Landscape Crew Lead
We place this role between $45,000 and $65,000 a year at mid experience, before overtime, bonus and on-call.
What the job actually is.
Runs a maintenance or installation crew through a daily route: mowing and detail standards, pruning, bed work, seasonal colour, irrigation checks, and the quality a property manager sees when they walk the site. Handles the equipment, the crew and the client contact on site.
What this role pays.
That band is mid experience, built from our own engagement history. Experience and region move it - the salary calculator applies both.
The federal occupation this role reports under is Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers (SOC 37-3011), May 2025. Nationally it reports a median of $39,150 , with the middle of the market between $31,150 and $56,730. BLS counts this job inside that occupation rather than publishing it separately, so the figures cover a slightly wider group than this exact title.
Where it pays most.
Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers across the metros we cover, May 2025. BLS publishes a median for 100 of them and withholds the rest, where the local sample was too small to be reliable.
| Metro | Median | Employed there |
|---|---|---|
| Boston | $49,030 | 15,120 |
| Seattle | $48,480 | 11,780 |
| San Jose | $48,330 | 6,000 |
| San Francisco | $48,040 | 12,270 |
| Worcester | $47,980 | 2,170 |
| Minneapolis | $47,160 | 11,820 |
| Portland | $46,450 | 6,710 |
| Bridgeport | $46,430 | 4,920 |
| McAllen | $29,060 | 680 |
| El Paso | $30,640 | 1,200 |
| Myrtle Beach | $34,410 | 1,590 |
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. The last three rows are the lowest-paying metros in the same set. Headcount is metro-wide across every industry, not this trade alone.
Landscape Crew Lead vs Landscape Foreman.
A crew lead runs one crew and works alongside it. A foreman is the seat above: several crews, the schedule across them, and answering for quality and hours rather than producing them. The federal data agrees - a crew lead is counted among grounds maintenance workers, a foreman among first-line supervisors of landscaping workers - which is why the wage table on this page and the one on the foreman page are not the same table.
Credentials that move an offer.
No single credential reliably moves an offer in this seat. Employers screen on demonstrated commercial experience instead, which makes the resume harder to read and the reference check worth more.
Licensing is a state question, not a national one. The Commercial Landscaping hiring page carries the state-by-state position, and every market page names the authority for that state.
What separates a strong candidate.
Everyone who applies for this seat will claim the experience. These are the things that distinguish the people who have it, and the questions that find out.
What to look for
- Describes the route as a quality problem rather than a time problem
- Can identify common plant material and its failure modes in their region
- Bilingual crew leadership where the crew needs it, stated plainly
Questions that find out
- A property manager says the site looks worse than last month. How do you find out what changed? A strong answer Walks the site with them rather than defending it from the truck, and asks what specifically looks worse, because the answer is usually one bed or one edge rather than the whole property. Then looks for the real cause: a skipped service, a crew change, growth outpacing the schedule, irrigation off, drought stress, or work the client removed from the contract. Comes back with what happened and what they will do, including the parts that are the client's to fix.
- How do you adjust the route when you are a crew member short? A strong answer Decides what gets dropped rather than letting everything get rushed, and drops it deliberately: the detail work that can wait a week on the least visible property, not the mowing on the flagship account. Tells the office early so the client can be told, rather than letting it be discovered. Reorders the stops so the high-visibility properties still get their standard. Does not run the crew through the day to catch up, which is how equipment and people get damaged.
- Walk me through your spring prune on a commercial frontage. A strong answer Knows what flowers on old wood and will not prune it in spring, and says so rather than shearing everything to the same shape. Prunes for the plant's habit and the sightlines - signage, doorways, parking visibility, lighting - rather than for a uniform look. Uses the right cut at the right point rather than heading everything back, cleans the deadwood, and leaves the bed looking intentional. Cleans tools between properties if disease is a risk.
- How do you route a crew through a property so you are not doubling back? A strong answer Has a set order for each property - usually blow and trim before mow, or the reverse depending on surfaces - and works from the furthest point back to the truck so nothing is walked twice. Puts the detail work where it does not get blown over by the next task. Keeps the same route every visit so a new crew member can be told it once, and adjusts for parking, deliveries and the times the client does not want noise.
- What do you check on equipment before the trailer leaves the yard? A strong answer Runs an actual check rather than a glance: fuel and oil, blade condition and sharpness, belts, tyre pressures, string and spare line, blower and trimmer starting, the trailer lights, straps and the hitch, and the chemicals and PPE if they are carrying them. Says blunt blades are the single biggest cause of a lawn looking bad, and that a trailer that comes loose is the incident that ends a career. Fixes or swaps rather than taking it and hoping.
- A client complains about scalping. What happened, and what do you change? A strong answer Names the real causes rather than apologising: deck too low for the grass type and season, uneven ground and high spots, mowing too fast across undulations, a deck not levelled, or the grass left too long and then cut hard. Raises the height, slows down on the problem areas, marks the high spots, and tells the client the turf will take a few weeks to recover. Checks the rest of the route for the same mistake if a crew member caused it.
