Landscape Contract

Started by MarkS42 • 10 replies • 262 views

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MarkS42 (North Carolina)
Posts: 70

Posted:

We are a condominium complex with 2 buildings. During April-September we need weekly lawn mowing, edging and blowing of the parking lot. We had a landscape contract that was all inclusive that was paid thru out the year but they did a poor job of maintaining the other elements in the contract (bushes and mulch). Do you think an all inclusive contract is the better option or to have a base contract and bid out the special contract items?

MichaelT21 (Arkansas)
Posts: 462

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By MarkS42 on 09/13/2022 10:20 AM
We are a condominium complex with 2 buildings. During April-September we need weekly lawn mowing, edging and blowing of the parking lot. We had a landscape contract that was all inclusive that was paid thru out the year but they did a poor job of maintaining the other elements in the contract (bushes and mulch). Do you think an all inclusive contract is the better option or to have a base contract and bid out the special contract items?

My opinion is that every landscaper does as poor of a job as they can get away with. When the homeowner / property owner / Board complains, good landscapers put their higher performing crews on that property and the quality of work improves. Bad landscapers do nothing and hope they don't get fired.

So, did you talk to the landscapers about the quality of work? Did you ask them to improve? If not, start there.

To directly answer your question, most landscaping contracts include all maintenance. Mowing, blowing, shrub trimming, irrigation maintenance etc. Don't try to piecemeal this out.

MarkS42 (North Carolina)
Posts: 70

Posted:

I had multiple conversations with the landscaper. They always seemed to have an excuse for why they did not come. Granted I do think they needed to be paid more but did not want to pay them more for the same crappy service. I am just trying to figure out the best way to start fresh with a new landscape company and develop a good relationship.

MichaelT21 (Arkansas)
Posts: 462

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By MarkS42 on 09/13/2022 10:55 AM
I had multiple conversations with the landscaper. They always seemed to have an excuse for why they did not come. Granted I do think they needed to be paid more but did not want to pay them more for the same crappy service. I am just trying to figure out the best way to start fresh with a new landscape company and develop a good relationship.

At our HOA, which has a large amount of landscaping, we are on our 3rd vendor since I joined the Board. We terminated the first vendor because they were expensive and went with a lower cost vendor. The lower cost vendor did a crummy job and lied to us about the work that they were or were not doing. We terminated them and are on our 3rd vendor. Our 3rd vendor has had a few struggles but each time we point out what is wrong, they fix it. Once they volunteered that they were moving their "A team" crew to our property to help improve the quality.

Simple answer is just to vote with your feet. Ask some other landscaping companies to send you proposals and try a different one. Ultimately, it's about who the crew chief is. Get a good one and you'll be happy for years.

KellyM3 (North Carolina)
Posts: 2,239

Posted:

Quote:

You will be better served by having an all-inclusive contract for landscaping. The companies will generally stand behind their own work and won't touch plant installations that were not overseen by them.

MichaelT21 (Arkansas)
Posts: 462

Posted:

It really depends on what all inclusive means.

For us, our landscaper maintenance company handles all of the landscape maintenance related items:
- lawn mowing
- flower bed weeding
- periodic fertilizing of lawns
- trimming of shrubs
- irrigation timer setting, repairs, verification of coverage, etc
- other maintenance related tasks.

We have a variety of landscape project companies that do projects for us, such as:
- Installation of new picnic area
- Landscaping for new playground
- Installation of rocks, boulders, and native vegetation
- major installation of plants around entrance monument

Once these projects are completed, our landscape maintenance vendor takes over the ongoing maintenance

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Our HOA (stand alone patio homes on small lots) does the landscaping. It is our largest budget item (40%) and it is our largest area of complaints. Typically from the same people over and over. Our reply is the BOD feels we are getting good value for our dollar and a higher quality job will cost more money. Basically our contract is weekly visits from April to November then bi-weekly the rest of the time. Also this is SC so snow removal is not an issue.

Our history. Our declarant had a small company doing the landscaping. We retained them the 1st year we took over but then in November of that year they stopped showing and up we were unable to locate them. Seems they went out of business. We scrambled and had 3 companies give us quotes. We choose one. Overall we were very happy with them but two years ago, after 3 years, they asked for a 30% increase and we said no. We tried to negotiate but they would not do so. We then interviewed 4 new companies. We eliminated two real quick. One as they were just getting started in our area. Another as their price was way high. This left us with two. One a rather large company and one a smaller, local company at about a 15% less. We opted to go with the smaller company whose owner was also a working member of his crew. We had a few "burps" at first but for the next 3 years went well. They asked for a 5% increase every year but we felt that was reasonable.

