Gardening franchises for sale in the UK

For entrepreneurs who love the outdoors and want to earn a good solid income a Gardening franchises represents a great opportunity to live their dream. Working outside not only provides an opportunity to get out in the sun, but people who work outside while controlling their own destiny in a franchise business are happier and healthier.

Gardening franchises work is not for the faint of heart, it is a lot of work and is physically demanding. But for an in shape outdoors person, it is about as close to a dream as work could ever be. The business also represents an opportunity for owners to express themselves through the lawns and gardens they create for clients. The artistic expression coupled with the gorgeous surroundings makes this a perfect business.

Like most franchises it is important to do full due diligence before jumping into buying a gardening franchises and lawn care franchises. In this particular sector where there are few nationally known players, it is often just as easy to start your own stand-alone operation. There are still however many benefits to operating within the franchise system, including having most of the materials and methods for running the business handed to you by the franchisors head office.

What work is required to run Gardening Franchises? 

The gardening franchises require all of the physical labour that comes with lawn care plus an additional creative streak. When it comes to planting and maintenance of clients gardens an entrepreneur has to have a good eye for what plants look best in what settings. They also need to be able to get down in the dirt in order to execute on their vision.

Gardening franchisees can expand their business, and financial gain from each customer by encouraging them to plant newer and larger gardens. It can also easily be expanded on the longer term horizon to include the growth and sale of plants.

How do lawn care franchises differ from general gardening franchises?

This is the physical aspect of the business. Lawn care franchises require a lot of physical work, and a truck to carry all of the lawn maintenance equipment around in. Unlike gardening businesses it requires a fair bit more investment.

In terms of expansion of services and going deeper into the consumer’s pocket, lawn care offers this opportunity. Usually lawn care entails cutting the grass, and minor weeding and maintenance. But in some situations, where the lawn is altogether dead, it may make more sense to sell the home or business owner re-sodding service.

What’s the cost of both gardening franchises and lawn care franchises?

In terms of investment there is very little required to start a gardening franchise or lawn care franchise. Outside of the franchise fee there is the need to acquire tools of the trade, such as a lawn mower, and shovels. But these are all acquired relatively inexpensively.

Franchise fees start at nothing, paying only a royalty to the franchisor, and go all of the way up to £20,000. These more expensive national brands help to alleviate some of the barriers to business expansion faced within this type of franchise business.

Gardening franchises Pros & Cons

Gardening & Lawncare is one of those sectors where there are quite a few barriers to expansion. For the business owner, the margins are generally not high enough to be able to hire a full time manager and foreman. This usually means the owner has to double as the foreman for all of the jobs and projects the company has at any given time.

There is also a second major barrier to expansion and that is retention of talent. The landscaping business is a mostly seasonal affair, with little work to do in the off season. Many companies have taken up doing snow removal to keep their employees busy but often still end up laying them off or reducing their hours during the winter. All of this leads to high turnover, so if you choose to enter this sector be prepared to be constantly hiring.

Finally there is the competition. Since the space provides services on a largely infrequent basis to customers, building brand recognition is quite difficult. The business therefore requires constant marketing, and is susceptible to loosing out on work to newly formed competitors. Sometimes these competitors are the employees trained the previous seasons that have started their own operation.

Types of gardening franchises available in the UK

• Driveway maintenance franchises
• Lawn care franchises
• Landscape gardening franchises