New Aspire Software Data Shows Commercial Landscaping Contractors Are Optimistic About Revenue Growth in 2025, Fueled by Promising Forecasts
Report Reveals Over 90% of Landscape Businesses Have Embraced Software to Streamline Operations
CHESTERFIELD, Mo., March 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aspire Software, a ServiceTitan company and leading software provider for field service businesses, released its first annual 2025 Landscape Industry Report highlighting current trends, market sentiment, and strategies to accelerate business growth. The report surveyed over 1,000 commercial landscaping professionals nationwide and found that despite staffing and supply chain challenges, contractors expect stability and are cautiously optimistic through year-end and 2025. The survey also indicated many commercial landscaping professionals are embracing technology to overcome difficulties, seize growth opportunities, and optimize the customer experience.
“When you look at the volatility in our industry over the past few years, 2025 seems poised for a welcome and steady outlook,” said Mark Tipton, co-founder and CEO of Aspire Software. “Digital transformation is a priority across the industry as business owners realize the positive outcomes and success that technology can deliver. We expect the industry to continue to readily adopt technology, like artificial intelligence, driving new volumes of growth and opportunity.”
Contractors set sights on growth in 2025
While 42% of landscaping professionals experienced revenue decreases in 2024, 44% of survey respondents forecast revenue increases in 2025, and 32% expect increased business performance. Increasing revenue ranked as the top goal for contractors next year (64%), followed by customer acquisition (48%), business optimization (40%), and customer retention (40%). To achieve projected growth, contractors plan to increase their sales and marketing efforts (38%), expand their teams (21%) and offices (16%), and invest in new technology (14%).
While 71% of respondents won’t introduce new services in 2025, companies focused on commercial maintenance and planning for expansion showcase a different trend. Approximately 51% plan to venture into commercial bid-build construction services, while another 22% plan to provide residential bid-build construction services. Likewise, 19% plan to offer commercial design-build construction options, and 10% express interest in offering residential design-build construction services.
Strategic tech investments continue to fuel success across the industry
Nearly three-fourths (73%) of contractors see digital transformation as important, highlighting the growing interest in and excitement for technology within the industry. Of the contractors already utilizing software to their advantage (93%), accounting (77%), invoicing (72%), and estimating and proposals (61%) are the most common applications. While end-to-end business management solutions are the most popular (33%), a quarter (25%) of contractors also see significant value in software to assist with CRM and lead management, as well as customer and employee notifications and communication.
Other emerging technologies expected to play a pivotal role in the next 1-3 years include property intelligence (48%), autonomous mowers (30%), and drones (24%). Contractors expect AI to have the most significant impact across operational areas, including field operations (39%), smart routing (33%), and scheduling (30%). While 83% of contractors don’t use artificial intelligence, 17% of businesses implementing the technology report a positive impact on business performance.
Diversifying procurement to combat supply chain delays and rising costs
Rising costs have strained landscaping businesses, with 57% of contractors already feeling the impact of price hikes on materials and 69% on equipment. Continuing into 2025, 52% of contractors still saw elevated material costs as a significant risk to meeting their business objectives.
Nearly one-third (32%) of contractors experienced material lead time increases of one week or more, and 36% experienced similar equipment delays. To mitigate delays, contractors maintain a diversified approach to sourcing supplies, most contractors reported procuring most of their materials directly from supply houses (53%) and nurseries (50%).
Bridging the skills gap – elevating wages and upskilling talent
Labor shortages continue to cause concern, with 51% of respondents citing staffing as a significant risk to meeting their yearly goals. To attract and retain talent, 55% of landscapers will raise employee wages by 2-9%. Also, one-fifth (20%) of business owners recognized the importance of employee training, particularly for janitorial and cleaning services, and planned to invest in staff skill development and new software.
Client retention was crucial to the industry in 2024. Contractors reported repeat business accounted for 35% of revenue, and 26% resulted from word-of-mouth referrals by satisfied clients. Maintaining strong customer relationships is essential to combatting other business risks, like winning new bids and contracts (38%), increasing competition (34%), and customer retention (30%).
For a full breakdown of Aspire’s Landscape Industry Report findings, watch our webinar here. You can also download the complete findings and key takeaways here.
About the research
This research was conducted by Thrive Analytics on behalf of Aspire, polling more than 1,000 commercial landscape contractors representing a variety of geographical regions, business growth stages, and revenue levels. This research is for informational purposes only and Aspire provides no assurances (express or implied) with respect to the accuracy of the survey data.
About Aspire Software
Aspire Software, a ServiceTitan company, offers business management software for landscape maintenance and construction, snow & ice management, and commercial cleaning companies. Aspire 's cloud-based SaaS solution helps field service companies manage, create, and execute against their business opportunities and challenges. Aspire helps contractors change the way they manage their business to enable them to provide better service, improve margins, and increase productivity. Aspire is based in Chesterfield, MO. For more information, please visit http://www.youraspire.com.
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