Groundskeeper Job Description Templates for Grounds and Turf Maintenance
6 free templates for the employers who maintain an existing site: general grounds, mowing route, lead groundskeeper, sports turf, campus or property, and seasonal snow. Download as DOCX.
The first grounds posting I ever helped rewrite was for a property manager who could not keep anyone past July. Her job ad described planting plans and design sensibility. The actual job was six acres of turf, a zero-turn mower, a leaf season that never ended, and a snow shovel from December onward. Every hire quit when they discovered the mismatch.
That is the core problem with groundskeeper job descriptions online: almost all of them are landscaping install postings wearing a maintenance title. Maintaining an existing site is a distinct trade with its own pride, its own equipment, and its own calendar, and the people who are good at it can tell within four sentences whether your posting describes their job.
At FirstHR we write hiring templates for employers without an HR department, which describes most of this industry. The six below cover general grounds, a mowing route, a lead groundskeeper, sports turf, an occupied campus or property, and a seasonal snow term, each with the pay, overtime, and equipment notes the generic versions leave out.
TL;DR
A groundskeeper job description covers maintaining an existing site: mowing, edging, beds, debris, turf health, and snow. Name the site type, the equipment, the start time, and the hourly rate. Grounds staff are non-exempt, and travel between properties during the shift is paid time. National median pay is $18.82 per hour (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Six templates below.
Maintenance Is Not the Same Hire as Install
A groundskeeper keeps a site in the condition it was handed over in, while an install crew builds that site in the first place. The two jobs share tools and vocabulary and almost nothing else: one runs on a recurring cycle, the other runs on projects that end.
That distinction sets everything downstream. Maintenance is judged on consistency across an entire season, so the hiring signals are cut quality, equipment care, reliability at a fixed early start, and the willingness to keep showing up in August heat and January ice. Install is judged on a finished result, so the signals are grading, layout, and material skill.
The work is also far bigger than most people assume. Grounds maintenance employment is projected to grow about 4 percent from 2024 to 2034, with roughly 171,600 openings each year over the decade, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics profile of grounds maintenance workers. Most of those hires happen at companies and properties where nobody has recruiting in their title.
Route maintenance company
Many properties, fixed cycle
You visit the same lawns every week on a schedule. The hire is judged on consistency, equipment care, and how the property looks on the drive-by. Travel between stops is paid time, and that adds up faster than owners expect.
In-house grounds at a property
One site, every day
Apartment communities, campuses, associations, and office parks employ their own grounds staff. The role blends turf work with litter patrol, snow clearing, light exterior repairs, and daily contact with the people who live or work there.
Sports turf and athletic fields
The game sets the calendar
Playability and player safety drive the schedule, not the mowing cycle. Expect evening and weekend work in season, documented field inspections, and a skill set closer to agronomy than to general grounds work.
Install and design-build
A different hire entirely
Building a new landscape is its own trade: grading, hardscape, planting, irrigation, and project sequencing. If that is the work you are hiring for, start with the landscaper templates instead of these.
Write the Site Type Into the First Two Lines
A candidate with six seasons of experience is deciding whether to keep reading before the responsibilities list starts. Tell them immediately: a route with a set number of stops per day, one campus walked daily, athletic fields on a game schedule, or a winter term driven by storms. Then name the equipment. Those two facts filter better than any screening question, and they cost you nothing but two sentences at the top of the posting.
What Belongs in a Groundskeeper Posting
A grounds posting has to do four things: describe the site honestly, filter for equipment and physical fit, protect you legally, and give a reason to choose you over the company down the road. Most postings do the first and skip the rest, which is why they generate volume and not hires.
