Maryland Landscaping License: What Applies and What Does Not

Does a landscaping business need a license in Maryland?

Maryland issues no license of its own for landscapers. Its contractor licensing reaches this work through the Home Improvement Contractor License.

Maryland issues no landscaping specific license, and ordinary landscaping on residential property is inside the Home Improvement Commission's scope: the home improvement law's definition names landscaping among the works on land adjacent to a dwelling that home improvement includes, and a separate section requires a contractor license whenever a person acts as a contractor. No dollar floor exists anywhere in the home improvement law, and the definition's exclusion list is exhaustive and contains no small contract exclusion, so the licensing duty attaches at any contract value; routine lawn mowing sits outside the definition because it is not an addition, alteration, improvement or replacement, which is the ground for the maintenance exemption rather than a threshold. Work on commercial property and on apartment buildings of four or more units falls outside the home improvement law, and the Department of Natural Resources separately licenses tree experts under the state's tree expert law.

The landscaping business itself must be licensed or registered, not only the people doing the work.

This records what Maryland 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.

Verified 2026-09-03 against the primary source listed under Sources.

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 Maryland it is made with the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation. 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 Maryland covers the filing itself, step by step.

Insurance Maryland 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 Maryland 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.