Landscaping businesses are seeing major shifts in spending patterns, but most don’t have visibility into industry-wide trends to benchmark their own operations.
At Coast, we analyzed spending data across thousands of landscaping businesses to reveal what’s actually happening in the field. This breakdown shows exactly where money is going, when costs spike, and how the most efficient landscapers are structuring their spending. If you’re wondering whether your operation is tracking with the industry or if you’re missing something everyone else is doing, this data breakdown is for you.
1. Fuel as a Business Barometer
Fuel consumption tells your business story weeks before your P&L does. Through June 2025, the average landscaping fleet pumped 30% more fuel than the same period last year. That’s evidence that jobs kicked off weeks sooner and stayed busier once they started.
Here’s what the data revealed.
Early Leaf-Out Moved the Calendar In nearly 20% of US counties, leaves emerged 1-2 weeks earlier than average, especially across Iowa, Missouri, and Pennsylvania (The Washington Post). Unsurprisingly, February fuel use jumped 55% year-over-year as crews fired up trucks and blowers long before the typical March ramp-up.
Watch the Gauge for Your Biggest Line Item Peak season means peak fuel consumption: mowers, trucks, and equipment running constantly across multiple job sites. When you’re burning through hundreds of gallons per week, fuel spend quickly becomes one of your largest expenses. That’s where having real visibility and control matters most. Coast’s fuel controls help you track exactly where every gallon goes, set spending limits by driver, and catch unauthorized purchases before they add up. When fuel is this big a line item, you can’t afford to let it run wild.
2. Supply Chain Patterns Reveal Operational Maturity
Year-to-date transaction data (not dollars, transactions) reveal remarkable stability in the landscape supply mix with one notable shift.
Retail Convenience Dominates, Online Is Still a Minority The Home Depot expanded from 21% to 29% of all supply trips, an 8-point jump that represents ~38% relative growth. Big-box retailers now account for four out of every ten supply runs (The Home Depot + Lowe’s), yet Amazon sits at only 5%. Even in 2025, most replenishment happens when a truck pulls into a physical yard or store. Immediacy, product certainty, and habit clearly trump pure e-commerce convenience for crews grabbing blades, fasteners, PPE, irrigation parts, and small tools.
Year-Over-Year Consistency = Operational Maturity With SiteOne Landscape Supply flat, Amazon/online flat, “Other” flat, and only one major retailer moving up, the pattern shows crews and managers already know what they need and where they get it. That predictability becomes a strategic asset. Future efficiency gains will come from tightening within this stable framework through consolidation, better data capture, and fewer trips, rather than hoping for organic behavioral change.
3. Tech Stack ≠ Nice-to-Haves
Landscaper software spend follows a stable pattern you can plan around. Two-thirds of dollars sit “at the desk,” (in the office) and about one-fifth orchestrate crews and rolling assets.
Desk-Centric by Design Finance, admin, communication, and general productivity collectively dominate share. Landscapers prioritized bookkeeping (Intuit QuickBooks), payroll, document handling, and collaboration first, laying a control foundation before deeper field automation. This foundation-first approach makes sense because you need to know your numbers before you can optimize them.
Integration Is the Efficiency Unlock According to Intuit’s 2024 Business Solutions Survey, 72% of SMBs cite automation as the top need; 64% want tighter app integrations. This mirrors what the stable allocation implies: marginal gains now come from connecting the stack (Coast real-time spend controls + accounting software + CRM/proposal/scheduling + payroll) to eliminate double entry and accelerate invoicing rather than reshuffling category spend.
4. AI in Landscaping – From Experiment to Competitive Edge
AI is no longer a novelty line item. It now has its own budget row in 2025 YTD tech stack data (8.2% share of software spend per Coast internal data) while owners and managers push for automation and tighter app integrations to claw back admin hours.
What AI Is Already Doing (Real Uses, Not Hype) Early adopters lean on a handful of repeatable workflows; each replacing manual copy-paste or ad hoc decision making with faster, more consistent outputs.
- Proposal/Estimate Drafting: Feed square footage, plant/material list, service cadence → draft scope & upsell suggestions; customize tone once, reuse prompts (cuts late-night estimate prep) (“How to use ChatGPT to enhance daily operations“)
- Photo-to-Concept Mockups: Snapshot client site → generate visual “after” (native pollinator bed, hardscape layout) to accelerate yes/close and differentiate during bid reviews (“How to use ChatGPT for Landscape Design” ).
- AI Financial Insights Assist: Use a custom GPT to analyze quarterly business performance by summarizing critical financial trends, forecasting areas for growth, and suggesting actionable next steps so you can stay on strategy without poring over spreadsheets. (“AI Trailblazers: How Landscape Pros Are Increasing Their Efficiency”)
- Applicant Screening & HR Assist: Chat-based triage captures license status, equipment experience, availability → ranked shortlist for manager review, shrinking seasonal hiring cycles (“Can you Use AI in Your Landscaping Business for recruiting real humans?“).
What this means for the Landscaping Industry?
The businesses that will thrive in the coming years will be the ones that understand their operational patterns, control their largest expense categories, and use technology to amplify their expertise rather than replace it.
This analysis represents just the beginning of our deep dive into industry spending. We’re planning regular industry briefs that combine Coast data with actionable insights for business operators. Stay tuned for more.
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