One way to use Local Lead Finder. Local Lead Finder is a $10 Google Sheets template I built that turns any Google Maps search into a lead list: every business, with phone, website, rating and reviews. This post is one use case for it: getting landscaping and lawn care contracts. I’m not a landscaper; this is the playbook I’d follow if I were, run for real with the template. Other ways to use it are listed at the end, or see all 18 lead generation ideas.
You can already mow a lawn. The hard part is getting landscaping contracts and lawn care contracts: the apartment complexes, townhome HOAs and office buildings that pay every week from May to October. Search “landscaping contracts” and page 1 is job listings, contract templates, government bid sites and an insurance company telling you to get licensed first. Nobody tells you who signs them. The paid options cost money every time: bid sites that charge to see government contracts, and lead sellers that charge about $34 a lead.
So here’s exactly what I’d do this week if I were starting a lawn care or landscaping business in Minneapolis. I ran it for real with Local Lead Finder, a $10 Google Sheet I built that pulls every business on Google Maps into a spreadsheet. By the end you’ll have 255 property management companies, the 8 HOA managers to call first, the suburbs where the lawns are, and the message I’d send them.
TL;DR
- One search across 87 Minneapolis areas found 255 property management companies, the people who sign landscaping contracts.
- Call the 8 HOA and condo managers first, then the 106 managers in the suburbs, where the lawns are.
- Don’t search before Find Areas finishes. I started at 87 areas and it grew to 150.
Who this is for
- Lawn care business owner: you get the property managers who buy mowing for whole routes, not one yard at a time.
- Commercial landscaping contractor: HOA and condo managers on this list run big shared lawns that need weekly mowing and spring and fall cleanups.
- Someone starting a lawn care business: you get 255 names to work through instead of knocking on doors all spring.
- Snow removal contractor: it’s the same list of property managers, so one customer can be a year-round contract.
- Landscaping estimator or sales rep: you get a list sorted by reviews, so you can start with the smaller companies where the owner picks up.
Before you start
- A Google Places API (New) key
- Local Lead Finder set up in your Google Drive
- Local Lead Finder itself
- Your region, like Minneapolis, Minnesota
- A short outreach message that names your suburb and asks one question
- About an hour, ideally in fall or late winter
Don’t have a Places API key yet? How to get one free. Haven’t set up the sheet? Setup takes 5 minutes.
Who signs landscaping contracts
A homeowner buys one mow. A property manager buys a route.
One property management company can run dozens of apartment buildings, townhome associations and small office lots. Every one of them has grass, shrubs, mulch beds and a spring cleanup, and the manager doesn’t want to hire a different crew for each property. Win one manager and you can get several properties at once.
That’s why this list is the place to start. I already had one: I built it for a snow removal post, and it’s the exact same buyer.
“They aren’t flashy, but they’re steady. People will always need them.” (Codie Sanchez, Next Big Idea Club)
Grass grows every week whether the economy is good or not. A few steady contracts beat a lot of one-off yards.
The list of property management companies
Region: Minneapolis, Minnesota. Find Areas filled the AREAS tab with the city, its suburbs and its neighborhoods, and I searched “property management company” across the first 87 of them. (Find Areas kept going in the background to 150 areas after I’d started, so this is most of the metro, not all of it. Wait for it to finish before you search.)
255 property management companies. Here’s what’s in the list:
- Median 25 reviews. Most property managers aren’t big. 160 have fewer than 50 reviews.
- 43 have no website listed on Google.
- 106 are outside Minneapolis and St Paul.
- 8 manage HOAs, condos or townhome communities.
Sorted by number of reviews, the biggest companies come first:
=QUERY('property management company (AREAS)'!A1:J256,"select A, D, E, B, J where A is not null order by E desc limit 20",1)
The big names at the top (RENOSY, Housing Hub, KRC Apartments) mostly manage rentals. They’re worth a call, but they probably already have a vendor and a procurement process. I’d start lower on the list.
Start with the HOA managers
Townhome and condo associations are the best landscaping contracts there are: one big shared lawn, mowed every week, plus spring and fall cleanups, all on one invoice. They’re run by HOA management companies.
=QUERY('property management company (AREAS)'!A1:J256,"select A, D, E where A matches '(?i).*(hoa|associa minnesota|association|community management|condo).*' order by E desc",1)
Eight companies. Associa and Gassen are big. Spire, Sunshai and Condominium Resources are small enough that the person who answers might be the person who decides.
I matched these by name, so it’s not every HOA manager in the list. Some companies manage associations without saying “HOA” in their name. Read the list for names you recognize.
Then go where the lawns are
Downtown Minneapolis is apartment towers and parking ramps. The grass is in the suburbs.
=QUERY({ARRAYFORMULA(IFERROR(TRIM(REGEXEXTRACT('property management company (AREAS)'!C2:C256,"([^,]+), MN")),""))},"select Col1, count(Col1) where Col1 <> '' and Col1 <> 'Minneapolis' and Col1 <> 'St Paul' group by Col1 order by count(Col1) desc")
St Louis Park, Edina, Golden Valley and Hopkins are right next to each other on the west side. 43 property managers in four neighboring suburbs is a tight service area. Short drives between jobs is how a lawn crew makes money.
