Louisiana Landscaping License: What Applies and What Does Not
What Louisiana requires of a landscaping business in 2026, what the LLC has to file first, and where the license and the entity are two separate steps.
By Edmond Hui · Last updated: September 2026
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Louisiana landscaping licensing at a glance
| State credential required for this work? | Yes, statewide |
| What they are called | Landscape Horticulturist License, Landscape Irrigation Contractor License, Arborist License |
| Who issues it | Horticulture Commission of Louisiana |
| Must the business itself be licensed? | No, individuals hold it |
Does a landscaping business need a license in Louisiana?
Louisiana issues 3 license classes for landscapers.
Louisiana licenses landscape horticulture through the Horticulture Commission of Louisiana, which sits within the Department of Agriculture and Forestry, and this is a landscaping credential rather than a pesticide credential. R.S. 3:3804(C) bars receiving fees for a regulated profession at any contract value, and R.S. 3:3808(D) sets the landscape horticulturist's scope as implementing a licensed landscape architect's plans, carrying out measures for interior and exterior beautification through the use of nursery stock, and selling or leasing nursery stock and executing measures for its maintenance, so plain lawn mowing sits outside it. An LLC is not required to hold the license itself, because 3804(C) is also satisfied where the company has a regular employee who holds one or where the work is done under a licensee's direct supervision.
The license attaches to qualified individuals. Louisiana does not require the landscaping business itself to hold one.
This records what Louisiana publishes, not a determination about your business. Scope, thresholds and local requirements are set by the issuing body, so confirm with them before you bid or file.
Source: Louisiana Revised Statutes 3:3804, Regulation of professions and occupations. Verified 2026-09-03.
What the LLC has to do first
Pesticide and herbicide application is licensed separately from landscaping itself in most states, and that license is usually the one a general landscaping business actually needs.
The entity filing is separate from anything the license requires. In Louisiana it is made with the Louisiana Secretary of State. File directly with the state here. The order matters wherever the license is issued to the company rather than to a person: the entity has to exist before an application can name it.
Forming an LLC as a landscaping business in Louisiana covers the filing itself, step by step.
Insurance Louisiana landscapers are asked to show
Landscaping work damages what it is next to: irrigation lines, fences, windows and parked cars. General liability is the cover for that, and commercial clients ask for the certificate before the first visit.
We do not publish Louisiana premium figures for this trade, so nothing here is a quote. Our business insurance guide for landscapers covers what each policy does and does not pay for.
This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. It reports what each state licensing board publishes for this trade, with the sources this page cites. It cannot tell you whether your own work needs a licence: that turns on the scope of the job, the value of the contract, and the city or county you work in, which commonly adds its own registration on top of the state's. Confirm your own position with the board named on this page and with your local building or business licensing office before you bid or start work.
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Edmond Hui · Founder, MyStateLLC
Edmond Hui is a software engineer and serial entrepreneur based in New York who has founded multiple online businesses across e-commerce, media, and information publishing. Before transitioning into tech, he spent years as a commercial real estate professional closing deals totaling over 100,000 square feet, giving him firsthand experience with business formation and entity structuring. He built MyStateLLC to provide the free, state-specific LLC guidance he wished existed when forming his own companies.