Why a Maintenance Calendar Is Important for Commercial Landscaping
A maintenance calendar is the first thing we need. In short, if you don't plan it, it won't get done on time.
What does a maintenance calendar do?
A maintenance calendar is a list of duties that need to be done every week, month, season, and year to keep your grounds healthy, safe, and looking good. It changes landscaping from reactive or when we have time to planned, predictable, and strategic care.
What a normal calendar has in it
A strong business landscaping calendar generally looks like this, based on what works best in the field:
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Weekly Tasks:
Weekly chores include mowing, trimming/edging, picking up trash, and cleaning up beds and hard surfaces.
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Monthly tasks: Checking and regulating the irrigation, basic pruning, bed maintenance, and maybe fertilizing or controlling weeds, depending on the season, are things that need to be done every month.
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Seasonal / quarterly / annual tasks:
❖ In spring, you should pick up the trash from winter, dethatch, aerate, overseed, mulch, and get the irrigation systems ready.
❖ In summers, you should ensure watering and irrigation more often, mow the lawn, keep an eye out for pests or diseases, and trim the beds.
❖ In autumn, you should sweep up leaves and other waste, fertilize, trim shrubs and trees, and get ready for winter.
❖ In winters, you should at least keep an eye out for damage and make plans for the upcoming season.
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Equipment & operations maintenance: Maintaining equipment and operations means making sure that all of the tools of the trade, like mowers, trimmers, and irrigation systems, are working, clean, serviced, and ready to go. This makes sure that the work is done well and on time.
Having a routine like this doesn't simply make the property seem nice, it also helps the grass stay healthy in the long run, lowers the expenses of reactive fixes (like reseeding barren spots or fixing sick shrubs), and makes sure the curb appeal stays the same.
Contracts: The Backbone of Reliable Commercial Landscaping
Maintenance calendars are useful, but if you don't have a good contract, you could wind up with misunderstandings, poor upkeep, or unclear obligations. A written contract makes things clear.
Why contracts are important for landscaping businesses
● Commercial properties are usually bigger, more complicated, and have more people using them than residential lawns. They need bigger machines, a regular schedule, and occasionally supplementary services like tree care, pest control, snow removal, and irrigation maintenance.
● Property managers, landlords, and tenants are all engaged, therefore a contract spells out exactly what services are covered, how often they will be provided, what quality standards must be met, who is responsible for what, and what each party may anticipate.
● A contract is good for both the service provider and the client. For landscapers, it means steady employment and predictable income. For property owners and managers, it means continuous care and accountability.
What a good landscaping contract for a business should have
When writing or looking over a landscaping contract for a business site, make sure it includes:
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Scope of services: Please spell out exactly what is included, such as mowing, pruning, maintaining beds, watering, seasonal duties, insect treatment, maintaining hardscapes, removing snow and ice if necessary, and so on.
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Schedule and frequency: Mowing every week? Check the irrigation once a month? Deep maintenance every three months? Cleanups every season? These should be spelt out clearly.
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Quality standards & deliverables: What is the right height for grass after mowing? Who is in charge of cleaning up and getting rid of trash? What about fixing the irrigation, cutting the edges, and weeding the beds?
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Responsibilities and exclusions: What the landscaping business will do and what the property owner will have to do (such as removing a big tree, fixing structural hardscape, or dealing with damage that wasn't planned). Clear boundaries prevent arguments.
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Prices, payment arrangements, and changes: A flat price every month? Pricing by season? How do you deal with extra work, like fixing storm damage or doing emergency repairs?
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Reporting / communication / audits / flexibility clause: If you own a lot of property or manage a lot of sites, it can be helpful if the landscaping company sends you regular reports or uses a system to keep track of maintenance. This is especially true if you want all of your sites to look the same.
It's really vital to have clear contracts and backup plans in a place like Iowa, where the weather can change a lot, like frigid winters and hot summers, or floods or droughts in the spring.
KPIs: Measuring the Success of Your Landscaping Program
Calendars and contracts help people get things done. But how can you tell if the maintenance plan is really helping you, your tenants, or your financial line? That's where Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) come in.
By keeping track of KPIs, you can change landscaping from a cost center into a managed investment that pays off in terms of health, safety, tenant happiness, and property value. For landscaping companies (and by extension, property owners and managers), some of the most essential KPIs are:
Important KPIs for landscaping businesses
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Gross Profit Margin (for the Landscaping Company): This statistic is more beneficial for landscaping companies, but it can also help property owners figure out how much something is worth. A good maintenance contract should allow for long term profits (average maintenance margins are between 25 and 40 percent) while always providing high quality.
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Labor Utilization Rate / Productivity: This tells you how well the landscaping team uses its time. It helps make sure that resources aren't squandered, such when crews are waiting about or when there are too many people for small jobs. High use usually means that maintenance is done quickly and costs less per visit.
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Estimated vs. Actual Hours per Job: It is a way to see how many hours were promised and how many were really worked. If real hours are always more than forecasts by more than 10 - 15 percent, that's a warning indicator. It could mean that the company is underquoting, not working efficiently, or not preparing well.
