Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance · Holland code ECR

First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Workers

Directly supervise and coordinate activities of workers engaged in landscaping or groundskeeping activities. Work may involve reviewing contracts to ascertain service, machine, and workforce requirements; answering inquiries from potential customers regarding methods, material, and price ranges; and preparing estimates according to labor, material, and machine costs.

Also called: Golf Course Superintendent, Grounds Manager, Grounds Supervisor, Landscape Supervisor, Field Manager, Grounds Crew Supervisor, Grounds Foreman, Grounds Maintenance Supervisor.

O*NET 37-1012.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $58,430; Middle half earn $47,390 to $72,590. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Bachelor's Degree; 32% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 3 of 5; Medium preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Establish and enforce operating procedures and work standards that will ensure adequate performance and personnel safety.
Schedule work for crews, depending on work priorities, crew or equipment availability, or weather conditions.
Tour grounds, such as parks, botanical gardens, cemeteries, or golf courses, to inspect conditions of plants and soil.
Monitor project activities to ensure that instructions are followed, deadlines are met, and schedules are maintained.
Direct activities of workers who perform duties, such as landscaping, cultivating lawns, or pruning trees and shrubs.
Inspect completed work to ensure conformance to specifications, standards, and contract requirements.
Plant or maintain vegetation through activities such as mulching, fertilizing, watering, mowing, or pruning.
Negotiate with customers regarding fees for landscaping, lawn service, or groundskeeping work.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Monitoring4.0 / 5
Active Listening3.9 / 5
Speaking3.8 / 5
Critical Thinking3.8 / 5
Reading Comprehension3.1 / 5
Active Learning3.1 / 5

Knowledge areas

Customer and Personal Service4.0 / 5
English Language3.9 / 5
Administration and Management3.9 / 5
Mathematics3.7 / 5
Public Safety and Security3.7 / 5
Personnel and Human Resources3.5 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic59
Investigative13
Artistic1
Social34
Enterprising85
Conventional71

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

botanist · DE Botaniker/Botanikerin · FR botaniste
curator of horticulture · DE Gartenkurator/Gartenkuratorin · FR jardinier botaniste/jardinière botaniste
landscape architect · DE Landschaftsarchitekt/Landschaftsarchitektin · FR architecte paysagiste
landscape designer · DE Landschaftsgestalter/Landschaftsgestalterin · FR paysagiste
groundsman/groundswoman · DE Rasenpfleger/Rasenpflegerin · FR agent d’entretien des espaces verts/agente d’entretien des espaces verts
horticulture production manager · DE Produktionsleiter im Bereich Gartenbau/Produktionsleiterin im Bereich Gartenbau · FR responsable de production horticole

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Groundsmen and greenkeepers (5114)30,700 employed
Pest controllers (6121)6,400 employed
Natural and social science professionals n.e.c. (2119)36,500 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers, by country
Country	Median pay
Germany	€31,000
Sweden	€30,144
Italy	€27,723
Netherlands	€26,642
Ireland	€25,686
France	€22,942
Spain	€20,465
Portugal	€9,509
Poland	€8,061

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the middle third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of -0.55. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (37-1012).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

Take the career interests test