The parts candidates read first
The hourly rate, stated as a real number or range
Site type: route, campus, fields, or property
Start time and typical shift length
Whether the job runs year-round or by season
The parts that filter applicants
The exact equipment list, by machine type
Physical requirements in pounds, hours, and postures
Driver license and driving record expectations
Weekend rotation and storm call-in availability
The parts that protect you
Non-exempt status stated on the posting
Essential functions written plainly
Pesticide license requirement, if any applies
Equal opportunity statement
The parts that win the hire
Overtime availability and how it is paid
Boot, gear, and uniform allowances
Equipment that is newer than the competition down the road
A named person to call and a fast answer
Two sections carry more weight here than in office hiring. The physical requirements section screens honestly and documents the essential functions of the role if an accommodation question comes up later, so write real weights, postures, and hours instead of a vague sentence about lifting. The equipment list tells an experienced candidate whether this is a step up or a step down. Our guide to writing a job description covers the general structure, and the general laborer templates help when the role spans several kinds of work.
6 Groundskeeper Job Description Templates to Download
Download all six as one file or copy them individually. Each follows the same structure: role overview, position summary, key responsibilities, required qualifications with physical requirements, a classification and compliance note, an equal opportunity statement, and how to apply. The bracketed fields are the only parts you change.
Download All 6 Groundskeeper Job Description Templates
General grounds, mowing route, lead groundskeeper, sports turf, campus or property, and seasonal snow. All in one download.
General Groundskeeper
Year-round, one employer
The core maintenance role: mowing, edging, beds, debris, seasonal cleanup, and winter clearing, with the physical requirements written out honestly.
Lawn Maintenance Technician
Mowing route
For route-based companies, with per-stop service records, equipment checks, and a direct note on paid travel between properties.
Lead Groundskeeper
Working crew leader
Schedule, crew direction, maintenance calendar, and budget, plus the reason a working lead is almost never exempt from overtime.
Sports Turf Groundskeeper
Athletic fields
Field prep, marking, infield work, turf health, and documented safety inspections, written around a game schedule rather than a mowing cycle.
Campus or Property Groundskeeper
Occupied site
For apartments, associations, and campuses: common areas, work orders, resident contact, snow clearing, and the on-call rule stated in writing.
Seasonal Grounds and Snow
Weather-driven term
A defined seasonal term with storm call-out expectations, site logs, material records, and rehire priority for the following season.
The core year-round maintenance role, with mowing, beds, debris, seasonal cleanup, winter clearing, and the physical requirements written out in real numbers.
Template 3: Lead Groundskeeper / Grounds Crew Leader
Schedule, crew direction, the annual maintenance calendar, and budget responsibility, with a direct explanation of why a working lead is usually not exempt. If you also run install crews, compare it with the landscaper templates, which cover crew leaders on the build side.
Lead Groundskeeper / Grounds Crew Leader Job Description
LEAD GROUNDSKEEPER (GROUNDS CREW LEADER) JOB DESCRIPTION
Employer: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Facilities Manager / Operations Manager / Owner]
Employment type: Full-time, year-round
FLSA status: Non-exempt in most cases (see classification note)
Compensation: $_ per hour
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Company Name] needs a working crew leader for [site or route]. You run the
schedule, set the standard, and stay on the equipment yourself. This is the role
that decides whether the property looks maintained or merely mowed.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Lead Groundskeeper plans the daily maintenance schedule, directs a small
crew, works alongside them, inspects finished work, manages equipment and
supplies, and reports site conditions and budget needs to management.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Plan the daily and weekly maintenance schedule for [site / route]
•Assign work, train new crew members, and inspect completed work
•Perform grounds maintenance alongside the crew for most of the shift
•Manage the maintenance calendar: fertilization, aeration, overseeding,
pruning windows, mulch cycles, irrigation startup and shutdown
•Track equipment hours, schedule service, and keep the maintenance log
•Order [fuel, fertilizer, mulch, ice melt, parts] within an approved budget
•Enforce safety rules: personal protective equipment, guards, lockout, heat
breaks, and traffic control
•Report property damage, hazards, and turf problems with photos and dates
•Coordinate with [tenants, coaches, residents, event staff] on site access
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years of grounds maintenance experience, including [1] leading others
•Working knowledge of turf care: cut heights, fertility, aeration, weed and
disease identification
•[State pesticide applicator license required / preferred / not required]
•Valid driver license and an acceptable driving record
•Physical requirements: lift and carry up to [__] pounds, full-shift outdoor
work, and sustained equipment operation
•Comfortable writing short reports and reading a budget line
