Finance for landscaping and grounds maintenance companies

Plenty of landscaping and gardening businesses trade as sole traders, and Ask Sterling can't introduce them to finance. If yours trades as a limited company, read on: this page covers how money moves through a landscaping business, which finance suits it, and how to test an offer before you sign.

Why limited companies only

Introducing a sole trader or a small partnership to finance is credit broking, a regulated activity, even when the money is for business purposes. Ask Sterling doesn't hold that permission. That says nothing about how good your business is. It is a line the law draws, and we stay on the right side of it. If you are thinking of incorporating anyway, speak to your accountant first. More detail is in why limited companies only.

The cash-flow shape of a landscaping company

The work follows the weather. Grass cutting and planting run from spring into autumn; hard landscaping can carry on longer; winter brings leaf clearance, gritting contracts if you have them, and a lot of quiet weeks.

Costs don't stop. Vans, trailers, ride-on mowers, insurance and any year-round staff all need paying through the winter. The National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over has been £12.71 an hour since April 2026, so keeping a crew together through winter is a real cost decision.

Customer mix matters too.

• Domestic customers usually pay on completion or by monthly arrangement. Quick money, small amounts.
• Commercial and public-sector contracts (housing associations, business parks, councils) are steadier but pay on credit terms. For business-to-business deals an agreed payment date must usually be within 60 days.

Which finance fits, and which doesn't

• Asset finance for mowers, compact tractors, mini diggers, trailers and vans. This is where most landscaping companies should finance kit.
• Working capital finance for a known winter gap or a large materials order for a hard-landscaping job.
• Invoice finance if most of your turnover is commercial contracts on credit terms.
• Not a fit: merchant cash advances. Most landscaping income isn't taken by card, so the advance would be collected by fixed debits, and an expensive fixed debit through the winter is the worst shape for this trade.

What it costs: a worked example

Here is a way to compare two offers the offer checker on this page is built for.

Offer A: £100,000 at 18% APR over 24 months, repaid monthly. That is £4,992.41 a month, £119,817.84 in total and £19,817.84 of interest. Sterling's rule of thumb calls under 20% "priced like bank lending".

Offer B: £100,000 at a factor rate of 1.35 over about 12 months, repaid daily. That is £135,000 back, 252 payments of £535.71, a cost of £35,000 and about 63% APR, "expensive short-term money".

Offer B costs £15,182.16 more and asks for money every working day, including the quiet ones in January. Unless speed or eligibility leaves no choice, Offer A wins.

What funders typically ask a landscaping company for

• Bank statements for the last several months, ideally covering a winter.
• Filed accounts at Companies House and VAT returns, if registered.
• Contracts for regular commercial or public-sector work.
• An asset list and quotes for new kit.

A director's personal guarantee may be required, and a funder may run a credit search, which could be a soft search.

Red flags specific to landscaping

1. Repayments sized on summer. A payment that is easy in June can sink you in January. Test every offer against your quietest month.
2. Kit financed over longer than it lasts. A mower on a term that outlives the mower leaves you paying for a machine you've replaced.
3. One contract, most of the turnover. If a single council or housing contract is most of your income, its renewal date is your biggest risk, and funders will ask about it.

Business finance for limited companies is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, so the agreement is your main protection. Read it in full.