Landscaping services demand flourishes post-COVID

By Ken Fountain For The Leader

The advent of the COVID pandemic, especially in its earliest phases, hit businesses hard across the board. For months, the economies of the U.S. and across the globe were shut down, as people were forced to keep their distance from each other.

With many people suddenly having to work from home, a new reality began to set in. The paradigm of people going to an office or other workplace every day for several offices began to shift, as workers and employers got used to the idea that much of that work could be done remotely.

And as people found that their homes were not only their castle, as it were, but the place they would be spending most of their waking hours, many decided that they wanted to spruce their homes up more. Thus, demand for services such as landscaping was not as dampened as for other goods and services.

“The market size of landscaping services totaled almost 130 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, with the top three landscaping services companies in the United States all generating an annual revenue of well over one billion U.S. dollars in 2021,” reports Statistica.

Last year, the market research firm IBIS World reported that the market size of the landscaping services industry is expected to increase 3.1 percent in 2023.

In the past few years, the market size of the industry n the U.S. increased faster than the economy overall, the firm reports.

Also according to IBS World, the biggest consumers in the landscaping service industry are households earning more than $100,000 per year.

For Jason Houston, owner of Missouri City-based Fort Bend Construction and Grounds, the reasons for the growth are pretty simple. “People want to come home and feel good. They want to see a beautiful home,” he said.

Houston said that since the pandemic began, he and his colleagues have not been hurting for work. In fact, demand seems to be only increasing, even in a time of inflation.

Houston’s firm does both residential and commercial work, and he said both sides have maintained steady demand. Businesses like retail stores and restaurants want to keep their properties in good shame to attract customers, and homeowners seem more inclined than ever to keep their lawns nice.

It’s not just a matter of “keeping with the Joneses.” Houston said with people spending so much more time at home than before, keeping their homes an attractive place to be is a top priority.