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
A working crew leader is usually non-exempt. The executive exemption requires
all of the following together: payment on a salary basis at or above the federal
weekly threshold, a primary duty of management, customary and regular direction
of the equivalent of two or more full-time employees, and either the authority to
hire and fire or recommendations on those decisions that are given particular
weight. A lead who spends most of the shift on a mower
fails the primary duty test regardless of the title or the salary. Pay the role
hourly, track the hours, and pay the overtime. This is general information, not
legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per hour, [lead premium over crew rate], [license
•Operate and adjust the irrigation system; monitor moisture and drainage
•Inspect surfaces for safety hazards before every event and document the check
•Set up and break down goals, nets, benches, and protective screens
•Manage covers, tarps, and weather response before and during events
•Maintain equipment and keep application and inspection records
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] season(s) of sports turf or grounds experience
•Knowledge of [cool-season / warm-season] turf and the sports played here
•[State pesticide applicator license required / preferred / not required]
•Valid driver license and an acceptable driving record
•Availability for evenings, weekends, and weather-driven schedule changes
•Physical requirements: lift and carry up to [__] pounds, work outdoors in all
conditions, and operate equipment for extended periods
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
This role is non-exempt and overtime-eligible, and in-season weeks routinely run
past 40 hours because games do not move for payroll. Budget for the overtime
rather than trying to average hours across weeks, since the federal workweek is
a fixed and recurring seven-day period and overtime is computed week by week.
If the employer is a school or a public park district, additional state rules on
public employment, compensatory time, and background checks may apply. Anyone
applying restricted use pesticides on the fields must be certified or directly
supervised by a certified applicator. This is general information, not legal
advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Organization Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per hour, [overtime in season], [license
reimbursement], [uniform and gear provided]
To apply, call or email __.
Template 5: Campus or Property Groundskeeper
For apartments, associations, office parks, and campuses, where grounds work sits next to work orders and resident contact. Pair it with the facilities coordinator templates if one person covers both sides.
Campus or Property Groundskeeper Job Description
CAMPUS OR PROPERTY GROUNDSKEEPER JOB DESCRIPTION
Employer: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Property Manager / Facilities Manager / Community Manager]
[Property Name] is a [apartment community / office campus / school campus /
association] of [size or unit description] in [City, State]. This is an in-house
grounds role: the same person walks the same property every day, which is why
small problems get caught here before a vendor would ever see them.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Groundskeeper keeps common areas, landscaping, walkways, parking areas, and
amenity spaces clean, safe, and presentable, and supports the maintenance team
with light exterior repairs and turnover work.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Walk the property daily and remove litter, debris, and pet waste
•Mow, trim, edge, and blow common areas [or oversee the landscape vendor]
•Maintain beds, shrubs, and seasonal color; water as needed
•Keep entries, breezeways, stairwells, dumpster areas, and amenity spaces clean
•Clear snow and ice from walks, entries, stairs, and [lots] and apply ice melt
•Change exterior bulbs, clean signage, and perform light exterior repairs
•Support unit turns or building cleanups as assigned
•Report safety hazards, lighting outages, and damage through the work order
system with photos
•Interact courteously with [residents, tenants, students, visitors]
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[High school diploma or equivalent preferred / not required]
•[Number] year(s) of grounds, janitorial, or general maintenance experience
•Basic hand and power tool skills
•Valid driver license [if operating a property vehicle]
•Ability to pass a background check appropriate to occupied property work
•Physical requirements: lift and carry up to [__] pounds, climb stairs and
ladders, and work outdoors year-round
•Availability for [weekend rotation] and [snow event call-in]
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
This role is non-exempt. Two issues come up on occupied property. First, on-call
time: an employee required to stay on the property or so restricted that the
time cannot be used for personal purposes is working while on call, while an
employee who simply carries a phone and is free to use the time generally is
not. Write the on-call rule down before the first storm. Second, background
screening: staff with key access or resident contact warrant a check, and the
federal notice and authorization steps apply before you run one. This is general
information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Property Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per hour, [on-call premium], [housing discount if
offered], [benefits summary]
To apply, call or email __.
