What Do Landscaping Businesses Do ‘Off-Season’?

Landscaping is nothing short of an industry in the UK, and a vibrant one at that. It is responsible for over £11.5 billion in GDP contribution annually, representing the single biggest contribution out of the gardening sector. But landscaping, typically, involves the maintenance of gardens and garden structures – maintenance that is only truly necessary in the spring and summer months, when nature springs to life.

As such, many are of the opinion that landscaping is a seasonal job – and, to some extent, they would be correct. However, landscaping is about much more than simply tending to plants as they grow unkempt; what do landscapers do in the ‘off-season’ constituting the autumn and winter months?

Off season work

Landscaping work is seasonal, insofar as the kind of work landscapers undertake naturally changes with the seasons. Landscapers are still useful in the winter months, with a wide variety of different jobs and challenges to which they can pivot in order to maintain their income streams.

For example, unusual winter weather patterns such as heavy storms can bring down large trees, and create safety hazards for domestic and commercial properties alike. Landscapers are well-suited to market themselves for debris breakdown and removal. Likewise, landscapers have the tools to engage with other adverse weather conditions such as clearing driveways from snow and sludge.

training

Naturally, though, the bread and butter of the landscaping industry relates to proper garden management, and every landscaping business will experience downturn of some description. However, this downturn is the perfect opportunity for training, especially after hiring new staff or apprentices ahead of the upcoming ‘on-season’.

If your new employees have never used a cordless hedge trimmer before, you can get them up to speed on basic safety and usage techniques, on small local projects involving evergreens. Architecture landscapers can train up new apprentices through prospective designs and long-form contracts with regular clients. By using this time period for training, landscaping companies ensure their offering is strong and competitive for the next season.

Festive work

While the ‘off-season’ is largely a time of downturn and occasional landscape-adjacent work, there is one period that affords a lucrative opportunity to landscaping businesses: Christmas. The festive period sees families and businesses alike addressing their outdoor space, with lighting displays and ornaments. For many, this is a dangerous and time-consuming undertaking.

Landscapers can, at minimum, offer their services in installations and garden ideas for the Christmas period. They can also offer bespoke Christmas design services to larger corporate clients, ensuring high-value work in what might otherwise be one of the quietest months of the year.

This is to say nothing of the humble Christmas tree, which landscapers could easily propagate and sell from their own land – or simply carve and decorate for all manner of clients.

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