Make This Useful

Updated · Make This Useful

Landscaping contract template

A landscaping install contract has to tie the job to a dated plan and plant list, and say who waters once the crew leaves, because the plant warranty depends on it. Those two are the arguments that come back in July. Then it covers substitutions, calling 811 before digging, rock and roots, changes, the deposit and how hourly work is billed. Most of all, write the warranty period and its watering condition into the same clause.

Write up the install

Attach your plan and plant list, write its date into the first clause, and fill in the warranty period and the watering the customer takes on. In the price clause, keep the fixed-price sentence or the crew-hour one, whichever matches your quote.

Landscaping installation agreement

Between ____________ (____________) and ____________, ____________.

  • Services included: ____________
  • Price: ____________
  • Schedule: ____________
  • Start date: ____________
  • Payment terms: ____________
  1. The plan and plant list. We install what the plan and plant list dated ____ show: the beds, each plant at the size and count listed, mulch, stone and pavers. Lighting, irrigation changes, drainage work and anything else off the plan are not included unless we add them in writing.
  2. Plant substitutions. Nurseries run out, and now and then a plant arrives in poor shape. When that happens, we offer a substitute of similar size, look and price, and plant it only after you approve; if it costs more, you see the difference before you decide.
  3. How the price works. If your price is fixed, it holds for everything on the plan, even when the job takes us longer than we planned. If you pay by the hour, we bill $____ per crew hour on site, plants and materials at cost plus ____%, and call you before the job passes ____ crew hours.
  4. Changes to the plan. Moving a bed, adding plants or changing a path after we’ve started is a change: we write down the work and its price, and go ahead once you agree by text or email. A change can push back the finish date, and we tell you by how much.
  5. Calling 811 before digging. Before we dig, we call 811, the national call-before-you-dig number, and wait for the utility lines to be marked. Private lines aren’t marked, so show us sprinkler pipes, lighting and dog-fence wire, septic lines and any power or gas run to a shed or grill. We repair any marked or pointed-out line we damage.
  6. Rock, roots and buried debris. Our price assumes soil we can dig by hand or with a small machine. If we hit solid rock, large roots, old concrete or buried trash, we stop, show you, and price the extra digging and hauling before we go on.
  7. Work days, weather and access. We work weekdays from ____ to ____, and days lost to rain, or to ground too wet or frozen to dig, move to the next workable day. Please keep pets inside and leave the gate open and the driveway clear for deliveries. We rake out and reseed any ruts our machines leave in the lawn.
  8. Watering after planting. We water everything in on planting day. After that the watering is yours, unless the services say otherwise: new plants ____ times a week for the first ____ weeks, new sod every day until it roots, and more in hot or windy weather. Tell us early if anything wilts or yellows.
  9. Plant warranty. We replace any tree, shrub or perennial that dies within ____ of planting, once, with the same plant or the closest available, at no charge. The warranty doesn’t cover annuals, plants that weren’t watered as set out above, or losses to frost, flooding, deer, pests, watering bans or damage by others.
  10. Deposit, payment and cancelling. When you sign, you pay a $____ deposit, which buys the plants and materials and is credited on the final bill. The balance is due ____ days after we finish, with a $____ late fee after that. If you cancel once the plants are bought, the deposit pays for them and we deliver them to you.

____________: signature ____________ date ____________

____________: signature ____________ date ____________

How should a landscaping contract handle the plant warranty?

Write a period, what it covers and what it depends on. Trees, shrubs and perennials that die inside the period get replaced once, plant and planting included. Annuals, deer damage, frost and losses during a watering ban don’t. Then let the watering clause carry the weight: how often and for how many weeks, so a dead hydrangea in August is a question about the schedule, not about your planting.

Hand the schedule over again on planting day. A tag on the hose bib or a text with the days and minutes gets read; a clause signed in October doesn’t. If the job includes an irrigation zone or a timer, set it before you leave and write down what you set, because a timer changed during the first heat wave is a common reason a whole bed browns out.

Should a landscaping contract be hourly or fixed price?

Fixed for installs you can draw; hourly for work you can’t size until you’re into it, like clearing a bed nobody has touched in years. An hourly contract needs the crew rate, the markup on plants and materials, and the hours you won’t pass without a call. HomeGuide puts a two-person crew at $50–$100 an hour (checked October 2026). At $90, a 20-hour check-in means the customer hears from you before labor reaches $1,800.

On a fixed price, the plan does the job the hours cap does on hourly work. Count each plant and its pot size on the list, write the mulch depth and the edging, and draw the beds, so an added shrub or a longer bed edge reads as a change rather than a favor.

Who pays when the crew hits a buried line or rock?

Call 811, the national call-before-you-dig number, before any digging and wait for the marks; then the contract can split it cleanly. Marked lines, and anything the customer showed you, are yours to dig around and repair if you hit them. Private lines 811 doesn’t mark, like sprinkler pipe, dog-fence wire or power run to a shed, are the customer’s to point out. Rock, roots and old concrete get priced when you find them.

Ask before you quote. Someone who has lived with the yard knows where the old patio was, where a tree came down and where the previous owner buried the dog fence. Write what they tell you on the plan and price an optional line for the rock or roots you expect, so finding them costs one text instead of a stopped day.

Frequently asked questions

How is a landscaping contract different from a lawn care contract?

A lawn care contract covers repeat visits: mowing, edging and how the season is billed. A landscaping contract covers one project with a start and a finish, the beds, plants, stone and sod on a plan, plus a deposit and a warranty that runs after the crew has gone. When one customer buys both, sign two agreements.

How much deposit should a landscaper take?

Enough to buy that job’s plants and materials, since a nursery order picked for one yard rarely goes back. Take it at signing, credit it on the final bill, and write what happens to the plants if the customer cancels after you’ve bought them. Some states limit deposits on home-improvement work, so check yours first.

What if the customer wants different plants after signing?

Treat it as a change, even when the new plant costs the same, because the nursery order, the layout and sometimes the bed size move with it. Write the swap, any price difference and whether the date moves, then get a yes by text. That’s different from a substitution you make because a plant was out of stock.

Sources