Template 6: Seasonal Grounds and Snow Removal Technician
A defined seasonal term with storm call-out expectations, site logs, and rehire priority. Read it alongside our guide to seasonal employment before you post.
Seasonal Grounds and Snow Removal Technician Job Description
SEASONAL GROUNDS AND SNOW REMOVAL TECHNICIAN JOB DESCRIPTION
Employer: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Operations Manager / Snow Coordinator / Owner]
Employment type: Seasonal, [start month] through [end month]
[Company Name] services [number] properties through the winter season. Work is
weather-driven: quiet stretches followed by long storm shifts at any hour. We
say that plainly in the posting because the people who thrive in this job are
the ones who already know what a storm week looks like.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Seasonal Technician performs snow and ice management and off-season grounds
work: shoveling and clearing walks and entries, applying deicing material,
operating [snow blowers / plows / skid steer] as assigned, and completing fall
and spring cleanups between events.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Respond to storm call-outs within [__] minutes of notification
•Clear snow and ice from walks, entries, stairs, ramps, and lots on the
assigned route in the required order of priority
•Apply salt, sand, or liquid deicer at the specified rate and record it
•Operate [shovels, snow blowers, plow truck, skid steer, salt spreader] as
assigned and trained
•Complete and submit a site log for every service: time on, time off,
material used, conditions, and photos
•Inspect and refuel equipment before and after each event
•Perform fall leaf removal, spring cleanup, and general grounds work between
storms and during the off-season portion of the term
•Follow all cold stress, fatigue, and traffic safety rules
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] season(s) of snow removal or grounds experience preferred
•Valid driver license and an acceptable driving record [CDL if required]
•Ability to work overnight, early morning, weekend, and holiday shifts during
storm events
•Ability to work outdoors in extreme cold, wind, and precipitation
•Physical requirements: repetitive lifting and shoveling of up to [__] pounds,
extended standing and walking on slippery surfaces
•Reliable phone and transportation for storm call-out
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
Seasonal does not mean exempt and it does not mean contractor. Snow crews are
non-exempt employees owed overtime past 40 hours in a workweek, and storm weeks
routinely produce large overtime totals. A crew you schedule, dispatch, equip,
and direct is a crew of employees whatever the paperwork says. Set the seasonal
term with real start and end months, run the same hiring paperwork you run for
year-round staff, and document the on-call rule so the phone-carrying hours are
not argued about later. Documented training on the specific equipment protects
both the employee and the employer. This is general information, not legal
advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per hour, [storm premium], [guaranteed minimum hours per
call-out], [end of season bonus], [rehire priority next season]
To apply, call or email __.
Overtime, Travel, and On-Call Hours
Grounds maintenance employees are non-exempt: hourly, with overtime at one and one-half times the regular rate past 40 hours in a workweek. Landscaping and grounds work is not agriculture for Fair Labor Standards Act purposes, so the farm overtime exemption some owners reach for does not cover a grounds crew.
The money actually gets lost in the hours nobody logs. Travel between properties during the shift is compensable, and so is the time at the yard once an employee reports to receive instructions or load equipment. The rule sits in the federal regulation on travel that is all in the day's work, and it applies regardless of what a handbook or a long-standing practice says.
