Things You Should Expect From Your Top 10


Landscape Service F


— By Will Bailey, Avid Landscape Management, LLC —


or many associations, landscape maintenance is the largest budget item. As such, professional community association


managers and boards spend a fair amount of time managing landscape maintenance contractors through a competitive bid process and subsequent performance against the contract scope. Familiarity with gardening and a sharp eye for landscape aesthetic is helpful but there are many other things you should expect from your landscape service provider. Here are my top 10.


Responsiveness


You should receive a response from your landscaper to any inquiries vor concerns within one (1) business day even if all they can offer is acknowledgment of having received your communication and when you should expect a full response. They should also have an emergency contact and response capability. When service concerns arise, be clear about your expectations including outcomes and timeline. If you’re not sure what is reasonable, ask your landscaper to present a plan to set realistic communication expectations.


30 Community Associations Journal | March 2022 Site Awareness


For community association managers with large portfolios, it is very frustrating when they discover an issue on-site that their landscaper has walked past for months without reporting it simply because it’s not landscape-related. This may include graffiti on common area structures, damaged gutters or drainage improvements, soil splashing up on buildings, moss-covered walkways, or broken curbing to name just a few. In most cases, your landscaper is on-


One-Stop Shop You have enough to worry about! Your landscape


service provider should be able to manage all of the landscape-related services your community may need whether it be standard in-house maintenance, renovation, irrigation service, or if they need to subcontract the work to others (as is often the case with tree work), stormwater infrastructure management, sweeping, backflow testing, etc. Lean on your landscaper to get things done on-site!


In most cases, your landscaper is on-site weekly. Ask them to look out for your community by providing additional eyes and ears.


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