A Seller’s Perspective
Most articles about selling a green industry business focus on the numbers: valuations, multiples, deal structure, and due diligence. Those topics matter, and we have covered many of them here, from cash versus terms to what happens after you sign a letter of intent. What those articles cannot fully capture is how the experience feels from the seller’s side of the table.
To bring that perspective forward, we built the conversation below around the questions sellers ask us most often and the experiences they most often describe. The seller is a composite rather than a single person, so no names, markets, or deal terms appear. The concerns are real, however, and so are the reasons many sellers say the process with SpringGreen felt different.
The timing for this conversation matters. Deal activity in landscaping and lawn care has been building at a record pace, driven largely by private equity investment. According to KPMG, private equity firms accounted for 76% of transaction volume in landscaping services through August 2025. For anyone considering selling your lawn care business, that means more interest from buyers, but also more reason to understand exactly who is on the other side of the deal.
What made you start thinking about selling?
“Honestly, it wasn’t one thing. I’d been running the business for close to twenty years, and the work itself never bothered me. What wore on me was carrying everything at once: the phones in April, the hiring every spring, the equipment decisions, and the worry about what would happen to my people if something happened to me. At some point I realized I’d built something valuable, but I didn’t have a real plan for what came next.”
That last point is more common than most sellers realize. The Exit Planning Institute highlights a widely cited PwC finding that 75% of business owners profoundly regret selling their company within one year. Its 2023 research also found that only 41% of owners had a formal, written plan for life after the sale. In many cases, regret has less to do with the price than with how the transition was handled.
You had other options. Why did you take the conversation with SpringGreen seriously?
“I’d gotten calls from a couple of groups I’d never heard of. They were polite, and they talked a lot about multiples. What they didn’t talk much about was my customers or my crew. My first real conversation with SpringGreen went the other direction. They wanted to know how long my customers had been with me, how I stayed in touch with them, and which people on my team the business couldn’t run without. That told me a lot about what they valued.”
That emphasis is deliberate. SpringGreen specifically seeks out businesses with strong customer relationships and community involvement, because those relationships are what carry a business through a change in ownership.
What worried you most going in?
“My people, without question. A few of my technicians had been with me more than a decade. I didn’t want them to hear from a stranger that everything was changing. SpringGreen made employee retention part of the conversation early, and we talked through when and how to tell the team. That conversation alone took a lot of weight off my shoulders.”
If this concern sounds familiar, our earlier article on preparing your crew when you’re ready to sell covers how to approach those conversations.
How was the customer side handled?
“I’d heard stories about customers getting a letter from a company they’d never heard of and canceling the same week. SpringGreen had a clear plan for how my customers would hear about the change, what they would be told, and what would stay the same. They’ve been treating lawns since 1977, so they understand that customers are loyal to the relationship as much as to the service itself.”
What about the paperwork? That’s where a lot of deals get stuck.
“That was the biggest surprise. I expected to spend a fortune on professional fees just to understand what I was signing. Instead, SpringGreen provided guidance on the whole sales process, including a purchase agreement template and a clear outline of how the closing would work. I still had my own attorney and accountant review everything, and I’d tell anyone to do the same. The difference was that my advisors spent their time reviewing documents instead of building them from scratch.”
That guidance is one of the practical ways SpringGreen helps sellers save money on professional services without cutting corners on protection.
Did the business change after the sale?
“Some things changed, and honestly, they should have. The business gained access to technology, marketing, and service lines I never had the bandwidth to build on my own. Offering lawn, tree, and pest services under one roof created more ways to serve the same customers. What mattered most to me, though, was that my customers kept being taken care of and the business kept growing. To me, that’s what a legacy actually looks like.”
What advice would you give someone thinking about selling?
“Start earlier than you think you need to. Then ask every potential buyer the same three questions. What happens to my customers? What happens to my people? What does this business look like five years from now? Pay attention to which buyers answer those questions with real detail, and do it before you ever talk about price.”
What Makes the Difference
Every sale is unique, but the sellers who describe a positive experience tend to point to the same four things: a buyer who protects customer relationships, a buyer who values the team, clear guidance through the paperwork, and confidence that the business will keep growing after the handoff. If you are weighing different types of buyers, our comparison of selling to a franchise system versus an independent buyer lays out the tradeoffs on both sides.
Now in its 50th year, SpringGreen has grown to more than 150 franchise partners across the United States by building long-term relationships rather than chasing quick transactions. That same approach shapes how it works with every seller.
Start the Conversation
If you are thinking about selling your lawn care, pest control, or tree care business, SpringGreen would welcome a confidential conversation about what a transition could look like for your customers, your team, and your legacy. Call the acquisition team at 815-230-1296, or request your free information kit to learn more.