Paid time starts before the first lawn
Grounds work is spread across sites, and that is where hours quietly disappear. The federal rule on travel that is all in the day’s work is direct: travel from job site to job site during the shift counts as hours worked, and where an employee is required to report to a meeting place to receive instructions or to pick up tools, the travel from that place to the work site is part of the day and must be counted regardless of contract, custom, or practice. In plain terms, once the crew reports to the yard, hooks up the trailer, and takes the assignment, the clock is running, and it keeps running between stops until the last one is finished. The ordinary commute from home to the first reporting point is not paid. Write the reporting point down, put the rule in the handbook, and use a time system the crew can actually use from a truck.
A working lead is almost never exempt
The most expensive title in grounds maintenance is crew leader, because owners assume a lead can be put on salary and paid the same amount no matter how many hours the week runs. The executive exemption requires four things at once: payment on a salary basis at or above the federal weekly threshold, a primary duty of management, customary and regular direction of the equivalent of two or more full-time employees, and real authority over hiring and firing or recommendations that carry weight. A lead who spends the day on a mower and assigns work in between fails the primary duty test, which means every hour past forty is owed at one and one-half times the regular rate. Pay leads hourly with a premium over the crew rate. It costs less than a back-wage claim and it is easier to explain at hire.
Chemicals, licenses, and who may apply what
Applying pesticides on property you do not own is generally commercial application, and states license it. Under the federal certification standards, a person who applies or supervises the use of restricted use pesticides must be a certified applicator or must work under the direct supervision of one, the federal minimum age to be a certified applicator is 18, and certification must be renewed at least every five years. Fertilizer is regulated separately in some states, and several restrict application near water or during certain months. Decide before you post whether the role requires a license, prefers one, or does not touch chemicals at all, then say which. If you plan to pay for the license, put that in the posting, because it is one of the few benefits in this trade that a candidate will change jobs for. This is general information, not legal advice.
Young workers and power equipment
Grounds work attracts teenage applicants in the summer, and the federal child labor rules are stricter here than most owners realize. Employees who are 14 or 15 may not operate or tend most power-driven machinery, and the regulation makes the point in almost these words: cleanup work and the maintenance of grounds are permitted, including the use of vacuum cleaners and floor waxers, but not the use of power-driven mowers, cutters, trimmers, edgers, or similar equipment. That covers zero-turn mowers, walk-behinds, string trimmers, hedge trimmers, and blowers of the powered kind. Hours are limited during the school year as well. Sixteen and 17 year olds may run mowers, but hazardous occupation orders still restrict things like operating power-driven hoisting equipment and most work in excavation. State law is often tighter than federal law, and the stricter rule wins. This is general information, not legal advice.
The crew leader question is next in line. If you are weighing whether a lead can go on salary, our breakdown of exempt versus non-exempt classification works through the tests, and the practical answer for a working lead is almost always no. Pay structure does not change the obligation either: piece rates and per-property pay are lawful, but overtime is still computed on the regular rate for the week, which is why piece-rate pay needs careful records.
The contractor shortcut fails on the same facts. A crew you schedule, dispatch, equip, and direct is a crew of employees whatever the paperwork says, and our guide to independent contractor status covers how that gets tested.
Equipment, Licenses, and Safety
Name every machine in the posting, because equipment experience is the fastest real signal you can screen on. A candidate who has run a 60-inch zero-turn on commercial turf for three seasons is a different hire from someone whose experience is a residential push mower, and no interview question surfaces that faster than a list.
Safety exposure in grounds work clusters in a few predictable places rather than spreading evenly. Rotating blades and thrown objects account for a large share of injuries, string trimmers and blowers create noise and eye hazards, chainsaw and pruning work at height carries its own rules, and heat is the exposure that reaches the most crews. Our overview of OSHA requirements for employers covers the training and recordkeeping baseline.
