Canyonhill Advances, a small-business funding service in Mankato, Minnesota, covers lawn care and landscaping business loans: financing for mowers, trailers, trucks and compact equipment, what drives the price of a landscaping business, crew payroll and what partners review. County Business Patterns lists 35 landscaping employers in Blue Earth County, MN for 2023.
At a glance
- Landscaping employer establishments, Blue Earth County, MN
35 (CBP 2023)
- Share under five employees
77.1% (CBP 2023)
- Landscaping businesses without paid employees
65 (NES 2024)
Two businesses under one name
Many landscape companies run two kinds of work. Maintenance, such as mowing and trimming, is recurring and often billed monthly. Installation, such as patios, plantings and retaining walls, is project work with materials bought up front and payment on completion. The two have different cash patterns, and a funding request should say which one it serves.
Lawn care financing in Mankato, MN for mowers, trimmers and trailers
For a maintenance company, the machines are the business. Zero-turn mowers, trimmers, blowers and the trailer that carries them are financed through equipment financing, either as single units or as a package on one quote. A partner reads the maintenance contracts to see how much recurring revenue supports the payments.
Landscaping equipment financing options for Blue Earth County, MN businesses
| Equipment | Common structure |
|---|---|
| Commercial mowers | Equipment loan or lease |
| Enclosed or open trailers | Equipment loan |
| Work trucks | Equipment loan, titled to the business |
| Skid steers and compact loaders | Equipment loan or lease |
| Hand tools and trimmers | Usually paid in cash or bundled into a package |
Financing landscaping equipment for Blue Earth County, MN businesses
Used equipment is common in landscaping and can be financed, with hours and condition reviewed. Dealer financing offers on new mowers are one route; a partner offer is another. Compare them by the total of payments plus any down payment, not by the monthly amount.
Illustration only, invented figures: a used compact track loader at $38,000 with $6,000 down leaves $32,000 to finance. Over 48 payments of $790, the payments total $37,920 (our arithmetic: 48 x $790), and with the down payment the loader costs $43,920.
Landscaping business loans: what Mankato, MN owners should know
- Separate maintenance revenue from installation revenue in your records.
- List every machine with its age and any balance owed.
- Keep signed maintenance contracts together; they show recurring revenue.
- Show twelve months of bank statements so a partner sees the full year.
Landscaping financing options around Mankato, MN
Beyond equipment, installation jobs need materials such as pavers, stone, soil and plants bought before the customer pays. A line of credit drawn per job and repaid at completion fits that pattern. Payroll for a larger crew during busy months can be carried the same way. If revenue varies through the year, show the pattern with a full year of bank statements; partners judge it from the records.
How much does it cost to buy a landscaping business in Mankato, MN?
Canyonhill does not publish valuations, and the price of a landscaping business depends on what comes with it. The main parts are the equipment, the customer contracts and the crew. Equipment can be appraised; contracts are worth what they will keep paying after the sale; a trained crew that stays is worth a great deal. A business whose customers are tied to the owner personally is worth less to a buyer.
- Ask for revenue split by maintenance and installation for two or three years.
- Get an equipment list with hours and condition.
- Check which contracts can be assigned to a new owner.
- Ask which crew leaders plan to stay.
A term loan can fund the purchase, with the equipment often serving as part of the collateral.
Landscaping in the Blue Earth County, MN Census counts
Landscaping services had 35 employer establishments in Blue Earth County, MN in 2023, with 294 employees and $15.2 million in annual payroll; 27 of them, or 77.1%, had fewer than five employees (CBP 2023, NAICS 561730). ZIP 56001 had 17 of the 35 (ZBP 2023). By our arithmetic that works out to about 8.4 employees per landscaping firm and close to $51,772 in yearly payroll per employee.
Nonemployer Statistics counted 65 landscaping businesses without paid employees in 2024, with $1.9 million in receipts, as a separate program from the employer count.
Trucks and trailers titled to the business
A work truck and trailer are usually the first purchases an expanding crew makes. Title them to the business, keep the registrations current, and keep insurance certificates handy, because a partner financing a vehicle will list itself as lienholder and may ask for proof of coverage. Mixing personal and business vehicles makes the request harder to read.
Commercial contracts and payment terms
Commercial clients such as property managers and associations may pay 30 days or more after invoicing, while residential customers often pay on completion. A company shifting toward commercial work should plan for the longer gap before signing several contracts at once.
Snow, irrigation and other added services
Some landscape companies add services such as irrigation installation, hardscaping or snow and ice work, each with its own equipment: trenchers, plate compactors, plows and spreaders. Adding a service means equipment before revenue. A partner reviewing the request may ask for signed contracts for the new service, or for the existing customers who have asked for it, to see that the equipment will be used.
- Price the new equipment on one itemized quote.
- Show how many existing customers could add the service.
- Keep the new service's revenue separate in the books.
Records partners may read for a lawn care company
- Bank statements and the latest tax return.
- Signed maintenance contracts.
- Equipment list and balances owed.
- Quotes for any equipment being financed.
Related pages: the contractor business loans page, the excavation page for compact equipment, county figures on the Mankato, MN page and all trades under funding by industry.
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