What to ask a gardener or landscaper

Be clear about whether you want maintenance or landscaping – they’re two different trades – and get any job over a day’s work in writing before anyone turns up.

Gardening covers everything from someone popping round to cut the grass to a six-week patio-and-planting overhaul. Mixing those up is where most bad experiences start. There are gardeners and landscapers listed on WotsItCalled, and the right one depends entirely on what you’re actually asking for.

Maintenance vs landscaping – know which one you need

Most of them will do a bit of both, but they’ve usually got a strong preference for one. It’s worth asking straight up.

• Maintenance. Weekly or fortnightly mow, hedge trim, weeding, tidy up, green waste taken away. Steady, predictable, usually priced per visit or on a monthly contract. A good local gardener for this is gold.
• Seasonal jobs. Spring tidy, autumn clear-up, pruning that needs doing once a year. Fits neatly alongside maintenance work or as a one-off.
• Landscaping. Patios, decking, new lawns, walls, drainage, turfing, planting schemes. This is project work. Different skills, different insurance, different quote structure.
• Tree work. Anything bigger than a branch or two should go to an arborist, not a gardener. Proper tree surgeons are insured and trained for it. A gardener with a chainsaw and enthusiasm is how accidents happen.

Questions for a maintenance gardener

1. What’s included in the price? Lawn, hedges, borders, sweeping up. Some include green waste removal, some charge extra.
2. What happens if you can’t come that week? Weather, illness, holidays. Decent gardeners reschedule. The unreliable ones go quiet.
3. Are you insured for public liability? Always relevant – mowers fling stones, hedge trimmers hit cables. £1-2 million public liability is standard.
4. Do you take green waste? If they do, where does it go? If they don’t, you’ll be filling the brown bin for weeks.
5. Can I pay monthly? Rolling payments are easier than cash every visit. Ask.

Questions for a landscaper

Landscaping is a completely different conversation. You’re signing off on project work that could run into thousands, so the bar is higher.

1. Can I see photos of similar jobs you’ve done? Not stock photos. Actual their-own-work photos. Ask about a specific one – when was it done, how long did it take, any issues?
2. Will I get an itemised written quote? Labour, materials, preparation, waste disposal, VAT. Vague one-line quotes are how jobs end up double the original number.
3. How do you handle payments? For bigger jobs, staged payments are normal – deposit, milestone, completion. Avoid paying everything up front. Avoid paying nothing up front, too – that’s sometimes a sign.
4. What’s the timeline? Start date, expected finish date, what happens if weather holds it up.
5. Who actually does the work? Is it the person quoting, or a team? Are they direct employees or subcontractors?
6. What guarantees do you offer? A proper landscaper stands behind their work for at least 12 months. Paving, drainage, walls – you want something in writing.

Red flags in both kinds of gardener

• Cash-only with no receipt. For a £20 mow it’s not a dealbreaker. For £5,000 of landscaping, walk away.
• Turned up unannounced offering to do your drive. Classic. Almost always poor quality, often overpriced, gone by the time you spot a problem.
• No written quote for project work. Everyone verbally promises the world. Get it on paper.
• Won’t give you the address of a recent job to drive past. The good ones are proud of their work. The bad ones won’t let you anywhere near an old customer.

Where to find one

The gardeners and landscapers directory has both maintenance gardeners and landscaping outfits. Start with your nearest city: gardeners in Bristol, Chester, Liverpool, Manchester.

Seasonal rhythm of a garden

Knowing what work happens when helps you plan the budget and keeps a good gardener on side. A rough year looks like this:

• Winter (December-February). Pruning fruit trees and deciduous shrubs, cutting back perennials, repairing fences and structures, planning for spring. Quietest time for gardeners – best time to book bigger jobs.
• Early spring (March). First mow, tidying borders, mulching, preparing beds for planting. The moment the grass starts growing, phones start ringing.
• Late spring (April-May). Regular mow begins, hedge trims, planting out. Peak demand – a gardener’s diary is packed.
• Summer (June-August). Weekly maintenance, watering in dry spells, second hedge trim, deadheading. Busy but steady.
• Autumn (September-November). Leaf clearing, final hedge cuts, lawn scarifying and reseeding, planting spring bulbs. Big clean-up before winter.

If you’re hiring a gardener for the first time, try to find them before spring – in February or March at the latest. Ring a landscaper for project work three to six months before you want it done.

The short version

• Maintenance and landscaping are two different jobs – be clear which one you’re asking about.
• For weekly mowing, ask what’s included and whether they take green waste.
• For landscaping, get the quote itemised in writing and ask about staged payments.
• Tree work goes to an arborist, not a gardener.
• The good ones are proud to show you previous jobs. The bad ones won’t.

WotsItCalled is a free UK business directory. No signup, no catch. Find the place everyone’s on about, or browse the full gardeners and landscapers directory.