Federal child labor rules matter more here than in most trades, because summer applicants are often young. The federal regulation listing the jobs 14 and 15 year olds may hold allows cleanup work and the maintenance of grounds but excludes the use of power-driven mowers, cutters, trimmers, and edgers, and state rules are often tighter still.
Requirement
How to handle it in the posting
Equipment
List every machine by type and size; it is the fastest experience filter you have
Driver license
State it as required only when the role actually drives, and name the record standard
Pesticide license
Mark required, preferred, or not applicable after checking your state agency
Physical requirements
Write real weights, postures, and hours; it screens honestly and documents essential functions
Weather and schedule
Say plainly that the job runs in heat, cold, rain, and storm call-outs
Classification
Non-exempt and overtime-eligible, including working crew leaders
Background check
Worth running where the role drives company vehicles or works on occupied property
A background check is standard practice for grounds staff who carry keys, enter occupied buildings, or drive company vehicles, and our guide to background checks covers the notice and authorization steps you have to complete before running one.
What to Pay a Groundskeeper
Post an hourly number. Grounds candidates compare offers on rate, start time, and equipment, in that order, and a posting without a rate loses to the one down the road that has one. The national medians below are a floor for the conversation, not a target.
National Median Pay for Grounds Roles
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), landscaping and groundskeeping workers earned a national median of $18.82 per hour ($39,150 per year), ranging from $14.98 at the tenth percentile to $27.28 at the ninetieth. First-line supervisors of landscaping, lawn service, and groundskeeping workers earned a median of $28.09 per hour, or $58,430 per year (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS national data, May 2025).
Role
National median (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
What it means for your posting
Landscaping and groundskeeping worker
$18.82 per hour ($39,150)
The baseline grounds rate; the tenth percentile sits at $14.98 and the ninetieth at $27.28
First-line supervisor, landscaping and grounds
$28.09 per hour ($58,430)
Lead groundskeeper benchmark; still non-exempt and overtime-eligible in most cases
Tree trimmer and pruner
$24.50 per hour ($50,960)
The pull rate for anyone with climbing or chainsaw skill you want to keep on staff
Pesticide handler and applicator, vegetation
$22.28 per hour ($46,340)
Justifies a license premium for grounds staff who hold a certification
Rate alone rarely wins in this trade, because a competitor can match a dollar in a day. What holds people is everything around it: overtime available in peak weeks, boot and gear allowances, paid license reimbursement, equipment that starts, and a season long enough to matter. Publish a good-faith range where pay transparency laws apply, and keep the number in the posting itself rather than saving it for the phone screen.
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Snow work is what turns a seasonal grounds job into a year-round one, and it is the part most postings handle badly. Write it honestly: storm call-outs at any hour, long shifts, overnight and holiday work, and quiet stretches in between that pay nothing unless you have off-season work lined up.
Two payroll questions come with it. The first is overtime, which is unavoidable during a storm week and should be budgeted rather than avoided, since the workweek is a fixed and recurring seven-day period and hours cannot be averaged across weeks. The second is on-call time. An employee required to remain on the property or so restricted that the time cannot be used for personal purposes is working while on call, while an employee who carries a phone and is otherwise free generally is not. Decide which arrangement you run, write it down, and tell candidates before they accept.
Seasonal Does Not Mean Contractor
The two shortcuts that end in a Department of Labor claim are paying winter crews as independent contractors and paying storm hours off the books. Both fail on the same facts: you dispatch the crew, you own the plow, you set the route, and you decide the priority order. Run seasonal hires through the same Form I-9 process and the same payroll as everyone else. A defined term with real start and end months, plus rehire priority, is what actually keeps a winter crew coming back.
Off-season retention is the other half of the problem. Fall cleanup, leaf removal, holiday lighting, equipment rebuilds, and interior facility work are the usual bridges. Our guides to seasonal workers and to hiring temporary employees cover the tax and benefits mechanics of a defined term.
