How to Survive the 2009 Recession in the Lawn Care, Lawn Mowing and Gardening Industries

In Sydney (Australia), there is a Gardening Expert called Graham Ross who hosts his own “Garden Clinic” program on one of the local Radio stations. Graham Ross is also a well regarded TV personality, where he features on a weekly national Home & Lifestyle television program.

In a recent radio interview, Graham was asked his thoughts regarding the impact of the Global Economic Crisis and Recession on the Gardening Industry in Australia.

I believe his response was positive as he said that for the last one (1) hundred years in Australia with every recession there has been a corresponding spike or increase in the gardening and related industry. One can only deduce that Australians are not taking the big overseas holidays, but rather are spending some of their money (that is, a fraction of their notional Travel Expenditure) on home related expenses like home improvements and gardening improvements.

So what is the state and health of the industry – that is, the world of lawn mowing, lawn care, landscaping, gardening and related contractor fields?

Experiences and conversations with fellow contractors in the industry lead me to think that we should be able to ride out the current crisis.

However, I say this with some qualification. Generally speaking, LawnMowing and Gardening contractors will do better in the more affluent areas of major cities and towns as there will be a higher and more stable / sustainable employment rate. For these areas, customers accustomed to employing contractors will (and should) continue to do so.

Generally, contractors involved in the Gardening world (worldwide) should look forward to relatively busy times provided they:

1. market themselves well with cost effective advertising, for example, flyers and so on, and
2. target areas least affected by the economic downturn – that is, avoid areas of high unemployment