To start a landscaping business in Canada, pick your services, register a business name or corporation with your province, get a CRA business number and register for GST/HST when you pass $30,000 in sales, check your province’s workers’ compensation and pesticide rules, buy insurance, then price your work so a seven-month season pays for twelve months of living.
The rules below differ by province, so we show Ontario examples and point to where to check elsewhere.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Confirm the details with your provincial registry, the CRA and your workers’ compensation board.
The steps, in order
Maintenance, installs or both, and the neighbourhoods you’ll serve.
Sole proprietorship to start simple, or incorporate (provincially or federally) for liability separation.
Business name or corporation, through the provincial registry.
You’ll need it for GST/HST, payroll and import accounts.
Workers’ compensation board registration where required, plus liability and commercial auto.
Before you offer weed or pest control, and before you post signs or park a trailer.
Start with what your first services need. Rent the rest.
Seasonal agreements, cleanups and installs priced from your costs.
Book maintenance customers in February and March, not May.
Choose services that fit the season
Landscaping splits into two very different businesses. Maintenance (mowing, trimming, cleanups, garden care) is recurring, route-based and predictable. Installation (sod, planting, hardscaping, retaining walls) pays more per job but needs more equipment, more skill and more cash up front.
| Service | Revenue pattern | Equipment | Good first service? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly lawn maintenance | Recurring, April to October | Mower, trimmer, blower | Yes |
| Spring and fall cleanups | Two spikes a year | Blower, rakes, trailer | Yes |
| Garden beds and mulching | Spring heavy | Hand tools, trailer | Yes |
| Sod and planting | Project-based | Trailer, sod cutter rental | Year one, carefully |
| Hardscaping (patios, walls) | Project-based, high ticket | Compactor, saw, excavation | Later, with training |
| Snow removal | Winter, weather-driven | Plow or blower, salt | Good for year-round income |
Most new owners start with maintenance and cleanups because they build a steady customer list, then add installs once they have the cash and the crew.
Register your business in your province
Business registration in Canada is provincial. If you operate as a sole proprietor under any name other than your own legal name, you generally register that name with your province. Incorporating gives you a separate legal entity and is worth a conversation with an accountant once revenue grows.
In Ontario, a sole proprietorship name registration through the Ontario Business Registry costs $60, is processed immediately online, and lasts five years before it needs renewing. You also get a nine-digit Ontario Business Identification Number.
| Province | Where to register | Workers’ comp board |
|---|---|---|
| Ontario | Ontario Business Registry (ServiceOntario) | WSIB |
| Quebec | Registraire des entreprises | CNESST |
| British Columbia | BC Registries and Online Services | WorkSafeBC |
| Alberta | Alberta Corporate Registry, through a registry agent | WCB Alberta |
| Manitoba | Manitoba Companies Office | WCB Manitoba |
| Saskatchewan | Corporate Registry (ISC) | WCB Saskatchewan |
| Nova Scotia | Registry of Joint Stock Companies | WCB Nova Scotia |
| New Brunswick | Service New Brunswick Corporate Registry | WorkSafeNB |
Also check your municipality. Some cities require a business licence, and many have bylaws about noise hours, parking trailers on residential streets and dumping yard waste.
GST/HST and your business number
The CRA’s small supplier rule sets the line at $30,000 of taxable sales. Once you pass it in a single calendar quarter or over the last four consecutive quarters, you must register for GST/HST and start charging it. If you cross it in one quarter, you have 29 days to register, and the sale that pushed you over is already taxable.
A weekly lawn route can pass $30,000 faster than people expect, so many landscapers register from day one. Registering early also lets you claim input tax credits on the GST/HST you pay for your mower, trailer and fuel. Our post on charging HST on materials covers how it shows up on your invoices and the PST provinces.
Workers’ comp, insurance and pesticide rules
Workers’ compensation
Every province has its own board and its own rules on who must register. Once you have employees, assume you need coverage and confirm with your board. Ontario has an extra wrinkle: WSIB says people who own or run a construction business must have coverage, with or without employees. Landscape Ontario has explained that general landscaping services are classified separately from construction-type work such as hardscaping, so mandatory owner coverage may depend on what you do. Ask WSIB to confirm your classification in writing before you take on patios or retaining walls.
