Your lawn needs to stay healthy to provide a better experience for you and your family. It is like an extension of your house that provides space for outdoor activities such as playing or relaxing as you watch the sun go down. For the best maintenance of your lawn, you require the services of a lawn care provider to trim the grass, weed the flowers, and do everything else that will help keep it healthy. Sometimes disagreements might arrive on the work that was to be done, timeframe, or price. This is why a lawn maintenance contract is important before the work commences.
Table of Contents
- 1 Lawn Care Contract Templates
- 2 What is a lawn services contract?
- 3 Landscape Contracts
- 4 The duties a lawn care provider can be expected to do
- 5 Should a lawn care provider be licensed?
- 6 How do lawn care contracts work?
- 7 Benefits of a lawn maintenance contract
- 8 What should a landscaping contract include?
- 9 Lawn Mower Contracts
- 10 What to do if one party fails to deliver?
- 11 Terms and conditions
- 12 How do I write a lawn care contract?
- 13 Lawn Maintenance Contracts
- 14 Different types of lawn services contracts
Lawn Care Contract Templates
What is a lawn services contract?
When you allow a lawn care provider to come into your compound to help maintain your lawn, there have to be conditions under which the work must be done. A lawn services contract details the specifics of the expected work and the level of the relationship between you and the lawn care personnel.
The document describes the kind of services the care personnel shall provide, the charges for the contract, terms of payment, and timelines. The lawnmower contract must be signed by both parties before the work commences.
Landscape Contracts
The duties a lawn care provider can be expected to do
A property owner hires a lawn care provider to give care for a garden or lawn and gets paid. They mainly provide the lawn with an aesthetic look that matches its surroundings. They must work only within the places defined by the landscape contract.
If they exceed to other places, they cannot claim compensation. The property owner might have other plans with the area and the care provider might lose trust with the property owner. A lawn care provider may provide any or all the following duties.
- Leaves raking
- Lawn mowing
- Trimming overgrown tree limbs
- Fertilizer application
- Garden/lawn watering
- Pest control
- Weeding the garden/lawn/walkways
Should a lawn care provider be licensed?
In most cases, lawnmower providers are not licensed. They mostly provide basic maintenance services for lawns and gardens. The more established lawn care providers have registered companies that provide specialized services at a wider scope. They design landscapes do commercial lawn care. Transport trees, overhaul gardens/lawns, etc. Service providers at this level are usually licensed.
How do lawn care contracts work?
A lawn maintenance contract provides agreements information between a lawn maintenance services provider and their client. It is common for lawn care providers to sign contracts with property owners for a guarantee of services.
Anytime a landscaping specialist agrees with a property owner to take care of their lawn, there is a need to sign a landscape contract that offers as many details as possible to help fulfill the main objectives of the agreement.
After the landscaper has completed all duties detailed in the landscape contract, the property owner confirms the work is done and releases the payment to the provider as agreed in the contract.
Benefits of a lawn maintenance contract
The lawn care services provider benefits most from a lawn maintenance contract. Without regarding whether you are the property owner or the services provider, it makes reason to have an enforceable contract before the work commences.
The lawn maintenance contract should address in detail all issues that may arise during the maintenance process or payment time. If any of the two parties requires legal services due to one party breaching the agreement, the document serves as evidence. Here are the benefits of a lawn services contract.
- It is a legally binding document if any disputes arise between the property owner and the service provider
- The document confirms there is a real work relationship between the two parties
- It provides detailed information on the specific services the service provider will perform
- It provides details on role/s to be played by the property owner. For example, purchase of pesticides, fertilizers, and payments.
- It gives some form of guarantee and warranty between the two parties that the work and payment are backed by promises to do the work thoroughly and to receive payment.
- It provides a good understanding between the two parties that eliminates unnecessary legal disputes that may arise due to misunderstandings.
What should a landscaping contract include?
For a landscape contract to be legally binding, it must include every important detail while avoiding any loopholes that one party can use to breach the contract. To ensure every party’s interests are served well by the contract, both the property owner and the service giver should sit and agree on the conditions of the contract.
It helps limit or eliminate all disputes that may arise in the future or when the work is already ongoing. The parties should avoid the use of complicated language. Instead, the language in the contract should be simple and easy to understand. A landscape contract souls include the following.
Names
There are the names of the property owner and the service provider as they appear in their national identification document. Under the names, the document should capture the contact details of the two parties. These are details such as:
- Telephone numbers of the two parties
- The physical addresses of both
- Email addresses
- Postal addresses
Contract timelines
The contract timelines in the lawnmower contract should detail the following.
- When the contract is expected to start, including time.
- The total duration of the contract – It can be in hours, days, weeks, months, etc.
- The date when the work is expected to be complete. The date should not be a tentative date but a specific one.
The terms of payment
The terms of payment give details of the expected payments and are broken down into figures as follows:
- What will the total cost of the work
- Is there an expected initial payment?
