What does a grounds maintenance worker do?
A grounds maintenance worker makes sure that the grounds of businesses, urban infrastructure, parks, and houses are in order and attractive. These workers provide a functional and pleasant outdoor environment to spaces. They mow, fertilize, and edge lawns. Their tasks may include removing damaged, unwanted, or dead trees in these areas. They also maintain the indoor plantings and gardens in public and commercial facilities like hotels, botanical gardens, and malls.
Grounds maintenance worker responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real grounds maintenance worker resumes:
- Manage hardscape installation team and project
- Operate hand or power tools and equipment such as: lawn mowers, shovels, snow blowers, rakes and trimmers.
- Used lawn equipment to maintain grass, trees, flower beds, and paper pickup around the outside of where house.
- Clean grounds using rakes, brooms, and hoses.
- Mow, weed whack, rake, mulch, and prune the grounds as needed.
- Remove weeds, debris and trash, edge, water, mow, prune and trim park landscapes.
- Used gas power tools including: weed wackers, blowers, hedge trimmers, and chainsaws.
- Experience in mowing greens to fairways, run heavy equipment, tree work, landscaping and pin placements.
- Mow and edge lawns, using power mowers and edger's, mulching, aerating, weeding, grubbing and removing thatch
- Perform safety inspections following all OSHA guidelines.
- Perform street lighting activities including installation, maintenance and replacement services; troubleshoot street lighting failures; resolve maintenance problems.
- Coordinate and synchronize other SIGINT activities as necessary.
Grounds maintenance worker skills and personality traits
We calculated that 16% of Grounds Maintenance Workers are proficient in GRASS, Grounds Maintenance, and Mowing. They’re also known for soft skills such as Customer-service skills, Dexterity, and Troubleshooting skills.
We break down the percentage of Grounds Maintenance Workers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- GRASS, 16%
Ground maintenance worker with various tasks, early Spring mulching until grass cutting began and that until the end of November.
- Grounds Maintenance, 11%
Operated a variety of standard power tools and equipment in grounds maintenance and repair activities on regular basis.
- Mowing, 9%
Experienced in mowing greens to fairways, ran heavy equipment, tree work, landscaping and pin placements.
- Hand Tools, 7%
Adjusted functional parts of devices or controlled instruments, using hand tools, levels, and plumb bobs.
- Mowers, 4%
Weed Trimmed Around Areas that the lawn mowers couldn't get at Also washed and waxed vehicles and various duties as needed
- Blowers, 4%
Maintained playgrounds and restroom facilities Performed maintenance on various landscaping equipment such as lawnmowers, Weed Eaters, and leaf blowers.
Most grounds maintenance workers use their skills in "grass," "grounds maintenance," and "mowing" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential grounds maintenance worker responsibilities here:
Customer-service skills. The most essential soft skill for a grounds maintenance worker to carry out their responsibilities is customer-service skills. This skill is important for the role because "these workers interact with customers on a regular basis." Additionally, a grounds maintenance worker resume shows how their duties depend on customer-service skills: "maintained cleanliness and neatness of grounds during visits of 25-150 guests. "
Dexterity. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling grounds maintenance worker duties is dexterity. The role rewards competence in this skill because "many repair and maintenance tasks, such as repairing small devices, connecting or attaching components, and using hand tools, require a steady hand and good hand–eye coordination." According to a grounds maintenance worker resume, here's how grounds maintenance workers can utilize dexterity in their job responsibilities: "maintained campus cleanliness operated various machines such as tractors, forklifts, and trucks multiple landscaping jobs"
Troubleshooting skills. This is an important skill for grounds maintenance workers to perform their duties. For an example of how grounds maintenance worker responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "workers find, diagnose, and repair problems." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a grounds maintenance worker: "performed maintenance, installation and troubleshooting of irrigation systems. ".
The three companies that hire the most grounds maintenance workers are:
- Huron-Clinton Metroparks9 grounds maintenance workers jobs
- Wallick Communities8 grounds maintenance workers jobs
- Metroparks Toledo5 grounds maintenance workers jobs
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Compare different grounds maintenance workers
Grounds maintenance worker vs. Lawn care specialist
A storekeeper is responsible for managing all a store's operations and overseeing the care and maintenance of stocks, including inventory management. Your duties will include receiving, unloading, and shelving supplies, inspecting deliveries for discrepancies and damage, and managing all documentation. In addition, you will be responsible for maintaining inventory control and coordinating freight handling. You are also responsible for planning campaigns to promote new products, mediating any conflicts between clients and staff, maintaining a sales record, and purchasing new products.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a grounds maintenance worker are more likely to require skills like "grounds maintenance," "hand tools," "plumbing," and "building maintenance." On the other hand, a job as a lawn care specialist requires skills like "snow removal," "customer service," "customer locations," and "safety procedures." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Lawn care specialists tend to make the most money working in the health care industry, where they earn an average salary of $34,722. In contrast, grounds maintenance workers make the biggest average salary, $31,614, in the finance industry.The education levels that lawn care specialists earn slightly differ from grounds maintenance workers. In particular, lawn care specialists are 0.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a grounds maintenance worker. Additionally, they're 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Grounds maintenance worker vs. Lawn care technician
Each career also uses different skills, according to real grounds maintenance worker resumes. While grounds maintenance worker responsibilities can utilize skills like "grounds maintenance," "hand tools," "plumbing," and "building maintenance," lawn care technicians use skills like "customer service," "basic math," "safety procedures," and "snow removal."
Lawn care technicians may earn a higher salary than grounds maintenance workers, but lawn care technicians earn the most pay in the finance industry with an average salary of $34,566. On the other hand, grounds maintenance workers receive higher pay in the finance industry, where they earn an average salary of $31,614.In general, lawn care technicians achieve similar levels of education than grounds maintenance workers. They're 0.7% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Grounds maintenance worker vs. Lawn technician
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a grounds maintenance worker is likely to be skilled in "grass," "grounds maintenance," "hand tools," and "plumbing," while a typical lawn technician is skilled in "quality customer service," "fertilize lawns," "safety procedures," and "snow removal."
Lawn technicians earn the highest salary when working in the construction industry, where they receive an average salary of $33,766. Comparatively, grounds maintenance workers have the highest earning potential in the finance industry, with an average salary of $31,614.Most lawn technicians achieve a similar degree level compared to grounds maintenance workers. For example, they're 0.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Grounds maintenance worker vs. Keeper
Types of grounds maintenance worker
Updated January 8, 2025