Insurance
- Commercial general liability: covers damage to a customer’s property or injury to a third party. Property managers and commercial clients will ask for a certificate.
- Commercial auto: your personal policy may not cover a truck hauling a trailer to job sites.
- Equipment coverage: for theft of mowers and trailers, which is common.
- Snow removal: slip-and-fall liability is a big exposure, and some insurers treat it separately. Tell your broker if you plow.
Pesticides and weed control
Think twice before offering weed control. In Ontario, cosmetic pesticide use is restricted: products can only be used for cosmetic purposes if the active ingredient is on the province’s Allowable List or the use falls under an exception. Applying regulated pesticides on property that isn’t your own requires an exterminator licence, and lawn care operators must post notice signs. Several other provinces also licence commercial applicators and restrict cosmetic use, so check with your provincial environment ministry before you quote it.
Startup costs and equipment
You can start a maintenance business with a reliable truck you already own, commercial-grade handheld tools and one good mower. Here’s an example of how a solo start might add up. Treat these as planning numbers, then get real quotes from your dealer.
| Item | Example cost (CAD) |
|---|---|
| Commercial walk-behind mower | $2,500 |
| String trimmer, backpack blower, edger | $1,800 |
| Used enclosed or open trailer | $4,000 |
| Hand tools, safety gear, fuel cans | $600 |
| Business registration, signage, door hangers | $500 |
| Insurance deposit (first months) | $800 |
| Example total, using your own truck | about $10,200 |
Buy commercial-grade gear for anything you’ll run every day. A residential mower used 30 hours a week won’t last the season.
Price for a short season
The biggest mistake new Canadian landscapers make is pricing as if they work twelve months a year. Your season might be 26 to 30 weeks of mowing, but your truck payment, insurance and rent don’t stop in November.
A solo owner wants to pay themselves $55,000 a year and has $18,000 of yearly costs (truck share, insurance, fuel, equipment wear, phone, software): $73,000 to earn. Over a 26-week season at 45 hours a week, with about 70% of that time actually on a property, that’s 819 billable hours. $73,000 ÷ 819 = about $89 per billable hour.
Now use that number for every price. A lawn that takes 35 minutes on site plus 10 minutes of drive time is 45 minutes of your day, so about $67 a cut. Round to $65 or $70 and you know the account pays its way. A lawn priced at $40 because that’s what the last guy charged is losing money every week.
| Price it as | Works best for | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Per visit | New customers, irregular schedules | $65 per cut |
| Seasonal agreement, billed monthly | Weekly maintenance | 26 cuts × $65 = $1,690, billed about $240 a month for 7 months |
| Fixed price per job | Cleanups, mulching, sod | Hours × your rate + materials + margin |
| Per square foot | Sod and some hardscaping | From your own production rates |
Seasonal agreements billed monthly are worth pushing. They smooth your cash flow, lock in the customer for the year and cut down on invoice chasing. For the deeper maths on overhead and markup, read how to price a contractor job, and use job costing to check which properties actually make money.
Land your first 30 customers
Route density is everything in maintenance. Ten lawns on three streets beat ten lawns across town. Market hard in the few neighbourhoods you want to own.
- Start in February and March. Homeowners book their spring cleanup and summer mowing before the snow is gone. By May, the good customers are taken.
- Door hangers on your target streets. Mention that you already service the street, once you do.
- Google Business Profile. Add your service area, photos of finished lawns and beds, and ask every customer for a review.
- Answer fast. Spring is when every homeowner calls three landscapers at once. The one who answers and books first wins.
- Offer the add-on. Every mowing customer is a candidate for a fall cleanup, aeration or mulch.
Our guide on how to get more contractor leads has scripts for reviews, referrals and past customers.
What to do in winter
Snow removal is the natural pairing: the same customers, the same truck and the same trailer route. It’s weather-driven, so price it as a seasonal contract or per push and be clear about trigger depths and response times in writing. If plowing isn’t for you, use winter to service equipment, quote installs for spring, and contact every past customer to renew their agreement.
That spring rush is where Contruva helps most. The AI receptionist answers and books calls while you’re on a mower, quotes go out from your price book and get signed on the customer’s phone, and scheduling keeps every crew’s route on one calendar with drive time built in. Invoices and card payments run through Contruva payments, with reminders for anyone who forgets. See Contruva for landscaping for how it all fits, at one price for the whole team.