- Is there a payment after a certain amount of work is done?
- When is the final payment expected?
- Will be payment be lumpsum or in bits?
- What is the mode of payment – bank transfer, check, cash, online payments, etc.
Procedures for amendment
The lawn services contract should have an allowance for amendments. Sometimes the service provider might realize the work initially quoted is more than expected. They will consult with the property owner to discuss if the scope of work can be adjusted and the cost changed.
In the process of lawn/garden maintenance, the property owner can also add more work that was not initially in the contract. The service provider may realize they are not ready for the work either due to the equipment required or another issue when they have already signed the contract. There should be an allowance that details the procedures that must be followed before such amendments become effected.
Lawn Mower Contracts
What to do if one party fails to deliver?
It is possible for a lawn maintenance contract to be signed and one party fails to deliver. The service provider may fail to do the work as agreed. They can do all the work perfectly but the property owner fails to make the payment as agreed.
The lawn maintenance contract should have provisions on what should be done if one party fails to meet its role. The service provider should protect themselves by including clauses of non-payment claims and the possibility of use of lien.
Invoice template
An invoice template should be attached to the lawnmower contract at the time of signing. The invoice template gives details of all payment agreements, including the breakdown. The two parties should sign the invoice template each time a payment is made, even where there is another payment document to be signed.
The statement of work
A statement of work in a landscape contract details the work authorized by the property owner. It describes the work and defines the scope, timelines, terms, and work location. The name of the service provider is included in the statement of work. These are the details contained in the statement of work.
Terms and conditions
These are the conditions that must be fulfilled for the work to be called completed and professionally done. It can include:
Terms of contract cancellations
Terms of payment – Fees for late payments, agreed to payment methods, transaction charges
Service details – E.g., pest control, weed control, tree trimming, grass trimming
Agreeable conditions that can warrant pausing the work – Like bad weather due to too much rainfall, snow, unexpected storms
Care instructions – How much water to give the plants, amount of fertilizer, type to apply, what level of trimming to be done, equipment to use, etc.
Conditions for service termination: these are conditions that might warrant termination of services.
A statement of mutual agreement
This is a statement that declares that both the property owner and the lawn service provider have mutually consented to the terms and conditions contained in the signed lawnmower contract. It states they have agreed to be bound by the agreement and that each party will perform its part without being forced.
Involving the services of a lawyer
It is not always that a lawyer must be involved in the signing or preparation of the lawn maintenance contract. If the two parties agree on the information to include, they can draft the agreement and sign it. The moment they sign, it becomes a legally binding document.
The easiest way for the two parties to go is to go online and download a lawn services contract. It is a predesigned template containing all the details that such a contract should have. The parties will only require to fill in a few details and sign the contract.
A lawyer will come in when there is a dispute that the two parties cannot agree upon. If there is a need for legal procedure, the offended party will carry a copy of the document and seek legal help from a lawyer.
How do I write a lawn care contract?
A lawn care contract ensures both the service provider and the property owner are satisfied with the details therein. When writing a lawn care contract, you must provide the following details.
- Date of contract issuance
- Details of work location – The property where the work shall be done
- Details of services to be provided
- Frequency of services – One-time contract or continuous
- Terms of payments
- The person offering the service
- The person who owns the property
- Signatures by both parties
- Contact information of both parties
- Logos of both parties, if applicable
Lawn Maintenance Contracts
Different types of lawn services contracts
The lawnmower contract services can be a one-time contract or continuous. They are classified into two main categories.
Seasonal contracts
When a property owner doesn’t want to enter into a longtime contract with a lawn service provider, they give a seasonal contract. They allow the service provider to offer service for once within the agreed number of days.
Once the work is complete, the contract is no longer effective. Most homeowners give this type of contract because their lawns or garden don’t require a lot of maintenance work. When the bulk of the work is done, the homeowner can DIY on the routine maintenance works like grass trimming and watering.
Long term lawn maintenance contract
This type of contract runs for a specified time that exceeds three months. The property owner and the service provider sign a contract to provide routine maintenance for a longer period. Many house owners with large compounds give this type of service contract, but mostly, it’s given by commercial property owners.
A business property requires its lawns to be maintained all the time to provide a healthy environment for businesses or tenants. The service provider takes all responsibilities to water the lawn daily, keep the grass smart, trim the fences or trees often, and carry out all types of works contained in terms of the agreement.
This type of lawn services contract is usually paid a certain amount of service fee as agreed in the contract. Professional landscaping companies mostly aim for long-term landscape contracts to provide a continuous flow of business. They hire a large workforce to ensure they serve their customers well.
Long-term landscape contracts are mostly large contracts that involve large amounts of money and labor. They could also involve multiple types of work on different worksites. The service provider might require additional procedures to make the contract more binding.
It might require to be insured and have special conditions requested by the service provider or the property owner. For the best interest of both parties, it is best to involve a lawyer when signing large, long-term contracts.
