The Hidden Pressures Shaping Today’s Landscaping Industry (and Why It Feels Harder Than Ever)

Landscaping in 2026: New pressures & how to solve them (Part 1 of 3) 

The landscaping industry has always been hands-on, dynamic and deeply tied to the natural environment. But in recent years, landscapers have been facing a very different kind of challenge; one that has less to do with soil, rainfall or plant selection, and far more to do with the pressures of running a business in an increasingly complex, unpredictable environment.

If you’re a landscaper who feels like the paperwork, scheduling chaos, labour headaches and cashflow stress are getting worse, not better, you’re not alone. Landscape gardening is officially classified as being in shortage with strong future demand, according to Jobs & Skills Australia. Many landscaping business owners describe the day-to-day not as “busy,” but as “constant firefighting.”

This three-part blog series is designed to unpack these challenges in a meaningful way, not with theory, not with generic advice, but with a real-world look at what landscapers deal with day in, day out, and what practical solutions are helping businesses stay resilient. This first article focuses on understanding the pressures; future articles will explore how forward-thinking landscapers are addressing these challenges and building stronger, more sustainable businesses.

1. The Labour Shortage: The Strain Everyone in the Industry Feels

Landscaping is experiencing one of its most significant labour shortages in years. According to the Australian Government’s Skills Priority List, the occupation of Landscape Gardener is officially in shortage, with employers reporting:

• 45% of vacancies remain unfilled, and
  
  

• More than one quarter of employers receive no suitable applicants at all.
  
  

Beyond the numbers, this puts enormous pressure on business owners who are trying to meet deadlines, manage multiple clients, and deal with weather disruptions - all while filling the gaps created by missing workers.

In small landscaping businesses (of which there are over 18,000 in Australia, according to IBISWorld), the owner often becomes the supervisor, estimator, scheduler, admin team, safety coordinator and customer service provider all in one. Not only does this mean more stress, it also leads to burnout, minimised output, rushed decisions and lesser quality. 

Why it matters:
A shortage of hands-on labour means that time must be protected more than ever. Every unnecessary admin task takes away from billable work, quoting, or supervising sites and ultimately affects the bottom line.

2. A Fragmented Market Creates Operational Instability

The landscaping industry is notoriously fragmented. Most businesses are micro-enterprises or small teams, with an average of 2.3 employees per business. There are only a handful of large commercial operators nationwide.

This fragmentation creates several ripple effects:

• A lack of standardisation across the industry
  
  

• Owners performing multiple roles
  
  

• High amounts of manual paperwork and admin
  
  

• Minimal systems in place for quoting, reporting, and scheduling
  
  

In busy periods, this can snowball into inefficiency. In slow periods, it can create cashflow instability.

Small teams need systems more than anyone, but often have the least time to set them up.

3. Scheduling Chaos: When Weather, Subbies, and Volume Collide

Ask any landscaper what causes the most stress and scheduling will be at the top of the list.

The industry faces unique scheduling pressures:

• Weather unpredictability causes delays, cancellations, or reshuffling
  
  

• Subcontractor reliance introduces coordination issues
  
  

• Seasonal peaks (especially spring) overwhelm even well-organised operators
  
  

• Client expectations for tight timelines continue to increase
  
  

• Travel between multiple job sites adds complexity
  
  

The result? Constant changes. Constant phone calls. Constant ‘Who’s where?’ conversations.

Landscapers often say the same thing:
“If I could just get on top of scheduling, everything else would feel easier.”

This is why digital scheduling tools have taken off in other trades - and why landscapers are now turning to purpose-built systems that replace spreadsheets, whiteboards and text-message logistics.

4. Cashflow Challenges: The Pressure No One Likes to Admit

Landscaping cashflow is notoriously irregular.

Jobs can be long-term. Weather can cause delays. Material suppliers expect payment upfront. Clients pay late. And quoting often gets pushed to evenings or weekends simply because the days are consumed by on-site work.

Research from Xero shows that 92% of Australian trade businesses experience late payments, often causing significant financial strain.

For landscaping businesses, delayed quoting and slow invoicing often result in:

• Projects starting before deposits are paid
  
  

• Late or missing progress payments
  
  

• Stressful end-of-month cashflow crunches
  
  

• Unnecessary pressure on both workers and subcontractors
  
  

This is one of the most solvable challenges in the industry, but only with fast, mobile quoting and streamlined invoicing.

5. Sustainability Expectations Are Rising, From Clients and Workers

Environmental responsibility isn’t just a design trend. It’s a business expectation.

Clients expect landscapers to be:

• Environmentally conscious
  
  

• Tech-savvy
  
  

• Paperless
  
  

• Waste-aware
  
  

• Water-wise
  
  

Workers increasingly expect the same. Younger staff want to use digital tools, not fill out duplicate forms or lose time searching for paper reports and documents. Meanwhile, clients often respond favourably to digital documentation and modern workflows, as it signals professionalism and quality.

In some councils and commercial contracts, paperless reporting is already a requirement.

6. DIY Competition: The Unexpected Trend Affecting Profitability

Despite landscaping services experiencing a slight decline, the gardening tools market is booming, expected to grow at 6.48% per year through to 2033. This signals one thing:

More homeowners are choosing to “DIY” the early stages of landscaping work.

While this doesn’t replace professional landscaping, it often means landscapers:

• Receive smaller scopes
  
  

• Must compete harder for premium work
  
  

• Need to justify the value of their services
  
  

• Must present quotes and reports clearly and professionally to stand out
  
  

A landscaper who delivers messy or inaccurate paperwork or slow communication is at risk of losing work to another company, even if the competitor charges more.

So What Does All This Mean for Landscaping Businesses?

The pressures landscapers face are not due to poor management or bad habits. They are structural. They are industry-wide. And they are growing.

But there is good news.

Across Australia, landscaping businesses that adopt simple workflow tools - digital scheduling, mobile quoting, automated forms, photo-rich reporting - are finding that:

• Admin time drops dramatically
  
  

• Scheduling becomes predictable
  
  

• Cashflow stabilises
  
  

• Professionalism increases
  
  

• Teams communicate better
  
  

• Clients respond faster
  
  

• Job documentation becomes stress-free
  
  

This shift is already underway in construction, electrical, plumbing, cleaning and pest control. Landscaping has begun catching up, with purpose-built solutions like the Landscapers App (powered by Formitize) specifically designed for the way landscapers quote, schedule, manage safety, take job photos and submit reports.

In the next article of this series, we’ll break down practical ways landscapers can adopt simple tools to regain control of their time, reduce pressure, and operate with greater clarity - even with smaller teams and increasing job complexity.