What Facilities Teams Should Ask Before Signing a Landscaping Contract

Landscaping tenders for corporate campuses and institutions tend to be evaluated heavily on price, which makes sense for a line-item budget but often leads to problems six months in — thin staffing, no irrigation maintenance plan, no reporting.

A few questions worth asking any vendor before signing: who is on-site day to day, and are they employed directly or subcontracted? What does the irrigation maintenance schedule actually look like, separate from planting maintenance? What reporting will you receive, and how often?

It's also worth asking how a vendor handles the transition period if your current contractor's work has been neglected — soil and irrigation problems inherited from a previous vendor are common, and a credible landscaping partner should be able to assess and quote for correction work upfront rather than discovering it later.

We've operated as a SAP-registered vendor with tender experience for institutional and corporate clients for a large part of our 28+ years in business, and this is close to the standard checklist we'd suggest to any facilities team going through the process.