Of the various questions that we receive as a commercial landscape company, questions regarding scheduling and frequency of visits are most common. Whether you’re a property manager of a commercial landscape, a board member for an HOA, or in some other leadership role overseeing a landscape, you might also be accustomed to receiving questions from residents, guests, or tenants like, “How often should the landscapers come?”
Or, “How often should the lawn be mowed on a commercial property?”
We often find that people have expectations that don’t match what’s actually needed to keep the property looking great.
To help provide some transparency and clarity, we’re asking some of the common questions we get in terms of the frequency of visits and how they can be best answered.
How Often Should Landscapers Come to Our Commercial Property?
There is no simple answer to this question because it’s going to vary based on region and season—and can also differ from property to property. Exactly how detailed you expect your property to be can also impact the number of times your commercial landscaper will visit as well as how long they’ll stay when they’re there.
Your commercial landscaping contract should spell out the number of visits as well as what needs to be completed. Obviously, in a location like Florida, mowing is a year-round task. However, in a place like Chicago, year-round mowing isn’t needed, but snow removal will be. Contracts are going to vary based on the seasonality of your location.
The bottom line is that questions about how often should landscapers come are best answered by the contract. There should be no surprises since this will already have been decided upon before the first visit.
How Often Should a Lawn be Mowed on a Commercial Property?
Again, the answer to this question isn’t cut and dry. Generally speaking, in the summer, we come out almost every week to mow. But in regions where it’s cooler, the frequency of the mowing will change. That means if you’re in a location where grass goes into dormancy, and you’re used to seeing a five-man crew mowing every week during the summer, you’re not going to see that as the lawn’s mowing needs change. 
It’s also important to remember that landscape maintenance isn’t just about mowing, even though that’s what often comes to mind when people think about landscaping. There are many subcategories of maintenance including pruning, edging, and clean up (like picking up leaves and branches).
This means that in the off-season (in a cooler climate area), you’ll still see a crew come out but it’s not going to be the same as the summer.
It may be a smaller crew and they’ll likely be performing seasonal tasks such as picking up branches or performing some edging to keep the lawn looking great even when it’s not actively growing. While we find that there is sometimes this expectation that crews still need to be there for the same duration as the summer months, the truth is, there are fewer tasks to perform and our visit duration may be shorter as a result.
How Are Service Visits Broken Down?
The best way to get a better grip on the number of visits and what’s performed when is to look at the service calendar. At Yellowstone Landscape, we provide a service calendar so that clients know how many visits per month they’ll receive.
This also breaks down the type of visits into mow visits, detail visits, clean-up visits, and irrigation check-ups—as well as breaking each of those down by frequency. 
Again, this is going to vary based on where you’re located. Here are two examples in two very different parts of the country for comparison.
- For instance, in Chicago, it’s really common to see 26 mow visits and 2 prunings per year. Of course, there will also be snow removal visits on a contract in Chicago.
- In South Florida, it’s common to see a minimum of 42 mow visits and a minimum of 12 prunings per year. South Florida is a good example of a location where plants never stop growing.
In addition to the landscape maintenance tasks we’ve been focused on, many commercial properties often have tree care needs which are usually performed on an as-needed basis.
There are also likely enhancement projects such as flower rotations (typically 3 times per year) and mulching or pine straw (maybe 1 to 3 times a year, depending on your location and your expectations).
Understanding What Goes Into a Great-Looking Landscape
We often find that there is a disconnect in understanding how much time a landscaper is spending on the property and what it really needs to continue to look its best. In other words, we often find that people want us to just tell them we’ll be there every single week and we’ll always be spending the same amount of time every time that we come. People often feel like they need to physically see the landscaper on the property to get the value out of their investment.
But if your landscaper is just hanging around so that you see them (even when all tasks have been completed), it’s not serving any functional purpose.
The fact is, we’re putting in the amount of time that’s needed to keep the property looking great and to fulfill our end of the contract in terms of what we’ve been asked to do. 
Even though residents or tenants might like to see professionals working on the property more often (because they assume that’s what’s needed to keep it looking great), there are simply going to be certain times of the year we don’t need to be there as long or as often.
We do understand that this can be difficult for people to accept and that you (as a property manager or board member) might get questions as a result. That’s why we always refer back to the service calendar that we provide, which spells out exactly what we’ll be performing and when. We want to help you be very clear that the landscape needs your property has are being fulfilled as stated in the contract.
We also always welcome the opportunity to help in your effort to communicate with those who have questions. If you’re part of an HOA, for instance, we’d love to be able to contribute to any social media pages that you manage or newsletters that you put out. We’ll also attend board meetings and participate in any special landscaping committees that might have been formed. We understand that answering questions about landscaping can feel like an overwhelming task, but we’re available to take as much of that off your plate as we can.
With Any Questions About Landscaping, Communication is Key
We understand that people often have a variety of questions about landscaping. No matter what type of commercial property that you have, landscaping is likely one of your bigger investments, and you (and the people who live, work, or visit there) want to know that the money is being spent wisely.
We believe that the best way to answer any questions related to the frequency or duration of landscape visits is with clear communication and transparency from the very start.
That’s why you can count on us to spell out exactly what you can anticipate once we get started. You should expect this high level of communication from any commercial landscaping company that you might be working with (though not all companies will deliver it). Only with clear communication can misconceptions be cleared up and expectations be appropriately managed.
The truth is, great communication is the key to answering not only questions about the frequency or duration of visits, but to answer all questions that may arise.
When you choose Yellowstone Landscape as your partner, you can count on us to deliver the transparency that we promise with clear communication from day one. Ultimately, that should also help take some stress off of your plate. After all, chances are, you are not the only one with questions and they might currently call on you to answer all of them.
If you’re working with a commercial landscape vendor that has not been clear about the duration or frequency of their visits, then responding to questions may have been challenging up until this point. But our goal is always to help create fewer headaches for you. We know that you’re not only choosing to partner with us for a beautiful landscape but also to help make your life easier.
Are you ready to work with a commercial landscaping company that takes communication seriously? Request a consultation today. We’ll meet to learn more about your property and its challenges and come up with a comprehensive plan to take care of all of the details for you.
