The Cost of Poor Communication in Landscaping and Subsequent Problems: 9 Industry Statistics
- Kyle Larson
- Jul 27
- 7 min read
Landscaping communication problems could be costing major dollars.
Landscaping companies run on communication.
Every morning, crews need to know where they are going, what equipment they need, what the customer requested, what changed from the original plan, and what must be completed before they leave.
During the day, employees need to ask questions, report equipment problems, explain delays, confirm instructions, and sometimes speak directly with customers.
When those conversations are clear, the work moves.
When they are not, the costs rarely appear on a financial statement under “communication.” They show up as additional trips, unfinished work, supervisor interruptions, frustrated customers, delayed schedules, safety concerns, and employees who cannot take on more responsibility.
The following statistics show just how significant landscaping communication problems can be. Landscaping companies have riding on clear workplace communication.
1. Some larger lawn-care companies report spending as much as $80,000 per year on callbacks
A survey published by Landscape Management in partnership with Nufarm examined the cost of callbacks and repeat applications.
Most respondents estimated that callbacks cost their companies less than $5,000 annually. However, some larger companies reported that reapplications and repeat visits by applicators could cost more than $80,000 per year.
The same survey found that:
68% of respondents received fewer than 10 callbacks during a typical application round.
20% received more than 20 callbacks per round.
More than 20% said callbacks caused at least a moderate decrease in productivity and customer retention.
The survey focused specifically on lawn-care applications, not every type of landscaping callback. It also does not claim that language differences caused all those callbacks. Poor application results, weather, products, training, customer expectations, and quality control may all contribute.
Still, communication can determine whether a problem is noticed, explained, and corrected before a crew leaves the property. Employees need enough workplace English to report incomplete work, clarify an unusual request, describe what they applied, and explain what needs to happen next.
2. One customer can represent nearly $15,000 in annual revenue
According to the National Association of Landscape Professionals’ 2025 Financial Benchmark Study, participating companies had a median of 355 customers and generated $14,682 in revenue per customer.
That does not mean every unhappy customer immediately costs a landscaping company exactly $14,682. It is an industry benchmark based on participating businesses, not a guaranteed customer value for every company.
However, it demonstrates the financial importance of each ongoing client relationship.
A crew member who communicates professionally can reassure a customer, confirm a request, explain a delay, or report a concern to management before it becomes a complaint. A crew member who lacks the language to do those things may remain silent even when they recognize the problem.
The quality of the landscaping matters. So does the customer’s experience while the work is being completed.
The underlying benchmark report was based on 2024 information submitted by 142 organizations representing 344 locations. That makes it a useful benchmark, but not a census of every landscaping company in the United States.
3. Sixty-one percent of landscaping revenue is connected to existing relationships
Aspire Software’s 2025 Landscape Industry Report surveyed more than 1,000 commercial landscaping professionals across different regions, revenue levels, and stages of growth.
Respondents reported that:
35% of revenue came from repeat business.
26% came from word-of-mouth referrals.
Together, that means 61% of revenue was connected to repeat customers and referrals from satisfied clients.
This makes customer communication more than a courtesy. It is part of revenue protection.
A customer may forgive a weather delay when someone explains it clearly. They may accept a necessary schedule change when the company communicates early. They may even become more loyal when a crew leader handles a problem professionally.
Silence and confusion create a different experience. The customer does not always know whether the employee misunderstood the request, ignored it, or simply could not explain what happened.
4. Nearly half of landscaping and groundskeeping workers are Hispanic or Latino
The landscaping workforce is more linguistically and culturally diverse than the overall American workforce.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 47.5% of landscaping and groundskeeping workers were Hispanic or Latino in 2025, compared with 20% of all employed people. Among first-line landscaping supervisors, the figure was 28.2%.
Ethnicity does not tell us an individual employee’s English level. Many Hispanic employees are native or fully proficient English speakers, while landscaping employees from other backgrounds may also be learning English.
The statistic does show that multilingual communication is not an unusual situation in landscaping. It is a normal part of operating many crews.
Companies need a deliberate communication system rather than relying indefinitely on one bilingual employee to translate every instruction, customer question, schedule change, and workplace problem.
5. Fifty-one percent of contractors consider staffing a major business risk
Aspire found that 51% of commercial landscaping professionals considered staffing a significant risk to reaching their annual goals.
The same research found that 55% expected to raise wages by 2% to 9%, while 20% planned to invest in staff skill development and new software.
Finding another experienced worker is difficult. Developing the employees a company already has can be more practical.
An employee may already understand plants, irrigation, mowing, hardscaping, equipment, and property care. Limited workplace English may be the main factor preventing that person from communicating with a customer, leading a morning meeting, documenting a problem, or supervising another employee.
Job-specific language training allows companies to build on the skills their employees already possess instead of treating valuable workers as permanently limited.
