How To Become A Groundskeeping Maintenance: What It Is and Career Path

What is a groundskeeping maintenance and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Dr. Brock C. Blaser,

Dr. Brock C. Blaser

Groundskeeping maintenance personnel perform a variety of duties to ensure that the landscape of an establishment is clean and presentable. These duties include skilled and semi-skilled tasks, such as mowing lawns, trimming shrubs, removing overhanging branches, planting new greenery, and watering.

Some groundskeeping maintenance personnel also perform non-landscaping-related tasks, which can include installing window glass, replacing faucets, flushing sewer lines, or unclogging external drains. They may also perform basic maintenance and repairs on lawn equipment or external fixtures. Typically, they work in rotating shifts. They may do more than one shift a day, depending on their employer's needs.

An individual without a high school diploma can become a groundskeeping maintenance personnel. What employers deem more important are basic landscaping skills, physical strength, stamina, as well as the ability to follow instructions carefully since they will have to work with minimal supervision. The average salary of a groundskeeping maintenance worker is $14 an hour or roughly $28,000 a year.

What general advice would you give to a groundskeeping maintenance?

Dr. Brock C. Blaser

Associate Professor of Plant Science, West Texas A&M University

Some of my most common advice to recent graduates is that they need to realize that they are not the boss or CEO of the company (yet), and they need to remember they need to earn their promotions and advancements. Additionally, they need to recognize authority and respect the direction they are given. Most people start at the bottom and work up, and they need to put in their time at the bottom. Another piece of advice I give is to look for opportunities to go above and beyond the job expectations. Get to work a little early, stay late to finish a task, etc. Work to help your company grow and find ways to help that happen in your position.

ScoreGroundskeeping MaintenanceUS Average

Salary

2.4

Avg. Salary $30,512

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.6

Growth rate 5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.18%

Asian 4.61%

Black or African American 11.37%

Hispanic or Latino 16.67%

Unknown 4.26%

White 61.90%

Gender

female 7.80%

male 92.20%

Age - 49

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 49

Stress level

7.6

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.3

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.1

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a groundskeeping maintenance

Explore groundskeeping maintenance education requirements

Most common groundskeeping maintenance degrees

High School Diploma

46.2 %

Bachelor's

19.1 %

Associate

15.6 %

Start to develop specific groundskeeping maintenance skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	17.75%
Cleanliness	10.97%
HVAC	10.18%
GRASS	9.28%
Mowing	7.50%

Complete relevant groundskeeping maintenance training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New groundskeeping maintenances learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a groundskeeping maintenance based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real groundskeeping maintenance resumes.

Research groundskeeping maintenance duties and responsibilities

Clean grounds use leaf blowers and rakes when need pick up trash all around the property.
Remove snow from sidewalks, driveways, and parking areas using snow plows, blowers, and shovels.
Maintain the cleanliness of the property and perform maintenance duties in apartments as needed.
Maintain the cleanliness of the park at all times for guests along with various housekeeping duties.

Prepare your groundskeeping maintenance resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your groundskeeping maintenance resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a groundskeeping maintenance resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable groundskeeping maintenance resume templates

Build a professional groundskeeping maintenance resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your groundskeeping maintenance resume.