The message
Set this as the WhatsApp message in SETTINGS, and every row gets a link that opens with it filled in:
Hi! I run a lawn care and landscaping crew around [suburb]. Do your properties have mowing and spring cleanup lined up for next season? Happy to walk a property and quote it this week.
It says what you do, where you work, and asks one question. Put the suburb in so it doesn’t read like a blast.
“Even if your ambitions are huge, start slow, start small, build gradually, build smart.” (Gary Vaynerchuk, Crush It!)
Your first yes will probably be one small property. Do it well and ask for the next one.
Timing
Commercial landscaping contracts usually get signed in late winter for the coming season. That’s also when nobody else is calling, because every lawn crew is plowing or resting. If you’re reading this in fall, message them now about next spring, and offer snow removal while you’re at it. It’s the same list. (Here’s the snow removal version.)
Step by step
- Get a Places API key and set up Local Lead Finder.
- Put your city in SETTINGS > Region and run Find Areas. Wait for it to finish.
- Untick downtown and any areas you won’t drive to.
- Search “property management company” in all areas.
- Pull out the HOA, condo and community managers first.
- Count property managers by suburb and pick two or three neighboring suburbs.
- Set your WhatsApp message, then message or call down the list. Mark each one Outreached.
- Follow up in late winter, before the season starts.
Common pitfalls
- Searching before Find Areas finishes: it keeps working in the background. Mine grew from 87 areas to 150 after I’d started searching, so wait for it to finish.
- Matching HOA managers by name only: my name match found 8, but some companies manage associations without “HOA” or “condo” in their name. Read the list for names you recognize.
- Starting at the top of the list: the big rental managers like RENOSY, Housing Hub and KRC Apartments probably already have a vendor and a procurement process. Start lower, under 50 reviews.
- Pitching downtown: downtown Minneapolis is apartment towers and parking ramps. Untick downtown areas and go where the grass is, like St Louis Park, Edina, Golden Valley and Hopkins.
- Waiting until spring: commercial landscaping contracts usually get signed in late winter. Message in fall or winter, when nobody else is calling.
- Forgetting to mark Outreached: mark every company you message. They stay green in every future search, so your snow removal pitch won’t hit them twice.
Learn the Google Sheets formulas in this post
- How To Sort A Filter: sorting a list so the most-reviewed property managers sit at the top, like the first QUERY does.
- 3 Ways to Count in Google Sheets: the counting behind the summary, like 160 managers under 50 reviews and 43 with no website.
- 200 REGEXMATCH Examples in Google Sheets: the same kind of pattern the QUERY “matches” uses to pull out HOA, condo and community managers.
- Clean Up Names in a List: tidying text with TRIM, like the REGEXEXTRACT formula that pulls the town out of each address to count by suburb.
Better Sheets has hundreds more tutorials like these. If you want to get better at Google Sheets, join Better Sheets.
Other ways to use Local Lead Finder
- How to Get Snow Removal Contracts in Minneapolis: for snow plow and salting contractors going after commercial lots.
- How to Get Commercial Cleaning Contracts: property managers and plazas: for commercial cleaners and janitorial crews.
- Property Management Companies in Minneapolis: all 255, ranked by reviews: for landlords, HOA boards and vendors who want the whole list.
- How to Build a Local Business List in Google Sheets (142 coffee shops, Boise): for anyone who wants a whole local business list in one sheet.
All 18, grouped by who they’re for: Lead generation ideas: 18 local businesses to sell to.
FAQ
How do I get landscaping contracts with no experience?
Start with small property managers (the ones with under 50 reviews) and small HOAs. Offer to quote one property, do it well, and ask for referrals to their other properties. A list makes sure you’re asking the right people.
Who hires for commercial lawn care contracts?
Property management companies, HOA management companies, and the owners of office parks and shopping centers. All of them are on Google Maps, so a Local Lead Finder search finds them.
Where do I find a list of property management companies in my city?
Search “property management company” in Local Lead Finder for your region. Around Minneapolis it found 255, each with a phone number, address, rating, review count and website.
How much does a search cost?
Each area is one Google Places request per results page. You use your own Places API key, and Google gives up to 1,000 searches a month free. The sheet shows the most a search could cost before it runs.
Why start with HOA managers?
Townhome and condo associations are one big shared lawn, mowed every week, plus spring and fall cleanups, all on one invoice. Around Minneapolis my name match found 8 HOA, condo and community managers, and the small ones like Spire, Sunshai and Condominium Resources may put you straight through to the person who decides.
When should I pitch landscaping contracts?
Late winter, before the season starts, is when commercial contracts usually get signed. If it’s fall, message them now about next spring and offer snow removal at the same time.
Can I use the same list for snow removal?
Yes. Property managers hire for both, often from the same crew. Mark them Outreached once and they stay green in every future search, so you won’t message anyone twice.
Get the sheet
Local Lead Finder is $10, and free for Better Sheets lifetime members.
