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A lawn care or landscaping crew in Ames, IA can finance mowers, trailers, skid steers and spray rigs, and cover crew payroll, fuel and materials while client invoices are open. Work on the crew’s own yard or shop building is outside this site.
At a glance
- Landscaping services establishments with paid staff, Story County, IA
40 (CBP 2023, NAICS 561730)
- Of those, with fewer than five employees
23 (57.5%)
- Same code, ZIP 50010
14 establishments (ZBP 2023)
- Combined annual payroll of the county group
$14 million (all 40 together, 2023)
Lawn care business loans for Story County, IA: stand-on mowers, aerators and enclosed trailers
A lawn care crew’s main machines are the ones it rides and tows. A stand-on mower turns tight around beds and fits more units on one trailer; a zero-turn covers open turf. Add a core aerator, a dethatcher and an enclosed trailer that locks it all up at night, and a two-person crew has a fleet with a combined price worth spreading out. The article on mowers, trailers and a skid steer puts a bundle like that on one agreement.
Equipment financing matches that list item by item. The mower or trailer backs its own agreement, and the term can be set against how long the machine is expected to last, so a mower deck is not still being paid for after it is retired. A partner may also look at used machines, with the seller’s details and serial numbers.
County Business Patterns puts 40 landscaping services establishments with paid employees in Story County, Iowa in 2023 (NAICS 561730). Within that county total, the size-class table places 23 establishments below five employees.
Landscaping business loans for Story County, IA: skid steers, sod cutters and crew payroll
Landscape crews that install as well as mow move up to bigger iron: a compact track loader or skid steer with a bucket, grapple, auger and tiller, and a sod cutter for stripping turf before new beds go in. Those are equipment purchases too, and a skid steer with three attachments can be one agreement or several.
Crew payroll is where timing bites. A crew is paid weekly, while a commercial property client or a general contractor may pay the installation invoice a month or more after the job is done. A line of credit can carry payroll across that wait and be paid down when the invoice clears; working capital suits a single, sized gap.
County Business Patterns puts the 2023 annual payroll of the county’s landscaping services establishments at $14 million. That is the sum for all 40 together, not a guide to one crew’s wage bill.
Commercial lawn mower financing for Story County, IA: hydroseeders, dump trailers and hardscape saws
Commercial mowing contracts call for wider mower decks and more hours on each machine, and the add-ons pile up: a hydroseeder for erosion jobs and new lawns, a dump trailer for mulch, soil and debris, and a cut-off saw for block and stone. Each one has a dealer quote.
Illustration only, invented figures. A crew adds a stand-on mower ($14,900) and a 16-foot enclosed trailer ($11,600) and pays $2,500 at signing, leaving $24,000 to finance. Paid off across 36 months at 9.9% a year, that balance costs $773.29 each month. The 36 installments add to $27,838.44; the difference from the amount financed, $3,838.44, is the interest.
Shortening the term lifts each installment but trims the interest over the life of the agreement, and stretching it works the other way. Running both on the equipment payment calculator shows the trade-off before the call.
Small business loans for lawn care in Ames, IA: spray rigs, tanks and fertilizer spreaders
Lawn treatment work runs on its own equipment: a skid-mounted spray rig with a poly tank, hose reel and pump, a ride-on spreader-sprayer, and walk-behind spreaders for smaller lots. The rig and the spreaders are equipment. The fertilizer, seed and other product a crew buys in bulk are stock that gets used up on jobs, which is closer to a working capital or inventory financing question.
Keeping the two apart matters for the term. A spray rig may be in use for years, while a pallet of product is gone within weeks, so a long agreement on product would outlive what it paid for.
Lawn care equipment financing for Story County, IA: irrigation trenchers, plate compactors and fuel costs
Irrigation crews and installers add trenchers for laying lines, a plate compactor for base work under block and stone, and smaller tools such as pipe cutters and a generator. The machines go to equipment financing like the rest of the fleet.
Fuel is a running cost, not equipment. A crew with several mowers, a loader and the vehicles that tow them buys fuel every day and gets paid on invoice. Illustration only, invented figures, interest counted per day on a 365-day year: drawing $6,000 on a line at 14% for 30 days to cover fuel and a payroll costs $69.04 in interest, and nothing accrues on the unused part of the limit.
| Cost | Funding type on this site |
|---|---|
| Mowers, aerators, skid steers, attachments | Equipment financing |
| Enclosed and dump trailers, hydroseeder, spray rig | Equipment financing |
| Crew payroll while invoices are open | Line of credit or working capital |
| Fuel, seed, mulch and other product | Working capital, line of credit or inventory financing |
| Buying another crew’s business and route | Term loan (business side only) |
| The crew’s own yard, shop or land | Outside this site |
The 2023 ZIP Code Business Patterns release puts 14 landscaping services establishments at a ZIP 50010 address.
How local banks, credit unions and online lenders compare with a phone request is on the Ames, IA page; builders, auto shops and electricians are set side by side on the industries page.
By Halehaven Loans · Updated
