Decide the frequency, and the rest of the contract follows

Small property programmes run $800 to $2,500 a month. Most commercial programmes land at $2,500 to $6,000, covering full grounds on mixed frequencies by area with a seasonal calendar and turf health programme. Large properties and multi-site programmes run $6,000 to $20,000 and up. Frequency and how much of the property sits on the high-visibility cadence drive the figure more than total acreage does.

Mowing, edging and blow-down of hard surfaces; bed weeding, edging and shrub trimming on a stated cycle; mulch refresh twice yearly; a seasonal calendar covering autumn clearance, late-winter cut-back and spring preparation; a fertilisation and weed-control programme; irrigation monitoring; and a monthly photo report. Each element is set to a stated frequency rather than described as ongoing.

Weekly through the growing season, March to October, and bi-weekly or as needed November to February. That is not a preference — Texas turf outgrows the one-third mowing rule inside a fortnight in May and June, so a bi-weekly cut in peak growth is a scalping. We also set frequency by area, so entrance and pedestrian routes can run weekly while perimeter and back-of-house areas run less often.

Yes, and we schedule it as part of the contract rather than arranging it visit by visit. Early morning, evening or a low-traffic day, with access — gates, codes, alarms — sorted once so no visit depends on someone being available. Once set, the day stays fixed, which matters as much as the timing: staff, tenants and deliveries can all plan around a pattern they know.

One report a month, delivered on a fixed date, with dated photographs by area, work completed, issues found and recommendations. We deliberately do not send a weekly log — those get filed unread, and when a question arrives about six weeks ago nobody wants to search through twenty documents. The monthly report is short enough to read and specific enough to forward without editing.

Through the growing season, generally yes, and the reason is turf health rather than tidiness. Removing more than a third of the blade stresses the plant, and a fortnightly cut in May takes far more than that. Weekly also keeps weeds pulled small and clippings light enough to mulch back in. Bi-weekly genuinely fits low-visibility perimeters, industrial sites, winter, and properties that are mostly hardscape.

Raise it and it gets fixed inside a stated response window, with an escalation route if it does not. Most dissatisfaction traces to one of three things: an area that has quietly dropped in frequency, expectations that were never written down clearly, or reporting that does not let anyone see what happened. All three are addressable, and having the remedy written down changes how the first difficult conversation goes.

Yes, and it is routine. We walk the property before the first visit and record its actual condition in writing and in photographs, so there is a baseline nobody can argue about later. The first month often includes catch-up work a departing contractor has let slip — we identify that during the walk and price it openly rather than presenting it as a surprise once the contract has started.

Both, and annual usually prices better. Grounds work is strongly seasonal, and a twelve-month term lets us average heavy and light periods into one predictable monthly figure. Month-to-month arrangements are possible and generally cost slightly more, because the seasonal peaks cannot be spread. We would rather earn a renewal than enforce a term either way.

A turf health programme is included as a scheduled element with its own calendar, because timing is what makes it work. Pre-emergent applied outside its window does nothing at all, and feeding is set to the season rather than to whichever visit happens to be next. Disease and pest treatment beyond routine care is quoted separately, since it depends on diagnosis rather than a schedule.

It can be scheduled within the programme but we quote it as a separate line, deliberately. Keeping enhancement out of the recurring figure means the maintenance cost stays comparable year on year, and colour rotations can be approved, expanded or paused on their own merits without anyone renegotiating the base contract to do it.

A dedicated crew on a fixed route day, and a named account contact for anything beyond routine. The crew consistency matters more than people expect — a team that services the property every week learns where the irrigation heads are, which gate is used, which areas hold water after rain and what the bed edges are supposed to look like. That knowledge is lost entirely when crews rotate.

Yes, and it should. Growth here is not linear across the year: turf needs weekly attention from April to October and roughly half that through winter, while beds want the opposite pattern around leaf drop. A programme fixed at one frequency either overspends in January or underserves in June. The schedule is written by season and reviewed at the turn of each one.