulching, trimming, and more. Some landscapers also branch into snow plowing in the winter, and operate commercially or residentially.
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Learn landscaping basics online.
Duties
- Lawn cutting.
- Sod laying.
- Mulching.
- Trimming.
- Fertilizing.
- Sprinkler installation.
- Digging and planting.
Skills Required
- Lawn mower operation.
- Ability to operate weedwacker, etc.
- Mulching.
- Ability to learn new skills on the job.
- Math skills for estimating & bidding.
Education Needed
There are no specific educational requirements for this position. However, employers may require you to have a high school diploma or G.E.D. As with all construction trades, an ability to read and perform basic math are important to help you progress and safely perform your job.
Qualifications
There are no qualifications required to becoming a landscaper.
Salary
How Much Does a Landscaper (Laborer) Make?
$19,000
$30,447
$58,000
Landscaper Career Paths
Where Can You Go From Here?
To become a landscaper is fairly easy. Once the landscaping season begins in your area (usually as winter comes to an end), you can call various landscaping companies or search open jobs online or in your local paper. If you get multiple opportunities, you might ask a few questions to learn which company would be best to help you develop your skills and help you learn the business side of things. If you someday want to start your own company, ask if you’ll get a chance to be able to run your own accounts with that company.
Alternatively, you can watch a course taught by a successful landscape business owner (like this one), and learn how to get take on commercial accounts, how to get started in snow plowing, or how to bid commercial mulch jobs. You can choose to start off on your own, by securing a few residential accounts (in other words, a few lawns in your area). All that’s needed to get started (depending on the clients demands) is a lawn mower and weed-wacker.
From there, you can grow your business however you want. You can choose to only take on commercial accounts, branch into snow plowing, do commercial mulch, or at some point expand into related trades of excavation, etc. You can also become a Landscape Designer, or Landscape Engineer – which pays much better.
Sample Resume
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Download our sample resume template, and edit it for your needs. Just open the document in Google Docs, Microsoft Word, or another text editor, and replace what’s there with your own information.
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Similar Professions
If you’re interested in this, you might like:
Snow Plow, Excavation, Nursery Work, Hardscaper.
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Sources:
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2016-17 Edition, Grounds Maintenance Workers,
on the Internet at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/building-and-grounds-cleaning/grounds-maintenance-workers.htm (visited August 03, 2017). - Payscale, Landscaper Laborer Salary, on the Internet at http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Landscape_Laborer/Hourly_Rate (visited July 20, 2017).