Hiring Grounds Staff Without an HR Department
Grounds hiring fails in three predictable places: the posting describes the wrong trade, spring turnover restarts the paperwork from zero, and nobody owns hiring until somebody quits. Each one has a fix that costs an afternoon.
The posting reads like an install job, so the wrong people apply
Most grounds postings are copied from a landscaping job that involves building something. Candidates read grading, hardscape, and planting plans, and either the install people apply and leave when they find out the job is mowing routes, or the maintenance people skip the posting because it sounds like construction. Maintenance is its own trade with its own pride: cut quality, edge lines, clean beds, and a property that looks the same in week twelve as it did in week one. Name the site type in the first two lines, name the equipment, and name the schedule. A maintenance technician with six seasons on a zero-turn can tell within four sentences whether the job is theirs, and that is the only screening question that matters at the top of the funnel.
Half the crew turns over every spring and the paperwork starts again
Seasonal turnover in grounds work is structural, not a management failure. What is a management failure is running the same onboarding from scratch every March out of a folder and a memory. Every returning and new employee needs the same sequence: offer accepted, employment eligibility verification completed on time, tax and direct deposit forms, handbook and safety acknowledgment, equipment training documented by machine, driving record checked where the role requires driving, and gear issued and signed for. When that sequence lives in one place, a spring hiring push takes an afternoon instead of three weeks of chasing signatures, and last season’s returners keep their records rather than starting over as strangers.
Nobody owns hiring, so the season starts short-handed
In a grounds business the owner is estimating, dispatching, and often mowing, and the person who writes the job posting is the same person whose truck broke down that morning. In an in-house grounds department the hiring falls to a property manager or a facilities manager who has a building to run. There is no recruiting team and no applicant pipeline, so hiring happens only when someone quits, which is the worst possible moment. FirstHR was built for that reader. The onboarding wizard runs the same sequence for every hire, e-signature handles offer letters and safety acknowledgments, document management stores licenses and driving records with renewal dates attached, and training modules cover equipment and safety orientation before the first shift. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
A groundskeeper maintains an existing site on a recurring cycle, while a landscaper usually builds one, and the two postings should not be identical.
Name the site type and the equipment in the first two lines: route, campus or property, athletic fields, or seasonal snow.
Grounds staff are non-exempt and owed overtime past 40 hours in a workweek, and working crew leaders almost never qualify for the executive exemption.
Travel between properties during the shift is paid time, and so is time at the yard once an employee reports for instructions or equipment.
National median pay is $18.82 per hour for landscaping and groundskeeping workers and $28.09 per hour for first-line supervisors (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
Employees who are 14 or 15 may not operate power-driven mowers, cutters, or trimmers under federal child labor rules, and state law is often stricter.
Grounds hiring arrives in bursts every spring and again before the first storm. FirstHR runs the same onboarding sequence for every hire, with e-signature for offer letters and safety acknowledgments, document storage for licenses and driving records, and renewal dates tracked so nothing expires quietly in the middle of a season. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a groundskeeper do?
A groundskeeper maintains an existing site rather than building a new one. The recurring work is mowing, edging, string trimming, and blowing turf areas; weeding, mulching, and light pruning in beds; removing litter, leaves, and storm debris; watering and monitoring plantings; and clearing snow and ice from walks and entries in winter. Depending on the setting, the role adds field marking and infield work on athletic fields, common area cleaning and work orders on an occupied property, or per-stop service records on a mowing route. Daily equipment checks and same-day hazard reporting belong in every version of the job. The one duty owners forget to write down is inspection: a groundskeeper walks the site every day and is usually the first person to see a broken sprinkler head, a failing tree limb, or a trip hazard.
