Why Does Private Equity Keep Buying Landscapers?
Why Landscaping Is on Private Equity’s Radar Now
This is the plot twist no one saw coming: blue-collar industries—especially landscaping—are suddenly a hotbed for private equity investment. Once overlooked and undervalued, these “in-the-dirt” businesses are now front and center in investment conversations across North America.
But why now? What’s changed in the last 5 years to make landscaping more attractive than SaaS? And what does it mean if you own a business in this space?
Let’s dig in.
The Private Equity Playbook: Find the Fragmented, Make It Efficient
Landscaping, like many blue-collar sectors, is still highly fragmented. Anyone with a truck and mower can start a business. That low barrier to entry creates an ocean of small, independent players with no brand power, no systems, and plenty of operational inefficiencies.
To a private equity firm, that screams opportunity.
Their thesis:
Buy up a group of these smaller companies, centralize the back office, eliminate redundancies, and drive higher margins through scale and professionalization.
This model’s worked for years in HVAC, plumbing, roofing, and dental. Now, landscaping is up next.
What Makes Landscaping So Appealing?
Beyond fragmentation, several features of landscaping businesses align perfectly with what investors love:
1. Recurring Revenue
Commercial contracts, maintenance retainers, and even municipal agreements mean predictable, contracted income—something PE firms prize.
2. Low Tech Disruption Risk
Unlike SaaS or digital products, landscaping companies operate with trucks, crews, and shovels—not code. That makes them AI-resistant, and in today’s climate, that’s a serious edge.
3. Recession-Resilience
People still need their properties maintained. Commercial and municipal contracts don’t disappear overnight. This gives landscaping businesses a buffer against market downturns
The AI Factor: Real-World Businesses Are Back
For the past decade, private equity firms chased software businesses. High margins. Low headcount. Sticky subscriptions. SaaS companies were investor darlings.
Then AI happened.
Tools like GitHub Copilot, GPT-4, and Claude mean a single programmer can now build what once required a team of 50. The moat around many SaaS businesses has eroded almost overnight.
Suddenly, investors who were bullish on tech are rethinking their portfolios.
“What if we own something AI can’t replicate? Something real, physical, and essential?”
Enter: landscaping, home services, and the broader blue-collar economy.
Why this isn’t a fad
There’s something poetic about all this.
Landscaping, and businesses like it, have long been looked down on. Framed as fallback options for people who “couldn’t do anything else.” That narrative is unraveling—fast.
These businesses aren’t low-skill. They’re high-impact. They’re asset-backed, revenue-generating, and increasingly systematized. They’re the backbone of communities, and now, they’re investment-grade.
Smart money’s finally catching up to what many operators have known all along:
“This business is essential, profitable, and growing. It just needed the spotlight.”
If You’re in the Space, It’s a Golden Era
If you own a landscaping company or similar service business doing $2M–$20M in revenue, the M&A environment is swinging in your favor.
Valuations are rising.
Buyers are motivated.
And sellers have more leverage than they did five years ago.
The key is positioning. Investors aren’t looking for just any landscaping business. They want businesses with systems, teams, contracts, and growth potential.
What Next? How Breakwater Can Help
At Breakwater, we specialize in guiding blue-collar and service business owners through exits with less stress and better outcomes.
We’ve helped operators:
Prepare for sale with clear financials and growth narratives
Position their companies as platform-ready or bolt-on deals
Navigate negotiations with strategic and private equity buyers
If you’re considering a sale in the next 12–36 months, it’s worth getting ahead of the curve.
You don’t need to be perfect—you just need to be prepared.