The island’s landscaping employers run lean, with 58 of 78 below five people in Hawaii County, HI in 2023 (County Business Patterns, NAICS 561730).
Funding for Hilo, HI landscapers, lawn care and tree crews: mowers, chippers, skid steers, upfits and payroll gaps, with county data.
At a glance
- Landscaping services, Hawaii County, HI
78 employer establishments with 401 employees (CBP 2023, NAICS 561730)
- Landscaping services with fewer than five employees, Hawaii County, HI
58 of 78 (CBP 2023)
- Landscaping services with no paid employees, Hawaii County, HI
797 (Nonemployer Statistics 2024, NAICS 56173)
Lawn care equipment financing in Hilo, HI: irrigation trenchers, pavers and fuel costs
Lawn care businesses that add services buy new machines for them. Irrigation installs call for a walk-behind or ride-on trencher; hardscape work calls for a plate compactor and paver tools. Those are equipment financing items with a dealer quote. The pavers themselves are job materials, bought for one client and billed back, and fuel is an operating cost that rises with every new route; both are cash needs that working capital or a line of credit carries.
A crew can keep the two kinds of cost apart in its request: the trencher or compactor on one line with its quote, and the materials and fuel as a separate cash amount with the job or route that needs it. A partner can then price the machine as collateral and look at the cash need against the crew’s deposits.
Lawn care business loans in Hilo, HI: stand-on mowers, aerators and enclosed trailers
Here is a made-up equipment package for a lawn care business in Hilo, HI moving up to commercial accounts; it is not an offer:
| Item | Dealer price |
|---|---|
| Stand-on mower, 52-inch deck | $11,900 |
| Core aerator | $4,300 |
| Enclosed 7 x 16 trailer | $9,800 |
| Two commercial brush cutters | $1,400 |
| Total | $27,400 |
Illustration only, invented figures: a crew paying for the $27,400 package in 48 monthly installments at an annual rate of 12.4% sends $726.94 each month. By the last installment it has paid $34,893.12 in all, interest accounting for $7,493.12. The trailer keeps the mower and aerator locked up between jobs, and a partner can treat it as part of the same package.
Landscaping business loans in Hilo, HI: skid steers, sod cutters and crew payroll
A landscaping business that takes on grading, sod installs and larger commercial sites needs a skid steer and a sod cutter, and a crew big enough to run them. The machines fit equipment financing. Crew payroll is the harder part when a commercial contract pays on terms. Illustration only, invented figures: a $5,900 biweekly crew payroll and a contract that pays 45 days after each invoice means 3 or 4 paydays pass before the money comes in, so the business carries $17,700 to $23,600 in wages first.
Small is the norm among landscaping employers in Hawaii County, HI: nearly three in four, 74.4%, of the landscaping services establishments that County Business Patterns counted for 2023 kept their staff under five (NAICS 561730). A business that size feels a 45-day wait on a large contract right away.
Commercial lawn mower financing in Hilo, HI: hydroseeders, dump trucks and hardscape saws
Commercial mowers are the familiar purchase, but the larger ones sit around them: a hydroseeder for erosion control and new lawns, a dump truck for soil, gravel and green waste, and a hardscape saw for cutting pavers and stone. The dump truck here is crew equipment for the business’s own jobs, financed as equipment like the mower and the hydroseeder.
Wages in the trade are a large cost to carry. The 2023 County Business Patterns file shows $18.5 million in annual payroll for landscaping services employers in Hawaii County, HI, 401 employees in all, about $46,232 per employee by our arithmetic. ZIP Code Business Patterns put 5 landscaping services establishments with employees at ZIP 96720 addresses in 2023.
Small business loans for lawn care in Hilo, HI: tree chippers, stump grinders and truck upfits
Tree crews run the heaviest gear in the trade: a tow-behind chipper, a stump grinder and a truck upfitted with a chip box, a ladder rack and tool storage. Each is a separate line on a dealer or upfitter quote, and each can be financed as equipment; a line of credit covers the fuel, blades and repairs that come with running them.
Plenty of lawn care is one-person work. The 2024 Nonemployer Statistics count 797 landscaping services businesses in Hawaii County, HI with no paid employees (NAICS 56173), with receipts averaging about $37,730 each by our arithmetic. A solo operator buying a first chipper can send a request the same way a crew owner can. The industries page lists other trades, and the Hilo, HI page explains what happens after a request is sent.
By Tealvale Capital Group · Updated
