Buying commercial garden maintenance is harder than it ought to be. Three quotes arrive with three different scopes, no two list the same visit frequency, and there is no straightforward way to compare them.
The lowest price wins by default, the standard slips gradually, and a year or two later the site needs remedial work costing rather more than the original saving.
In short
- A good contract is a schedule of defined tasks at defined frequencies, not a general arrangement to tidy up.
- Visit frequency is the single biggest driver of cost.
- A price can only be compared against a specification, so write the specification first.
This guide sets out what a contract usually covers, how contracts are priced, what the figures look like in practice, and what is worth checking before you sign. It is written with facilities managers, property factors, developers and business owners in Edinburgh and the Lothians in mind.
What Commercial Garden Maintenance Covers
A good contract is a schedule of defined tasks at defined frequencies, rather than a general arrangement for someone to come along and tidy up. A full scope would normally include the following.
- Grass cutting and edging, with arisings collected or mulched, and edges cut to a defined line rather than left to creep.
- Shrub beds and borders: weeding, cutting back, dividing, mulching and replacing anything that has not established.
- Hedge cutting, programmed outside the March to August nesting window unless the hedge has been checked beforehand.
- Tree care: crown lifting, deadwood removal, formative pruning and inspection. Larger surgery is priced separately.
- Hard surfaces: sweeping, moss and algae treatment, gully and drain clearance, and flagging trip hazards early.
- Weed control on surfaces and gravel, by a qualified operator with the relevant certification and records.
- Seasonal work: leaf clearance, bulb planting, spring bed preparation and lawn recovery after a wet winter.
- Winter provision where the site needs it, typically gritting of defined routes and car parks.
- Green waste removal and disposal under a valid waste carrier registration.
- Reporting: a record of what was done on each visit, and a named contact who picks up the phone.
You can see our wider scope on the garden care page, and the construction side on the garden design and build page.
How Often Should a Commercial Site Be Visited?
Frequency is the single biggest driver of cost, so it is worth deciding deliberately rather than accepting whatever comes as standard.
Fortnightly, March to October
Monthly through winter. The right answer for most sites in Scotland, and a steady standard at a sensible price.
Weekly in season
For a high-profile frontage or a hotel, or anywhere the grass is short-mown and expected to look it.
Monthly year-round
Works on a low-planted, mostly hard-surfaced site, though the beds will not stay ahead of the weeds and the specification should say so.
Grass growth here is very weather-led. A mild, wet spring can put a site three weeks ahead of schedule and a dry June can slow it right down, so a contract with flexibility inside a fixed annual visit count works better than one tied to rigid dates.
How Commercial Garden Maintenance Is Priced
Three structures are common. Knowing all three makes it easier to ask for the one that suits your site.
Per visit
A fixed price for a defined task list each time the team attends. Simple, transparent and easy to compare, which suits smaller sites and shorter commitments. The trade-off is budgeting: visit numbers vary through the year, so monthly costs move around.
Fixed annual contract, paid monthly
The year is specified and costed, then divided into twelve equal payments. The usual arrangement for commercial and factored sites. Costs stay level, and the contractor can plan labour properly, which often means a keener price than the per-visit total.
Schedule of rates
Unit rates instead of one price: per linear metre of hedge, per square metre of bed, per hour for a two-person team. How most public sector and portfolio contracts run, and the fairest structure where the work genuinely varies.
In practice many contracts are a hybrid: a fixed annual core specification, with a schedule of rates covering anything outside it. For a mixed site that is usually the most practical answer.
How Much Does Commercial Landscaping Cost?
No contractor can give a firm price without seeing the site, so the figures below are indicative UK market ranges for 2026. They are here to help you sense-check a quote, not to act as a price list.
- Small site, per visit, covering an entrance, forecourt or communal grounds: £70 to £150, based on a two-person team for part of a visit.
- Medium site, per visit, such as office grounds or a small development: £150 to £400, based on a two to three-person team for a full or half day.
