Landscaper's Equipment Inventory Guide
Your trailer full of mowers, trimmers, and blowers is worth more than you think — and it's parked in a driveway overnight.
Landscaping equipment is big, expensive, and lives outside. That combination makes it one of the hardest categories of trade equipment to protect and one of the most frequently stolen.
According to the National Equipment Register and various industry reports, landscaping and outdoor power equipment is among the most commonly stolen trade equipment in the country. It makes sense when you think about it: the gear sits on open trailers, it's parked at job sites and in driveways, it's easy to resell, and serial numbers are rarely recorded by the owners.
This guide covers what landscapers should be inventorying, how to value it accurately, and why documenting your equipment before something goes wrong is worth more than any lock or GPS tracker.
What your equipment is actually worth
Small crew operators — one or two trucks, a trailer, and a standard mowing setup — typically carry $15,000 to $40,000 in equipment. Larger operations with multiple crews can easily reach $50,000 to $150,000 or more.
The numbers surprise people because landscapers tend to think in terms of individual purchases: "I bought a mower for $8,000, a couple trimmers for $300 each, a blower for $500." They don't add up the trailer ($3,000 to $8,000), the spare blades and parts ($200 to $500), the sprayers ($200 to $2,000), the hand tools ($500 to $1,500), and everything else that quietly accumulates.
The full inventory — what to count
Commercial mowers
This is the largest single investment for most landscaping operations:
- Zero-turn mower (Exmark Lazer Z, Scag Tiger Cat, Hustler, Toro Z Master) — $5,000–$15,000
- Stand-on mower (Wright Stander, Exmark Vantage) — $6,000–$12,000
- Walk-behind mower, commercial (Exmark Viking, Scag SW, Toro Proline) — $3,000–$7,000
- Push mower, commercial — $300–$800
- Reel mower (if you do fine turf) — $3,000–$10,000
- Spare blades and blade sets — $20–$80 per set
- Mulching kits, bagger attachments — $200–$800
Total for mowers: $5,000–$30,000+
A single Exmark Lazer Z X-Series with a 60" deck runs around $12,000 to $14,000. If you're running two mowers on one trailer, you could be looking at $20,000 in mowers alone.
String trimmers and edgers
- Commercial string trimmer (Stihl FS 131, Echo SRM-2620, Husqvarna 525L) — $300–$600 each
- Stick edger (Stihl FC 91, Echo PE-2620) — $300–$500
- Battery-powered trimmers (if applicable) — $200–$500
- Spare trimmer heads and line — $20–$50
Most crews carry 2 to 3 trimmers and at least one edger.
Total: $800–$2,500
Blowers
- Backpack blower (Stihl BR 800, Echo PB-8010, Husqvarna 580BTS) — $400–$650 each
- Handheld blower — $150–$350
Most crews carry 2 to 3 backpack blowers.
Total: $800–$2,200
Chainsaws and hedge trimmers
- Chainsaw (Stihl MS 261, Husqvarna 562 XP, Echo CS-590) — $400–$900
- Pole saw — $300–$600
- Hedge trimmer (Stihl HS 82, Echo HC-2620) — $300–$600
- Extended reach hedge trimmer — $400–$700
- Spare chains and bars — $30–$80
Total: $800–$2,500
Trailers
The trailer is the most expensive single item many landscapers overlook when doing inventory:
- Open landscape trailer (single axle, 6x12) — $2,000–$4,000
- Open landscape trailer (tandem axle, 7x16 or larger) — $3,500–$8,000
- Enclosed trailer — $5,000–$15,000
- Trailer accessories (trimmer racks, blower racks, cooler racks) — $200–$1,000
- Trailer locks and security — $50–$200
Total: $2,000–$15,000
Sprayers and application equipment
- Backpack sprayer — $50–$200
- Skid sprayer (for truck bed) — $500–$3,000
- Ride-on sprayer/spreader (Permagreen, Z-Spray) — $5,000–$15,000
- Broadcast spreader (push) — $100–$400
- Drop spreader — $100–$300
- Hose and reel systems — $200–$800
Total: $500–$15,000 (wide range based on services offered)
Trucks and vehicle equipment
Your truck itself is insured separately, but the equipment on it should be tracked:
- Toolbox (truck bed) — $200–$800
- Ladder racks — $200–$600
- Fuel cans and racks — $50–$150
- Water tank and pump (for dust control or irrigation) — $200–$1,000
Hand tools and small equipment
This category gets ignored, but it adds up fast:
- Shovels (multiple types) — $20–$50 each
- Rakes (leaf, landscape, bow) — $15–$50 each
- Wheelbarrow(s) — $60–$200
- Pruning shears (Felco, ARS) — $30–$80 each
- Loppers — $30–$80
- Hand saw (pruning) — $20–$50
- Mattock / pickaxe — $30–$60
- Pry bar / landscape bar — $30–$60
- Tamper — $30–$60
- Levels — $20–$80
- Measuring wheel — $30–$80
- Hoses and spray nozzles — $50–$200
- Tarps — $20–$80 each
- Tie-down straps — $10–$30 each
- Bungee cords, ratchets, etc.