- How do you handle a crew member who is quick but damaging property? A strong answer Deals with it immediately and specifically - the trimmer against tree trunks, the mower against the kerb, the blower into the pool - rather than praising the speed and hoping. Shows them the damage, explains what it costs in replacement and in the client relationship, and watches them do it properly rather than just telling them. Says that speed that generates callbacks is slower than working properly, and escalates if it continues.
- What does a good quality check look like before you leave a site? A strong answer Walks the property rather than looking from the truck: edges straight, beds clean, no clippings on hard surfaces or in beds, nothing blown into the car park or the neighbour's, gates closed, irrigation heads not damaged, bins emptied if that is in scope, and the entrance and signage areas perfect because that is what the client sees. Takes a photograph of the frontage. Finds what the crew missed rather than confirming what they did.
- How do you decide mowing height and frequency across a season? A strong answer Changes both with the grass type, the season and the weather rather than running one setting all year: higher in heat and drought to protect the roots, adjusted for shade, and frequent enough that they are never removing too much of the leaf in one cut. Mows more often in the flush of growth rather than cutting lower to stretch the interval. Can explain the consequence of cutting too short to a client who wants it shorter.
- What is your approach to a turf area that is thinning in one spot? A strong answer Finds the cause before treating it: shade, compaction, traffic, poor drainage, an irrigation head not covering, a dog run, grub damage or disease. Checks the irrigation coverage and digs to look at the roots and the soil rather than guessing. Reports it with a recommendation and a price rather than quietly overseeding the same patch every year. Says plainly when the spot will never hold turf and should be mulch or a bed.
- How do you handle irrigation you find running during your visit? A strong answer Turns it off at the controller if they can and are authorised to, notes the zone, and looks at why - a stuck valve, a broken head, a controller set wrong, or a system someone turned on manually and forgot. Reports it the same day with the zone and what they saw, because an irrigation fault running unnoticed costs the client real money and will be their complaint. Does not just mow around it and say nothing.
- What is your process for storm clean-up on a commercial property? A strong answer Makes it safe before making it tidy: looks for hanging limbs, damaged trees and anything near power lines, and keeps people away from what they are not equipped to handle. Clears access, entrances and fire lanes first, then car parks, then the rest. Photographs the damage before clearing it because that is the client's insurance record and their own extra-work authorisation. Knows what is in the contract and what is extra, and gets the extra agreed before doing it.
- How do you train a new crew member on equipment safely? A strong answer Starts with the hazards and the guards rather than the controls, has them watch, then do it with the trainer present, then alone on something low-risk, and does not put them on the most dangerous machine first. Covers PPE, fuelling, slopes, and what to do when something jams. Checks back rather than assuming it stuck. Says what they will not let a new person do in the first weeks, which is the part that separates a real answer from a policy.
- What is your approach to pruning a shrub bed that has been neglected? A strong answer Does not fix it in one visit. Assesses what is worth keeping, what is dead and what has outgrown the space, and plans a renovation over a season or more where the species allows, taking out the worst wood first. Knows which shrubs will take hard renovation and which will not come back. Prices it as extra work with a clear before-and-after rather than absorbing it into a maintenance visit, and tells the client what it will look like in between.
- How do you handle a property where parking makes access difficult? A strong answer Plans round it rather than fighting it: shifts the visit to a time when the lot is emptier, agrees a staging spot with the property manager, uses smaller equipment where the trailer cannot get in, and tells the office if the property needs more time than the route allows. Does not block fire lanes, loading bays or accessible spaces for convenience. Raises it as a pricing conversation if the access is costing an hour every visit.
- What do you report back to the office after a visit? A strong answer What was done, what was not and why, anything that needs the client's attention - irrigation faults, damage, a dead tree, a safety hazard - and anything that looks like extra work worth quoting. Includes photographs. Writes it the same day rather than at the end of the week when the detail is gone. Says the report is how the account manager keeps the client, and how the crew gets credit for what they noticed.
The mistake this seat invites
Hiring on equipment experience. Crew leads are judged on what the property looks like, which depends on horticultural judgement and crew management more than on mower hours.
Where the role goes next
Crew leads move to foreman and then to account manager, which is where the client relationship and the money move. Candidates ask this in the first conversation, and an employer who cannot answer it loses the people who had other options.
Interview kit for this role
- All interview questions for this role in the question bank.
- Printable interview scorecard built from these questions and signals.
- The Commercial Landscaping hiring kit - every role in the trade, with credentials and offer risks.
- Offer calculator starting from this role's pay band.
What the search actually takes.
We have not closed a commercial landscaping search in 2026 year to date, so we publish no timing figure of our own for this seat rather than borrow one. The Hiring Index shows the trades where we do.
Keep reading.
- 2026 Commercial Landscaping Salary Guide - the full benchmark by role.
- Commercial Landscaping recruiting - how we run this trade.
- Salary calculator - the band by experience and region.
- Commercial Landscaping hiring in Houston - one market in detail.
- Hiring Index - how long our searches actually take.
Other Commercial Landscaping roles we recruit
All 56 roles we recruit - every trade, every seat.
