A commercial landscape COO oversees all field work: maintenance routes, install crews and snow operations across HOA common areas, corporate campuses and shopping plazas. They set the safety programs, quality audits and processes that let every branch deliver each contract to the same standard.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
The Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Commercial Landscaping is a strategic executive responsible for overseeing daily field operations, enhancing operational processes, and ensuring exceptional client satisfaction. This role drives operational excellence while supporting the company’s growth objectives and maintaining industry-leading service standards.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Lead and manage daily field operations to ensure seamless service delivery and high-quality landscaping outcomes.
Develop and implement process improvements that increase operational efficiency and reduce costs.
Collaborate with leadership to set strategic goals and drive execution across the organization.
Establish robust client relationship management practices to enhance customer satisfaction and retention.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Monitor and evaluate field performance, ensuring tasks are completed efficiently and to company standards.
Conduct regular site visits to review ongoing projects, address challenges, and identify improvement opportunities.
Organize and lead daily operations meetings with field supervisors and team leads.
Review customer feedback and proactively address any service-related issues to enhance client experience.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Client Satisfaction Rating: >4.8 stars.
Project Completion Rate: ≥95%.
Process Improvement Implementation Rate: 100% of identified opportunities addressed within established timelines.
Callback Rate: <5% for service-related issues.
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Operations Management, or a related field.
7+ years of leadership experience in operational roles, preferably within the home services or landscaping industry.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a proficiency in process optimization.
Exceptional communication, team management, and interpersonal skills.
6. Preferred Experience
Previous experience as a COO, Operations Director, or similar executive role in the commercial landscaping or home services industry.
Demonstrated success in scaling operations and managing field teams in a dynamic environment.
Experience with business process re-engineering and continuous improvement methodologies.
Familiarity with industry-specific technology and software applications for operations management.
7. Physical Requirements
Ability to conduct on-site inspections and walkthroughs in various outdoor environments.
Occasional requirement to lift up to 50 lbs or handle equipment and materials.
Capability to work in diverse weather conditions including hot, cold, and humid environments.
Normal mobility to traverse large outdoor areas and uneven surfaces.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Standard work hours typically Monday to Friday with occasional extended hours during peak project periods.
On-call availability for urgent operational matters during weekends or after-hours.
Regular travel between office and multiple project sites within the region.
Collaborative and supportive work environment designed to foster on-site teamwork and leadership.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Annual salary range: $120,000 - $150,000 USD based on experience and qualifications.
Performance-based bonus structure to reward operational excellence and revenue growth.
Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance plans.
401(k) retirement savings plan with company matching.
Additional fringe benefits including paid time off and professional development opportunities.
10. Company Culture and Overview
We are a forward-thinking organization dedicated to excellence in commercial landscaping operations.
Our culture promotes innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
We value diversity, professional growth, and a healthy work-life balance, and we strive to inspire our employees to excel in everything they do.
Join us in a supportive environment where your expertise will drive impactful change and foster long-term career growth.
11. How to Apply
If you meet the above criteria and want to be part of a growth-oriented company focused on customer satisfaction, please send your resume to [INSERT EMAIL HERE] or apply online at [INSERT WEBSITE LINK HERE].
Need help filling this role? HireBus posts the ad, Iris interviews every applicant by phone before you do, and you decide who to hire. Start hiring now
A COO anywhere turns plans into daily work. Here that work spans mowing, install and snow crews in two very different seasons, each with its own safety rules.
Wall and paver cuts bring the silica rule
When install crews cut block, pavers or stone for walls and patios, OSHA's silica rule for construction covers the work. You must write and follow an exposure control plan covering the tasks, controls and housekeeping, and name a competent person to inspect sites. If you follow Table 1, a handheld saw must feed water to the blade, and a worker who uses one outdoors for more than four hours a shift also needs a respirator. Source: eCFR: 29 CFR 1926.1153, Respirable crystalline silica in construction.
Blowers and mowers can trip the noise rule
Once a worker's noise exposure equals or exceeds an 8-hour time-weighted average of 85 decibels, OSHA requires a hearing conservation program. Crews that run backpack blowers, string trimmers and riding mowers all day are the ones to measure first. The COO pays for the noise survey and the hearing tests that follow, and can lower exposure by buying quieter equipment. Source: eCFR: 29 CFR 1910.95, Occupational noise exposure.
Wyoming runs its own OSHA
If you service sites in Wyoming, its state plan, run by Wyoming OSHA in the Department of Workforce Services, covers most private sector workplaces there, and federal OSHA covers the issues the plan doesn't. Before you open a branch in a new state, find out which agency would inspect you and whether its rules add anything to the federal ones. Source: OSHA: Wyoming State Plan.