Total for hand tools: $500–$1,500
Safety and PPE
- Hearing protection (multiple types) — $10–$50
- Safety glasses / face shield — $10–$40
- Chaps (for chainsaw work) — $50–$100
- Steel-toe boots (worth noting for inventory) — $100–$250
- Gloves (multiple pairs) — $10–$30 each
- Sun protection / rain gear — $20–$80
- First aid kit — $20–$60
Total: $200–$600
The running total
- Mowers: ~$12,000
- Trimmers/edgers: ~$1,500
- Blowers: ~$1,400
- Chainsaws/hedge trimmers: ~$1,500
- Trailer: ~$5,000
- Sprayers: ~$2,000
- Hand tools: ~$1,000
- Safety/PPE: ~$400
Typical total for a single-crew operation: ~$25,000. Multi-crew operations: $50,000–$150,000+.
Theft: the landscaper's biggest risk
Landscaping has one of the highest equipment theft rates of any trade, and the reasons are obvious:
Open trailers are open invitations. Most landscapers run open trailers because enclosed trailers are heavier, more expensive, and harder to load quickly. But an open trailer parked in a driveway or apartment complex overnight is essentially a display case for thieves.
Equipment is easy to resell. A stolen Stihl backpack blower has a ready market on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, or at a flea market. Unlike specialized trade tools, landscaping equipment has broad demand — homeowners buy this stuff too.
Serial numbers are rarely recorded. Most landscapers have no idea what the serial number is on their string trimmer. Without a serial number, stolen equipment is nearly impossible to recover, even if police find it.
Job site theft is constant. You leave a blower on the trailer while you're in the backyard. You come back and it's gone. This happens every day across the country.
What helps: document everything with serial numbers and photos. When you report a stolen Stihl BR 800 with serial number 518406291, police can enter it into the national stolen property database. Without that number, it's just another blower.
ToolTracked makes this painless — snap a photo of each piece of equipment, and the app captures the image and lets you record the serial number in the same entry. If something gets stolen, you've got a photo, a description, a value, and a serial number ready to hand to police and your insurance company.
Seasonal storage and replacement tracking
Landscaping equipment takes brutal physical abuse. Mowers run hundreds of hours per season. Trimmers get dropped, blowers get caked in dust, and chainsaws dull constantly. This means two things for inventory:
Track equipment condition and hours. A mower with 2,000 hours on it is near the end of its useful life. Knowing your equipment's age and condition helps you plan replacements before something breaks mid-season and costs you work days.
Seasonal storage creates loss. At the end of the season, equipment goes into storage — garages, sheds, off-site storage units. Come spring, items are missing. They were "borrowed," left at a final job site in November, or stolen from an unsecured shed over the winter.
Do a pre-storage inventory in November and a post-storage audit in March. Compare the lists. If something's missing, you have months to track it down before the season starts.
Insurance for landscapers
Get inland marine or contractor's equipment coverage. Your standard business auto policy covers your truck. It does not cover the $25,000 in equipment on the trailer behind it. You need a separate policy for equipment.
Trailer and contents are separate. The trailer itself may be covered under your auto policy or may need separate coverage. The equipment on the trailer is definitely not covered by auto insurance.
Replacement cost matters. A five-year-old Exmark zero-turn costs nearly the same to replace today as it did when you bought it — possibly more, given price increases. Make sure your policy pays current replacement cost, not depreciated value.
Document your fleet. If you have multiple crews, each with their own trailer and equipment, you need a complete inventory of each crew's loadout. Insurance adjusters want specific lists, not "we had about $30,000 worth of stuff."
ToolTracked recognizes equipment from Stihl, Husqvarna, Exmark, Scag, Echo, Toro, and hundreds more. Photograph your mower's serial plate, snap your trimmer rack, and your inventory builds itself. Generate insurance-ready PDF reports anytime. Free for up to 20 tools. Download ToolTracked →