Lawn Care Technician Job Description

Summary

A lawn care technician keeps customers’ lawns healthy and neat. The work happens outdoors at customer properties: mowing, edging and trimming and, depending on your service mix, applying fertilizer, weed control or other treatments along a route.

Describe your service mix in the posting. A mowing crew member and a treatment technician do different work, and the right candidates are different people.

Duties and responsibilities

• Mow, edge, trim and blow clean lawns and walkways to the customer’s standard.
• Load, check and unload equipment each day, and report anything damaged or unsafe.
• Follow the daily route and arrive at each property inside the scheduled window.
• Apply products, if your service includes them, exactly as labeled and as your written steps require.
• Note problems at a property, such as irrigation leaks, bare patches or pests, and report them.
• Greet customers politely, answer simple questions and pass the rest to the office.
• Keep the truck and trailer organized and the work record or checklist up to date.

Skills and qualities

• Comfortable working outside on your feet for most of the day.
• Able to lift and carry equipment and bags.
• Reliable and on time, day after day.
• Follows safety steps, including protective gear.
• Reads and follows a route or work order.
• Pays attention to detail so the finished lawn looks right.

Typical requirements

• A valid driver’s license if the job includes driving a truck or trailer.
• A state license or certification if the job includes applying certain lawn products. List it only if your service applies them.
• Ability to work outdoors in heat, cold and rain.
• Ability to lift the weight you name in the posting. Base it on your real equipment.
• Minimum age that meets your state’s rules for the equipment and products involved.

Requirements differ by state, city and employer. Check the licensing, age, safety and pay rules that apply to your business before you post. This page is a starting point, not legal advice.

Schedule and conditions

Lawn care is seasonal in most regions. Say whether the job is seasonal or year-round, the usual start and end times, and whether Saturdays are possible.

Weather moves the schedule. Tell candidates how rain days and make-up days work and who they contact that morning.

Nice to have

• Experience with commercial mowers and trimmers.
• Earlier route-based or field-service work.
• A clean driving record, if the job includes company vehicles.
• Willingness to train for treatment work.

Tips for posting this job

• Name your real service mix: mowing, treatments or both.
• Say whether you provide the truck, equipment, uniform and training.
• State the season, with start and end months.
• Give the service area so candidates can judge the commute.
• Explain how pay works, such as hourly or per route, and when raises happen.

Put your real pay, schedule and location in the posting. Candidates skip posts that leave them out.

Sample job post

Copy this, then change the words in brackets to match your business.

Interview questions for a lawn care technician

• What mowers, trimmers and blowers have you used?
• How do you make sure a lawn looks right before you leave a property?
• What do you check on your equipment at the start of the day?
• If you are running behind on your route, what do you do?
• A customer comes out with a question you cannot answer. How do you handle it?
• Have you applied lawn products before? What safety steps did you follow?
• How do you feel about working in heat, cold and rain?

Ask every candidate the same questions so you can compare answers fairly. HRGP keeps your questions, notes and scores with each applicant.

Questions and answers