How much does a groundskeeper make per hour?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), landscaping and groundskeeping workers earned a national median of $18.82 per hour, or $39,150 per year, with the tenth percentile at $14.98 per hour and the ninetieth at $27.28 per hour. First-line supervisors of landscaping, lawn service, and groundskeeping workers earned a median of $28.09 per hour, or $58,430 per year. Adjacent skills pay more and pull candidates out of general grounds work: tree trimmers and pruners had a median of $24.50 per hour, and pesticide handlers and applicators in vegetation work $22.28 per hour. Those are national figures across every setting, so benchmark to your metro area and to the specialty. Sports turf and licensed applicator roles normally sit above the general grounds rate at the same employer.
Are groundskeepers exempt from overtime?
No. Grounds maintenance employees are non-exempt: hourly, and owed overtime at one and one-half times the regular rate for every hour past 40 in a workweek. That holds for seasonal staff, for storm crews, and in almost every case for working crew leaders, because the executive exemption requires a primary duty of management along with salary basis payment, customary direction of the equivalent of two or more full-time employees, and either the authority to hire and fire or recommendations on those decisions that are given particular weight. A lead who spends most of the shift on a mower does not meet the primary duty test. Landscaping and grounds work is also not agriculture under the Fair Labor Standards Act, so the farm overtime exemption does not apply to a grounds crew. Pay structure does not change the answer either: piece rates, day rates, and per-property pay are lawful, but overtime is still computed on the regular rate for that week.
Is travel time between properties paid for a mowing crew?
Yes, when it happens during the shift. The federal regulation on travel that is all in the day's work states that travel from job site to job site during the working hours must be counted as hours worked, and that where an employee is required to report to a meeting place to receive instructions or to pick up tools, the travel from that place to the work site is part of the day and must be counted regardless of contract, custom, or practice. For a grounds business that means the clock starts when the crew reports to the yard and loads the trailer, and it runs between every stop on the route until the last property is finished. The ordinary commute from home to the first reporting point is not compensable. Set one clear reporting point, state it in the offer letter, and track hours in a system the crew can use from a truck.
Do I need a license to hire someone who applies fertilizer or weed control?
Usually yes, and the license belongs to the applicator, not only to the company. Applying pesticides on property you do not own is generally commercial application, which states license and regulate. Under the federal certification standards for pesticide applicators, anyone who applies or supervises the use of restricted use pesticides must be certified or must work under the direct supervision of a certified applicator, the federal minimum age for certification is 18, and certification must be renewed at least every five years. Several states regulate fertilizer application separately and restrict application near water or during certain months. Decide before you post whether the role requires a license, prefers one, or does not touch chemicals, and say so in the posting. Paying for the license and the recertification is one of the cheapest retention tools in this trade.
What is the difference between a groundskeeper and a landscaper?
A groundskeeper maintains a site that already exists; a landscaper usually builds one. Grounds maintenance runs on a recurring cycle: mowing, trimming, beds, cleanup, turf health, and snow. Landscape installation runs on projects: grading, drainage, hardscape, planting, and irrigation systems, with a crew that moves to a new address when the job is done. The skills overlap at the edges, and plenty of companies do both, but the postings should not be identical. Install candidates want to know the project mix and the equipment; maintenance candidates want to know the route, the schedule, the start time, and the equipment they will run every day. Titles vary by region, so define the job by the work rather than by the word, and use the maintenance templates on this page when the job is keeping a property in condition.
How do I hire grounds staff for a small business with no HR department?
Start earlier than feels necessary and run the same sequence every time. Post a specific job description with the hourly rate, the site type, the start time, and the equipment named. Screen on the phone for equipment experience, driving record, and honest availability for weekends and storm call-outs. Do a working interview on a real property where you can watch cut quality and equipment handling for an hour. Then run onboarding as a checklist rather than a pile: offer letter, employment eligibility verification on time, tax and direct deposit forms, handbook and safety acknowledgment, documented equipment training by machine, and gear issued and signed for. FirstHR handles that onboarding sequence with e-signature, document storage, and renewal tracking for licenses and driving records. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
