Without contracts, you spend February re-selling last year's customers and hoping enough say yes to keep every crew busy.
Landscaping play · Maintenance agreements
Landscape maintenance contracts that sign in winter and renew every year.
One-time cleanups and pay-per-mow customers drop off the schedule the first time it rains on a Tuesday. Annual maintenance agreements don't. Spur mails your one-time customers, and look-alike homes on their streets, a plan offer written for their yard, then sends a renewal recap before each contract ends.
Free forever plan · No card · 20 property searches a month
USPSFirst-Class
Greg Abbott1906 Ashby LnNaperville, IL 60565Scan to see your plan price
Greg A. scanned your Full Season plan card · 2 hrs ago
AI-written for this owner · Mailed in 2 days
Your listof one-time and pay-per-visit customers, plus look-alikes
Price per yardwritten into each offer from the lot size
30 daysbefore renewal, a recap card goes out
The problem
Pay-per-visit customers are the first to cancel and the last to pay.
Crews do great work on a spring cleanup, then nobody follows up. The homeowner hires the cheapest mow-only company in June.
Annual agreements lapse because no one reminds the customer what they got. A renewal letter in November could have saved half of them.
How it works
From list to mailbox in one workflow.
Five steps from one-time jobs to recurring revenue.
app.usespur.com
See it in Spur
A maintenance contract list in Spur
Sample one-time customers plus nearby look-alike homes in Naperville, IL. Names are partly masked.
Your customer listNot on a planLast job 3–18 mo+ Look-alikes within 0.5 miLot 0.25+ acre
- Greg A.1906 Ashby LnSpring cleanup · AprilPast customer0.38 acre
- Nora & Sam F.2011 Ashby LnSame street as a customerLook-alike0.41 acre
- Ray D.1544 Pembroke CtPay-per-mow · 22 visitsPast customer0.29 acre
- Ines C.1730 Brookdale RdFall cleanup · 11 mo agoPast customer0.47 acre
- Will T.1562 Pembroke CtSame street as a customerLook-alike0.31 acre
AI draft for Greg A. · 1906 Ashby Ln
YOU BOOKED A CLEANUP LAST SPRING. WANT THE WHOLE SEASON HANDLED?
Hi Greg, our crew did your spring cleanup on Ashby Lane last April: beds edged, three yards of mulch, and the hedges along the drive shaped.
Our Full Season plan keeps it looking that way. It covers 30 weekly mows, two mulch refreshes, spring and fall shrub pruning, and fall leaf cleanup. For a 0.38-acre lot like yours it's $289 a month, April through November, and you can cancel with 30 days' notice.
Sign by March 1 and your 2027 price is locked. Scan the code to see the plan and start date.
Northfield Grounds · (630) 555-0119
Sample data for illustration. Your results depend on your market and filters.
Playbook
How to sell landscape maintenance agreements with direct mail
Maintenance agreements are what turn a landscaping company from a seasonal hustle into a business. Contracted revenue lets you hire and keep crews, buy equipment with confidence, and plan routes for the year in February instead of week by week. Buyers of landscaping companies pay close attention to recurring contract revenue for the same reason.
Your best prospects are customers who have already paid you once. A homeowner who booked a spring cleanup, a fall leaf removal, or a summer of pay-per-mow visits already trusts your work. What they haven't been given is a clear, written plan. Mail them one. Then add look-alike homes on the same streets, with similar lot sizes and ownership length, who see your trucks every week but have never been asked.
Make the offer concrete. Say exactly what the plan includes (number of mows, mulch, pruning, cleanups), the monthly price for their lot size, the months it covers, and how to cancel. Spreading the cost into equal monthly payments makes a $2,300 season feel like a utility bill. Reference the last job you did for them so the letter reads like it came from their crew.
Mail in the signing window. Late January to early March is when homeowners plan the season and before most competitors start calling. A price-lock deadline ("sign by March 1") gives a reason to act now. A second, smaller push in late summer can sign fall-and-winter bundles that include leaf cleanup and snow service.
Protect renewals. Contracts lapse when nobody reminds the customer what they got. Mail a recap 30 days before each renewal that lists the visits completed and anything your crew caught, like a dying shrub or a broken sprinkler, along with next year's price. Track sign-ups and renewals by campaign so you know what's growing the base.
Price contracts by the lot, not the visit. Lot size and bed footage are public or easy to measure from aerial imagery, so you can quote a monthly price on the card itself. A real number on the offer converts far better than "call for a quote."
59×return on a year of Spur Team from 15 new contracts at $2,300/yr
Fifteen new contracts is a crew's worth of recurring revenue.
- Spur Team: $588/yr, plus 1,000 plan-offer postcards at $0.94 = $940
- 15 new maintenance contracts × $2,300 a season = $34,500 in contracted revenue
- That's 59× your subscription and about 23× the software and postage combined, before renewals
Example math. Plan price, sign-up rate, and renewal rate vary. Run your own numbers →
One tool, not four
Spur vs. the usual way to sell maintenance contracts
What you needThe usual waySpur
List of one-time customersExporting from your CRM by hand✓ Built in
Look-alike homes on the same streetsNot available✓ Built in
Plan offer priced for each yardOne generic flyer✓ Built in
Renewal recapsCalls in spring, if there's time✓ Built in
Sign-ups by campaignNo tracking✓ Built in
Maintenance Agreements by the numbers
Why maintenance contracts are worth chasing
Up to 50%
of outdoor water use can be wasted by evaporation, wind, or runoff from overwatering, one of the things a regular crew catches
~30%
of household water use goes outdoors on average, so a well-run yard is a real cost saving homeowners can see
59×
return on a year of Spur Team from 15 new contracts at $2,300/yr
FAQ
Landscape maintenance contract questions
How do I sell more landscape maintenance contracts?
Mail your one-time and pay-per-visit customers a written plan with a clear monthly price, then add look-alike homes on the same streets. Send it in late winter with a price-lock deadline, and follow up with everyone who scans.
What should a lawn care maintenance agreement include?
The number of mows, edging and trimming, mulch, shrub pruning, seasonal cleanups, the months covered, the monthly price, and how to cancel. Clear terms make the decision easy.
When should landscapers sell annual contracts?
Late January to early March, when homeowners plan the season and crews have open schedules. A second push in late summer works for fall cleanup and snow bundles.
Can I mail my lawn care customer list with Spur?
Yes. Upload a CSV from Jobber, LMN, Aspire, Service Autopilot, or a spreadsheet. Leave current contract holders out, then search the same streets for look-alike homes.
How do I reduce maintenance contract cancellations?
Remind customers what they got. A renewal recap 30 days before the contract ends, listing visits completed and problems caught, keeps the value visible. Spur can schedule it for every contract.
Keep exploring
Related plays and guides
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