Then the problems began this year. The owner is in the process of turning the company over to his son plus they were having problems hiring. We had a sit down and told the owner we were not happy. I said overall your son seems to do the minimum to get by and I do not think he has pride of ownership. He said he would talk to his son. Since then, the crew size has increased (4 to 5) and things seem better. We are debating if we should bring the larger company, one we earlier eliminated, in to give us a quote for next year.

Basically I can tell you not everyone will be happy. There will always be disagreement on things. How bushes/trees are trimmed and how often they are trimmed. The grass is cut to low and it is burning out when the owner does not water it enough. I recently said to one complaining owner, look at your neighbor's grass. It is same grass, same location, same landscaper. I said the difference is they water according to the best schedule we gave them. Are you. She replied but water is so expensive. I am on a fixed income and I can not afford it.

CathyA3 (Ohio)
Posts: 6,299

Posted:

After dealing with one company that hacked up our buildings with weed whackers and another that continued to take instructions from homeowners after being told more than once to stop... we hired a company that got rave reviews from other communities. And that company lived up to the recommendations. They were full service (which around here also includes snow removal). If we had a special project come up, we'd ask the owner to bid on that but we'd also look at other vendors. In fact, he occasionally would tell us to look for a different vendor if he couldn't match the price (eg. with tree removal that needs special equipment which he'd have to rent). And he'd toss in some freebies from time to time.

(Of course this a happy state of affairs couldn't go on forever. The board president at the time, who couldn't get along with anyone, kicked Excellent Landscape Company to the curb, along with our Excellent PM company and a few contractors who'd had the nerve to tell board president that things didn't work the way they thought they did.)

What I learned:

* You can find an excellent company if you talk to folks in other communities. And if you notice a community that looks well cared for, try to visit periodically until you spot the workers' vehicles.

* Full service provides convenience, which may be important if you're self-managed and the board already has too much on their plates.

* A lot of people recommend against multi-year contracts. They can save you money, but you need to work with someone like Excellent Landscape Company once they establish a track record.

* I think what made our situation work well was reasonable expectations and good communication on both sides. We expected to pay a decent price for quality service. At the same time, the owner knew that there were other companies out there, and he valued having a sensible, long-term customer. Both sides expected to cut some slack when warranted, and nobody was trying to cheat the other.

* Excellent Landscape Company was top notch at snow removal, which counted in their favor when we evaluated bids. I put a higher priority on snow removal than on landscaping since winter weather around here can be a safety issue.

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

We ONLY signed 1 year contracts with any landscapers. Did not mean we would not rehire them year after year. It is just if they failed us in a year, then we were not stuck with them. As for bushes etc... We had them only doing it on front entrances or clubhouse areas. If the homeowner wanted them to do their bushes, then they had to pay them separately. We did not maintain individuals gardens/bushes. We just had the lawns mowed and leaf blown. Contract was April to October.

Former HOA President

LoriM15 (Florida)
Posts: 1,009

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By JohnC46 on 09/13/2022 1:15 PM
Our HOA (stand alone patio homes on small lots) does the landscaping. It is our largest budget item (40%) and it is our largest area of complaints. Typically from the same people over and over. Our reply is the BOD feels we are getting good value for our dollar and a higher quality job will cost more money. Basically our contract is weekly visits from April to November then bi-weekly the rest of the time. Also this is SC so snow removal is not an issue.

We have exactly the same issues. We do the landscaping for 350 duplexes and small homes. It's a huge part of our budget and the biggest nightmare. No one is every happy with the service they get. They cut too much. They don't cut enough.

We find that we get excellent service for about the first year. Then the work starts going downhill. You definitely can't go with the cheapest because that usually means they aren't paying their workers enough and there is constant turnover.

Our contract is for mowing, edging, blowing, pruning bushes and trees up to six feet, weed control, insect control and fertilization.

We will be starting with a new company November 1. It's a tremendous amount of work to check references and find a good company. However, if they aren't doing a good job you should find another company and be prepared to pay a little more.

WendyM5 (North Carolina)
Posts: 1,522

Posted:

compare apples to apples, on the RFQ list the seperate items you want done and have a break out price. for our landscaper they wont' do anything for less than $450. At that price we can hire someone off lawnguru or any other type of mowmylawnonline type service on an as needed basis. We dont' need edging every 10 days maybe once every 6 weeks so it saves us money.

vis ta vie

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