First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Workers
Agriculture, Food and Natural ResourcesO*NET 37-1012.00United States
Directly supervise and coordinate activities of workers engaged in landscaping or groundskeeping activities. Work may involve reviewing contracts to ascertain service, machine, and workforce requirements; answering inquiries from potential customers regarding methods, material, and price ranges; and preparing estimates according to labor, material, and machine costs.
- Median annual earnings
- $54,053
- Projected change
- +3.3%
- Typical education
- Bachelor's degree
- Employment
- 169.1K jobs
50th percentile, United States
2025 to 2035
32.3% of the workforce
Growing to 174.73K by 2035
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The work
What first-line supervisors of landscaping, lawn service, and groundskeeping workers do
Tasks reported for this occupation, ordered by how often they come up in the role.
- Establish and enforce operating procedures and work standards that will ensure adequate performance and personnel safety.
- Schedule work for crews, depending on work priorities, crew or equipment availability, or weather conditions.
- Monitor project activities to ensure that instructions are followed, deadlines are met, and schedules are maintained.
- Tour grounds, such as parks, botanical gardens, cemeteries, or golf courses, to inspect conditions of plants and soil.
- Inspect completed work to ensure conformance to specifications, standards, and contract requirements.
- Direct activities of workers who perform duties, such as landscaping, cultivating lawns, or pruning trees and shrubs.
- Plant or maintain vegetation through activities such as mulching, fertilizing, watering, mowing, or pruning.
- Train workers in tasks such as transplanting or pruning trees or shrubs, finishing cement, using equipment, or caring for turf.
- Direct or perform mixing or application of fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, or fungicides.
- Identify diseases or pests affecting landscaping and order appropriate treatments.
- Prepare service estimates based on labor, material, and machine costs and maintain budgets for individual projects.
- Inventory supplies of tools, equipment, or materials to ensure that sufficient supplies are available and items are in usable condition.
- Perform personnel-related activities, such as hiring workers, evaluating staff performance, or taking disciplinary actions when performance problems occur.
- Maintain required records, such as personnel information or project records.
- Provide workers with assistance in performing duties as necessary to meet deadlines.
- Prepare or maintain required records, such as work activity or personnel reports.
- Confer with other supervisors to coordinate work activities with those of other departments or units.
- Review contracts or work assignments to determine service, machine, or workforce requirements for jobs.
- Investigate work-related complaints to verify problems and to determine responses.
- Direct or assist workers engaged in the maintenance or repair of equipment, such as power tools or motorized equipment.
- Perform administrative duties, such as authorizing leaves or processing time sheets.
- Order the performance of corrective work when problems occur and recommend procedural changes to avoid such problems.
- Confer with managers or landscape architects to develop plans or schedules for landscaping maintenance or improvement.
- Recommend changes in working conditions or equipment used to increase crew efficiency.
- Answer inquiries from current or prospective customers regarding methods, materials, or price ranges.
- Install or maintain landscaped areas, performing tasks such as removing snow, pouring cement curbs, or repairing sidewalks.
- Design or supervise the installation of sprinkler systems, calculating water pressure, or valve and pipe coverage needs.
Pay and outlook
What the job pays and where it is heading
Annual earnings range
Reported earnings by percentile, United States
- 10th percentile
- $33,810
- 25th percentile
- $41,834
- 50th percentile
- $54,053
- 75th percentile
- $70,457
- 90th percentile
- $93,211
The gold marker shows the median. Half earn more than $54,053 and half earn less.
Employment outlook
2025 to 2035 projection
+3.3%average or slower
2025169,102 jobs
2035 projected174,733 jobs
5,631 more positions over the decade, before replacement hiring.
Preparation
Education levels
What people currently working in the career hold. These are not entry requirements.
- Bachelor's degree
- 32.3%
- High school diploma or less
- 24.2%
- Associate degree
- 13.6%
- Certificate
- 13.2%
- Some college
- 10.4%
- Master's or Professional degree
- 6.3%
Skills
Skills employers ask for
Technical skills appearing most often in job postings for this occupation.
How the work gets done
Core competencies
Broad capabilities associated with strong performance in this occupation.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Quality Control Analysis
- Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
- Operation and Control
- Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
In the market
Job titles and employers
Recent job postings in United StatesCommon job titles
- 01Landscape Foremen2,027 postings
- 02Golf Course Superintendents732 postings
- 03Landscape Managers570 postings
- 04Landscape Crew Leaders520 postings
- 05Landscape Maintenance Foremen403 postings
- 06Landscape Crew Members309 postings
- 07Landscape Supervisors302 postings
- 08Irrigation Managers274 postings
- 09Landscaping Assistants251 postings
- 10Grounds Supervisors236 postings
- 11Landscaping Supervisors207 postings
- 12Landscape Installers191 postings
- 13Landscape Technicians183 postings
- 14Park Managers183 postings
- 15Grounds Managers163 postings
- 16Enhancement Managers160 postings
- 17Park Supervisors156 postings
- 18Landscape Laborers153 postings
- 19Irrigation Foremen128 postings
- 20Landscape Maintenance Managers126 postings
Top employers
- 01Supreme Enterprises239 postings
- 02Brightview206 postings
- 03The Davey Tree Expert Company137 postings
- 04Yellowstone Landscape80 postings
- 05Ruppert Landscape78 postings
- 06Apex Companies72 postings
- 07Landscape Workshop67 postings
- 08Cedar Point66 postings
- 09Landcare66 postings
- 10Aramark55 postings
- 11Domino's Pizza42 postings
- 12Troon Golf, L.L.C.38 postings
- 13Harold Jones Landscape36 postings
- 14GPAC34 postings
- 15Abercrombie & Fitch32 postings
- 16Colleague28 postings
- 17Troon28 postings
- 18MVT Holdings27 postings
- 19Mariani Enterprises27 postings
- 20Compass Group24 postings
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