Find Your Dream Job
First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Workers
Directly supervise and coordinate activities of workers engaged in landscaping or groundskeeping activities. Work may involve reviewing contracts to ascertain service, machine, and workforce requirements; answering inquiries from potential customers regarding methods, material, and price ranges; and preparing estimates according to labor, material, and machine costs.
Also Known As:
Field Manager
Golf Course Superintendent
Grounds Crew Supervisor
Grounds Foreman
Grounds Maintenance Supervisor
Grounds Manager
Grounds Supervisor
Groundskeeper Supervisor
Landscape Manager
Landscape Supervisor
Wages
Annual wages for First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Workers in United States
Job Outlook
Average
New job opportunities are likely in the future
United States
2033 Projected Employment
230,200
4% Change From 2023
Explore Landscape and Groundskeeping Workers video
Tasks you might complete in a day.
- Establish and enforce operating procedures and work standards that will ensure adequate performance and personnel safety.
- Schedule work for crews, depending on work priorities, crew or equipment availability, or weather conditions.
- Tour grounds, such as parks, botanical gardens, cemeteries, or golf courses, to inspect conditions of plants and soil.
- Monitor project activities to ensure that instructions are followed, deadlines are met, and schedules are maintained.
- Plant or maintain vegetation through activities such as mulching, fertilizing, watering, mowing, or pruning.
- Prepare service estimates based on labor, material, and machine costs and maintain budgets for individual projects.
- Maintain required records, such as personnel information or project records.
- Prepare or maintain required records, such as work activity or personnel reports.
- Answer inquiries from current or prospective customers regarding methods, materials, or price ranges.
- Install or maintain landscaped areas, performing tasks such as removing snow, pouring cement curbs, or repairing sidewalks.
- Design or supervise the installation of sprinkler systems, calculating water pressure, or valve and pipe coverage needs.
- Train workers in tasks such as transplanting or pruning trees or shrubs, finishing cement, using equipment, or caring for turf.
- Inventory supplies of tools, equipment, or materials to ensure that sufficient supplies are available and items are in usable condition.
- Perform personnel-related activities, such as hiring workers, evaluating staff performance, or taking disciplinary actions when performance problems occur.
- Provide workers with assistance in performing duties as necessary to meet deadlines.
- Confer with other supervisors to coordinate work activities with those of other departments or units.
- Direct or assist workers engaged in the maintenance or repair of equipment, such as power tools or motorized equipment.
- Review contracts or work assignments to determine service, machine, or workforce requirements for jobs.
- Recommend changes in working conditions or equipment used to increase crew efficiency.
- Design or supervise the installation of sprinkler systems, calculating water pressure, or valve and pipe coverage needs.
- Direct activities of workers who perform duties, such as landscaping, cultivating lawns, or pruning trees and shrubs.
- Negotiate with customers regarding fees for landscaping, lawn service, or groundskeeping work.
- Inspect completed work to ensure conformance to specifications, standards, and contract requirements.
- Plant or maintain vegetation through activities such as mulching, fertilizing, watering, mowing, or pruning.
- Plant or maintain vegetation through activities such as mulching, fertilizing, watering, mowing, or pruning.
- Direct or perform mixing or application of fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, or fungicides.
- Identify diseases or pests affecting landscaping and order appropriate treatments.
- Investigate work-related complaints to verify problems and to determine responses.
- Perform administrative duties, such as authorizing leaves or processing time sheets.
- Order the performance of corrective work when problems occur and recommend procedural changes to avoid such problems.
- Order the performance of corrective work when problems occur and recommend procedural changes to avoid such problems.
- Confer with managers or landscape architects to develop plans or schedules for landscaping maintenance or improvement.
Subject areas you may need to master.
- Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
- Foreign Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
- Fine Arts - Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
- History and Archeology - Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
- Philosophy and Theology - Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
- Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
- Medicine and Dentistry - Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
- Physics - Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
- Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
- Administrative - Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
- Transportation - Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
- Telecommunications - Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
- Building and Construction - Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
- Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
- Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
- Design - Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
- Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
- Geography - Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
- Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
- Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
- English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
- Engineering and Technology - Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
- Biology - Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
- Food Production - Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
- Production and Processing - Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
- Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
- Therapy and Counseling - Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
- Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
- Chemistry - Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
- Mechanical - Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
- Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
- Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
- Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
Strengths you may need in this role.
- Technology Design - Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
- Operations Monitoring - Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
- Systems Analysis - Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
- Reading Comprehension - Reading work-related information.
- Operations Analysis - Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
- Management of Material Resources - Managing equipment and materials.
- Active Listening - Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
- Critical Thinking - Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
- Repairing - Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
- Speaking - Talking to others.
- Equipment Selection - Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
- Operation and Control - Using equipment or systems.
- Systems Evaluation - Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
- Time Management - Managing your time and the time of other people.
- Equipment Maintenance - Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
- Writing - Writing things for co-workers or customers.
- Social Perceptiveness - Understanding people's reactions.
- Coordination - Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
- Mathematics - Using math to solve problems.
- Persuasion - Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
- Active Learning - Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
- Quality Control Analysis - Testing how well a product or service works.
- Judgment and Decision Making - Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
- Science - Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
- Negotiation - Bringing people together to solve differences.
- Programming - Writing computer programs.
- Troubleshooting - Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
- Management of Financial Resources - Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
- Management of Personnel Resources - Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
- Learning Strategies - Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
- Complex Problem Solving - Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
- Instructing - Teaching people how to do something.
- Service Orientation - Looking for ways to help people.
- Installation - Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
- Monitoring - Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
- Time Sharing - Doing two or more things at the same time.
- Reaction Time - Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
- Extent Flexibility - Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Multilimb Coordination - Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
- Perceptual Speed - Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
- Near Vision - Seeing details up close.
- Rate Control - Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
- Night Vision - Seeing at night or under low light.
- Trunk Strength - Using your lower back and stomach.
- Finger Dexterity - Putting together small parts with your fingers.
- Originality - Creating new and original ideas.
- Wrist-Finger Speed - Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Category Flexibility - Grouping things in different ways.
- Number Facility - Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
- Control Precision - Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
- Mathematical Reasoning - Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
- Selective Attention - Paying attention to something without being distracted.
- Stamina - Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
- Problem Sensitivity - Noticing when problems happen.
- Speed of Limb Movement - Quickly moving your arms and legs.
- Memorization - Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
- Dynamic Flexibility - Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Speech Clarity - Speaking clearly.
- Oral Comprehension - Listening and understanding what people say.
- Hearing Sensitivity - Telling the difference between sounds.
- Written Comprehension - Reading and understanding what is written.
- Spatial Orientation - Knowing where things are around you.
- Dynamic Strength - Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
- Far Vision - Seeing details that are far away.
- Visualization - Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
- Response Orientation - Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
- Visual Color Discrimination - Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
- Flexibility of Closure - Seeing hidden patterns.
- Static Strength - Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
- Gross Body Equilibrium - Keeping your balance or staying upright.
- Depth Perception - Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
- Peripheral Vision - Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
- Speech Recognition - Recognizing spoken words.
- Oral Expression - Communicating by speaking.
- Speed of Closure - Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
- Manual Dexterity - Holding or moving items with your hands.
- Gross Body Coordination - Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness - Keeping your arm or hand steady.
- Sound Localization - Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
- Auditory Attention - Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
- Glare Sensitivity - Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
- Fluency of Ideas - Coming up with lots of ideas.
- Information Ordering - Ordering or arranging things.
- Inductive Reasoning - Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
- Explosive Strength - Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
- Written Expression - Communicating by writing.
- Deductive Reasoning - Using rules to solve problems.
Average Education Attained
Highest level of education earned by people in this career.
Career Coaching
This is not WorldatWork. These are private coaching services.
You May Also Be Interested In
First-Line Supervisors of Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Workers
First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers
First-Line Supervisors of Material-Moving Machine and Vehicle Operators
First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers
First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers
Content sourced from United States Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration ("DOLETA") and the Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development ("DEED")