Getting schooled: Numbers behind the largest 150 firms in the landscape industry

chart: largest LM firms

A look at the numbers behind the largest 150 firms in the landscape and lawn care industry.

The Green Industry’s largest 150 firms, ranked by annual revenue, grossed a total of $7,668,025,804 in 2013 sales. That’s a 0.2 percent drop from last year’s list, despite the list’s bottom threshold bumping up to nearly $7.6 million from $5.4 million last year.

The average LM150 company grew 12 percent in 2013 over 2012; these firms expect to grow 11 percent next year. Most companies on the list grew (121), 13 reported no change and 16 contracted.

The big three

We attribute some of the $22 million decline on this year’s list to TruGreen’s 9 percent revenue dip (more than $80 million) from 2012 to 2013. This drop knocked TruGreen down from the top slot to third, making way for ValleyCrest Landscape Cos. to move from No. 3 to first on the list. The Brickman Group still secures its No. 2 spot from last year.

Speaking of the LM150’s big-three firms, since late last year they’ve been making news, which will shake up next year’s list. For starters, ServiceMaster said in November it would spin off TruGreen and it completed the transaction in January. The move is expected to give the lawn care giant the time and focus it needs to turn around its business, which has lost 500,000 customers since 2010. Private equity firm KKR acquired Brickman in November. In May Brickman said it would merge with ValleyCrest. This deal creates a nearly $2 billion national landscape company.

Methodology

LM sought submissions from landscape industry companies in print, on LandscapeManagement.net, via email and over the phone from January through May. Companies submitted data through an online form. LM editors compiled the results and, where applicable, removed non-typical Green Industry revenue sources from the totals reported by the companies. For example, we omitted revenue from structural pest control and termite services.
We estimated revenue for firms we couldn’t reach that shared projected 2013 revenue data for last year’s list. Additionally, LM editors calculated the figures for growth rates, the service segment revenue charts, the customer mix revenue charts and the regional charts from the data submitted.

Be on the 2015 list

Should your company be on the LM150 list of the industry’s largest companies, ranked by revenue? If so, please contact Editor Marisa Palmieri at mpalmieri@northcoastmedia.net to be notified in early 2015 when the submission period opens. We encourage companies with $5 million-plus in annual revenue to enter.