6. Grounds-maintenance work carries serious safety risks
The Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded 239 fatal occupational injuries among grounds-maintenance workers in 2024. The fatality rate was 20.9 deaths per 100,000 full-time-equivalent workers.
Landscaping employees work around vehicles, trailers, chemicals, heat, machinery, sharp tools, falling objects, electrical hazards, and moving equipment. OSHA identifies machinery, chemicals, lifting, noise, construction activities, and weather as important hazards in landscaping and horticultural work.
These numbers do not prove that language barriers caused the injuries. They show why safety communication cannot be vague or assumed.
OSHA requires employers to provide required training in language and vocabulary workers can understand. For riding mowers, OSHA specifically states that workers must receive understandable training before operating the equipment.
English instruction should never replace immediate safety information in an employee’s strongest language. Companies must make safety-critical training understandable now.
Workplace English training serves a different but complementary purpose: it helps employees increasingly understand everyday jobsite conversations, ask follow-up questions, report hazards, and communicate problems directly.
7. Moving from field work into supervision is associated with an $18,500 wage increase
Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data for May 2024 reported average annual earnings of:
$40,880 for landscaping and groundskeeping workers
$59,380 for first-line supervisors of landscaping, lawn-service, and groundskeeping workers
That is an average difference of $18,500 per year, or approximately 45%.
English ability alone does not make someone ready to supervise. Leadership requires reliability, technical knowledge, judgment, organization, and the ability to manage people.
But communication is part of the position.
A crew leader must explain priorities, speak with customers, report progress, coordinate schedules, document problems, and communicate with managers. A technically excellent employee may remain in the same position because they have not yet developed the English needed to demonstrate those abilities.
8. Rising prices and supply delays make accurate updates more important
Aspire’s research found that:
57% of contractors had experienced material price increases.
69% had experienced equipment price increases.
32% reported material lead times increasing by at least one week.
36% reported similar delays for equipment.
When materials are delayed or unavailable, the original work plan changes. Crews may need to substitute products, complete work in a different order, return another day, or explain a delay to the customer.
Those changes must move from the office to the supervisor, from the supervisor to the crew, and sometimes from the crew back to the customer.
Every handoff creates an opportunity for information to be shortened, mistranslated, misunderstood, or lost.
9. Labor costs could rise approximately 20% by the end of 2029
The National Association of Landscape Professionals reports that labor costs are expected to increase by roughly 20% through the end of 2029. Its 2025 benchmark research also identified finding qualified employees and maintaining profitability as leading industry concerns.
As labor becomes more expensive, inefficient communication becomes more expensive too.
Ten minutes spent repeating instructions does not sound serious. But if multiple supervisors repeat instructions to multiple crews every morning, the company is paying for hundreds of unproductive hours over the course of a year.
The same is true of waiting for a bilingual employee, correcting misunderstood work, returning to a property, or tracking down information that should have been reported earlier.
Technology can improve scheduling, routing, estimating, and job costing. It cannot, by itself, give an employee the confidence and language to say:
“I understand the original plan, but the customer asked us to change this section. Should we finish it today or schedule another visit?”
That ability must be taught and practiced.
What these statistics do—and do not—prove
These sources do not prove that limited English causes every callback, lost account, injury, staffing problem, or delay.
Landscaping operations are complicated. Quality control, equipment, management, scheduling, weather, customer expectations, training, and individual performance all matter.
The data does show that landscaping companies operate in an environment where:
Repeat visits can become expensive.
Individual customer relationships carry substantial value.
Most revenue is influenced by retention and referrals.
Multilingual crews are common.
Qualified workers are difficult to find.
Safety instructions must be completely understood.
Customer and operational changes occur constantly.
Every hour of labor is becoming more expensive.
In that environment, communication is not a soft benefit. It is operational infrastructure.
AIR Language solves the workplace-language problem
Landscaping crews do not need disconnected lessons about airports, restaurants, or textbook grammar.
They need to practice the communication that happens during their actual workday.
AIR Language’s landscaping English training gives companies one system for addressing the full range of workplace-language problems:
Understanding and confirming instructions
Asking for clarification
Reporting equipment and property problems
Explaining delays and schedule changes
Speaking professionally with customers
Communicating across multilingual crews
Reducing dependence on one bilingual employee
Preparing strong workers for leadership
Building confidence through repeated, practical conversations
AIR Language begins by identifying each employee’s level, responsibilities, and most important communication needs. Employees then join live teacher-led classes and receive job-specific practice connected to tools, customers, schedules, safety conversations, instructions, and daily reporting.
Managers receive progress updates showing participation, completed practice, strengths, and areas for continued development.
This is not generic English instruction added to the side of the business. It is communication training built around how the business actually operates.
Your company can continue paying for misunderstandings one instruction, callback, and customer complaint at a time—or it can begin building a team that communicates more independently.
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