Snow readiness is built in the fall
Set one snow standard for every branch. Each site needs a map of curbs, drains, islands, fire lanes and pile areas, and a clear-by time, such as a medical office before a strip mall. Have each property manager sign off on both before the season, so the first storm doesn't turn into an argument about what the contract meant.
Quality has to match across branches
Two branches can mow the same kind of office park to two different standards. Use one site audit form, with photos, at every branch, and have managers score each other's sites a few times a season. Compare the scores with complaints and renewals, and when scores slip, fix the process as well as the crew.
How much commercial landscape COOs make
The closest BLS group for commercial landscape COOs is chief executives. Chief executives who work for landscaping companies earned a median of $158,670 a year ($76.28 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s below the $213,990 median for chief executives in all industries. About 200 of the 204,350 chief executives in that survey work for landscaping companies.
BLS files COOs under chief executives, so the pay data shown is for top executives at landscaping firms in general. Expect salary plus the template's bonus for operational excellence and revenue growth.
Landscaping companies
$158,670$158,670 median Middle half $122,870–$215,290 10th–90th $91,010–$267,670
All industries
$213,990$213,990 median Middle half $129,540–$356,200 10th–90th $75,700–$507,730
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Landscaping companies
$91,010
$122,870
$158,670
$215,290
$267,670
All industries
$75,700
$129,540
$213,990
$356,200
$507,730
BLS reports residential and commercial landscaping companies together. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
The pay line in the template above is an example from our Role Blueprint. Set yours from these figures and what local companies pay.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Has led field operations for more than one branch or service line
Writes and enforces safety programs for mowing, install and snow crews
Builds processes from job cost and audit data
Develops branch and operations managers
Keeps commercial clients through service failures
Teach these on the job
Your field platform and audit forms
Local snow practices and subcontract terms
State plan rules where you work
Regional plant and irrigation details
The COO runs on the field platform's schedules, crew hours and site audits, GPS tracking on trucks and plows, and a snow log that records each service. Tell candidates which of these you already run and which the COO will build.
Commercial landscape COO interview questions
Two of the 6 questions we'd ask, and what a strong answer sounds like. Ask every candidate the same questions, and rate each answer on your own before you compare notes.
Situational · Client site walks
A property manager walks a site with you and lists ten problems. What do you do next?
A strong answer: Writes them down, confirms them in writing, sets priorities, assigns fixes with dates, follows up with photos and finds the root cause.
Behavioral · Scaling with quality
Tell me about a time you added many new sites or crews in one season. How did you keep quality from slipping?
A strong answer: Used standard site setups, trained crew leaders before launch, added inspections for new sites and watched complaints and retention closely.
Read the template's targets as sample goals. Reset them by service line once you have a maintenance season and a winter of your own data.
Client Satisfaction Rating
Average survey score from property managers and HOA boards, collected the same way at every branch and reported by branch and service line each quarter.
Project Completion Rate
Share of scheduled visits and install jobs finished in the agreed window, pulled from the field platform, with misses listed by cause such as weather, staffing or equipment.
Process Improvement Implementation Rate
Log each improvement found in audits or reviews, assign it to one person with a deadline, then count how many closed on time.
Callback Rate
Return trips to fix work a client flagged, divided by completed visits, tracked by branch and crew and reviewed with the operations managers each month.
Should we subcontract snow plowing or run our own trucks?
Consider a mix. Your own trucks and crews can cover the sites with the strictest service terms, while subcontractors add capacity for big storms and outlying sites. Every subcontractor needs a written agreement, proof of insurance, a site map and the same service standard as your crews. The COO sets the mix each summer, before plow contracts and trucks are committed.
How much does a commercial landscape COO make?
Chief executives who work for landscaping companies earned a median of $158,670 a year ($76.28 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $122,870 and $215,290 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and bonus terms.
What should a COO do when a property manager threatens to cancel?
Meet the property manager on site within days and write down every complaint with photos. Agree on a short fix list with dates, name the person responsible, and report back as each item is done. Then find the process failure behind it, such as a crew change, a missed visit or a bid that left out hours, so it doesn't repeat at the next site.
How should a COO keep install jobs from starving maintenance routes?
Set a rule that contracted maintenance visits come first, and give installs their own crews where volume allows. Before sales signs a big install, have operations confirm that crew weeks and equipment are free. In spring, when both peak, move people from installs to maintenance, not the other way, so recurring clients never see a missed visit.
The COO template lists lifting and outdoor work. How should the ad describe it?
Turn each line into tasks. The COO inspects sites on foot across large lawns, slopes and parking lots, in hot, cold and humid weather, and may lift equipment or material up to 50 pounds. Write these as duties in the ad, and invite candidates to tell you if they need an accommodation for any of them.