- Larger or multi-block sites: priced by team day, because per-visit pricing stops being meaningful at that scale.
- Annual contract on a small to mid-sized site: from around £250 to £600 per month, on a fixed specification paid in twelve equal instalments.
- Hedge cutting on a schedule of rates: £0.45 to £1.20 per linear metre per cut, varying with height, access and arisings.
- Tree work: £140 to £220 per hour for a three-person team plus chipper.
- Herbicide application: £60 to £120 per visit plus materials, by a qualified operator with records kept.
These are indicative UK ranges for comparison only, not a quotation. Every commercial site is priced from a survey.
What Moves the Price Up or Down
The ratio of grass to beds
Grass is quick. Borders are slower and more skilled, and that is where the labour hours go, so two sites of identical area can differ noticeably.
Access
The Edinburgh factor. A controlled parking zone, a permit or a shared stair means everything is carried in and all waste carried back out.
Waste
Green waste has to go under a registered waste carrier and is disposed of at cost. Room for on-site composting takes a real amount out of a contract.
Standard
Short-mown, striped and edged weekly is a different service from cut and tidy fortnightly. Agree the standard in writing before the price.
Hard surfaces
Large paved or gravelled areas look low maintenance, but moss, algae and weed growth through the joints still need treating on a cycle.
Trees
Mature trees carry an inspection duty. That is a separate cost, best priced openly rather than absorbed into a mowing contract.
Out-of-hours working
Work that has to happen before a school opens or after a hotel's check-out will be reflected in the rate.
Contract length
A three-year term lets a contractor invest in the site and price accordingly. A rolling twelve-month contract rarely attracts the same rate.
What Should Be in the Contract Before You Sign
None of this needs to be complicated. A good contract simply makes the arrangement clear on both sides.
- A written specification listing each task, its frequency and the standard it will be carried out to.
- The annual visit count, and what happens if a visit is missed. A credit or a made-up visit, agreed in advance.
- Confirmation of who removes green waste, and under which waste carrier registration.
- Evidence of public liability and employer's liability insurance, with the limits stated.
- Health and safety documentation: risk assessments, method statements and any site induction requirements.
- A named account contact, an agreed reporting format and a response time for issues.
- A price review mechanism and the contract term, so any increase is expected rather than a surprise.
- Exclusions, written down. What is not included matters as much as what is.
Where a Cheap Contract Costs More
The lowest quote is often a mowing contract with the horticulture taken out. It reads as a saving in year one and usually stops being one after that.
Beds thin out
Without cutting back, dividing and mulching, a planted scheme thins, weeds take the gaps, and within a few seasons the beds need replanting at several times the annual saving.
Self-seeded growth takes hold
Sycamore and buddleia find gutters, wall heads and the base of railings. The longer they are left, the more of the stonework comes away with them.
Surfaces become a liability
Gullies silt up, water sits on the paving, and a mossy surface through an Edinburgh winter becomes a genuine slip risk.
A price can only really be compared against a specification, and most sites never get one written. Put the specification together first, then take prices against it, and the comparison becomes much more straightforward.
This is not to say the cheapest contractor is doing anything wrong. Without a specification, the comparison was never a fair one.
Arranging a Commercial Maintenance Quote
We look after grounds for commercial clients, property factors and developers across Edinburgh and the Lothians, with in-house horticulturists and tree care rather than a subcontracted chain. We are SMAS Worksafe accredited, City & Guilds Assured, and a member of the Edinburgh Trusted Trader scheme supported by the City of Edinburgh Council and Police Scotland.
Whether you are re-tendering an existing contract or setting one up for a new development, we are happy to survey the site and write a specification you can put to other contractors as well as to us. If a fortnightly visit will not hold the standard you are after, we will say so before you sign rather than afterwards.
There is more on how we work on Why Armstrong, and background on the wider service in what commercial landscaping covers.
Call 0131 357 1987, email info@armstronggardens.co.uk or book a consultation, and we will arrange a site visit.