The Edge June/July/August 2026

BOOSTING YOUR BUSINESS

The Lawn Care Routing Playbook for Tighter Routes and Bigger Returns

By Jill Odom

WHEN IT COMES TO LAWN CARE, ROUTE DENSITY ISN’T JUST A ‘NICE-TO have’ aspect of the business. It plays a direct role in your company’s profitability, efficiency and ability to deliver a better overall customer experience.

referrals and neighbor-to-neighbor visibility,” Lehmann says. “It’s created a ripple effect to help drive new business without extra marketing spend, which has been a win for both efficiency and revenue.” Route density also allows companies to serve more clients with the same resources. Cundiff says they prefer a truck to serve around 400 customers, but when they aren’t as dense in a territory, they need two trucks to service that number of properties. “Because of the organic growth we’ve experienced, we actually needed to add routes rather than reduce them,” Lehmann says. “That said, the increased route density meant that each truck we added was far more productive, so even with more vehicles, we’re getting more out of every route and every technician.” density, no tool or software is going to do much good until you’ve addressed gaps in your routes via strong marketing. Lehmann says they’ve always priori tized route density, but once they really focused on improving it, they found just how much more they could get out of each day. He says they concentrated on targeted marketing. “For example, we reached out to THE PATH TO DENSITY When it comes to achieving route

“By tightening up our routes, we were able to reduce overtime significantly,” Lehmann says. “When stops are closer, technicians spend less time driving and more time working, which keeps days on schedule and minimizes the need for extra hours. It’s better for the team and for controlling labor costs.” ROUTE DENSITY AS A GROWTH ENGINE Aside from boosting employee morale, tight route density can lead to increased consumer awareness of your brand as your trucks are seen more frequently in an area. Cundiff says in branches like Milwau kee, they have very dense routes and it’s much easier to sell there because everyone is already familiar with their company and sees their yellow and green trucks on a regular basis. “The denser you are, people just get familiar with seeing you, and that puts you ahead of the game,” Cundiff says. Lehmann agrees that since they’ve im proved their route density, their organic growth has increased. “By clustering stops and serving neighborhoods more efficiently, we reach more potential clients through

“When your stops are tighter together, your trucks spend less time driving and more time actually servicing customers,” says Eric Lehmann, COO of Rich Green Lawns, based in Jackson, New Jersey. “That means lower fuel costs, less wear and tear on vehicles, and more pro ductive hours out of every technician. For our clients we are able to provide faster response times, improving their experience.” Cam Cundiff, director of administration with Weed Man – Kansas City franchise, says their goal is for technicians to visit 25 to 30 houses in a day. He says in some cases where they have tight routing, an employee can have 10 houses done by 10 a.m. and be done by 3 p.m.

Photo: Weed Man

26 The Edge // June/July/August 2026