Minnesota Landscaping License: What Applies and What Does Not

Does a landscaping business need a license in Minnesota?

Minnesota issues no license of its own for landscapers. Its contractor licensing reaches this work through the Residential Building Contractor License and the Residential Remodeler License once the business takes $15,000 or more in a year for this work.

Minnesota issues no landscaping license. The Department of Labor and Industry licenses residential building contractors and residential remodelers, defined by providing two or more of eight special skills that include excavation, grading, and masonry and concrete but not planting or lawn care, so grading and hardscape work on residential real estate is inside the license. State law exempts a person whose total gross annual receipts for the licensable skills do not exceed $15,000, which is an annual receipts test rather than a contract value, and separately exempts a specialty contractor providing only one special skill; another subdivision of the same section has the licensee designate a qualifying person who for a limited liability company must be a chief manager or managing employee.

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

This records what Minnesota 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 Minnesota it is made with the Minnesota 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 Minnesota covers the filing itself, step by step.

Insurance Minnesota 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We do not publish Minnesota premium figures for this trade, so nothing here is a quote.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.