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Equipment Utilization Rate: Landscaping often needs expensive tools like mowers, trimmers, and irrigation systems. It's important to keep track of how often these tools are used (as opposed to sitting around) to determine how cost-effective they are and avoid wasting money on unnecessary purchases.
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Customer Retention / Contract Renewal Rate: For property managers or commercial clients who have been with you for more than one year, retaining them is a sign that they are happy. People often stay with a company that consistently performs well, communicates well, and shows results. This measure is primarily for landscaping companies, but property owners gain from steady, long-term service without having to sign new contracts all the time.
Property managers can also keep an eye on other more "property-specific" KPIs, such as tenant or visitor satisfaction (which is subjective but useful), fewer safety or slip and fall incidents (because walkways are kept up), fewer complaints, better curb appeal, and even an increase in property value over time because of well-kept landscaping. However, these last ones are harder to measure in the short term.
Why This Approach Matters - Especially in Iowa
You might be asking yourself, "Why all this structure and tracking?" Why not just employ a team every once in a while and be done with it?
Here's why a rigorous, contract-and-KPI-driven approach is so helpful in
Iowa:
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Weather challenges & seasonality: There are four seasons in Iowa. Snow, ice, freeze/thaw, drought, heat, heavy rain, and unexpected growth spurts all put stress on landscapes. A well-planned maintenance schedule makes sure that your grounds not only survive the seasons, but also thrive.
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Size and complexity: Commercial properties are often big and have more than one structure, parking lot, sidewalk, lawn, bed, tree and sometimes hardscape. It's possible for areas of the property to be forgotten or for upkeep to be inconsistent if there aren't explicit contracts and task schedules.
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Sustainability and long-term cost savings: Regular maintenance (aeration, appropriate mowing, checking the irrigation, and maintaining the beds) keeps plants healthy and the structure of the turf. This is good for the environment and saves money in the long run. This prevents the need for costly fixes later, such reseeding big areas, removing dead plants, or fixing damage caused by negligence.
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Managing your professional image and liability: The outside area is the first thing visitors see at businesses, institutions, retail centers, or multi-tenant properties. A well-kept garden shows that you care and are professional. Also, keeping sidewalks, parking lots and walkways in good shape lowers the likelihood of accidents (like slips and falls).
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Predictable budgeting and service quality: Property managers can plan for landscaping as part of their regular maintenance costs because they have a documented contract and a set schedule. No invoices that come out of nowhere. No last-minute rush after a storm. No rush to catch up during the holidays.
To put it simply, this isn't landscaping only for appearances; it's landscaping as part of sensible asset management.
How Larkin Landscape & Design Embodies This Approach
Larkin Landscape & Design focuses on home hardscaping and landscaping. We emphasize:
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Clear design to build process that begins with a consultation, moves on to a 2D custom design, material selection, and build execution, so customers know precisely what to expect.
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Tailored landscaping solutions, not plans that are the same for everyone, but landscaping solutions that are made just for you. Varied outdoor spaces have varied types of soil, amounts of sun, uses, and design aims. This level of customization is important for businesses where brand, function, and durability are important.
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Ongoing maintenance mindset -
changing a room is one thing, but keeping it up over time is another. That involves regular maintenance, seasonal care, and being ready to change things up depending on the weather and how the property is used.
We are particularly qualified to provide consistent, high quality outcomes for both homes and businesses because we know Central Iowa's climate, soil, and landscaping needs.
Practical Guidance: Building Your Own Maintenance & Contract Strategy
If you own a business property in Iowa, here's a step-by-step method to help you succeed:
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Make a complete map of your property, including the grass, beds, trees, hardscapes, irrigation, parking spaces, and walkways. Know what each "zone" means.
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Make a calendar for maintenance that includes weekly, monthly, seasonal, and yearly tasks. Mowing, pruning, watering, fertilizing, caring for beds, cleaning up leaves, getting ready for winter, managing snow and ice (if needed), and checking equipment are all things that should be done.
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Hire a landscaping company with a clear contract that spells out the work to be done, who is responsible for what, when it will be done, what the quality standards are, how much it will cost, and what will happen if further work is needed (like after storms).
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Set up reporting and feedback loops. The contractor should provide you regular updates, like "we did this week's mowing and edging" or "we checked the sprinkler system," so you know you're receiving what you paid for. Very useful if you own more than one property.
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Set up relevant KPIs.
These might not be the financial ones that a landscaping company would keep track of, but the operational ones, like how often maintenance is done, how complete it is (were all zones serviced?), how quickly repairs are made, feedback from tenants and visitors, scores from walk throughs, the number of complaints, safety issues, and so on.
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Check in every three or twelve months and change your schedule, services, or providers as needed. The seasons vary, the use of land varies, and the landscapes change.
Final Thoughts: Landscaping is an Investment for the Long Term, Not a One Time Cost
Landscaping is too often put off until later or after a storm, when there's time to think about it. But for commercial properties, especially in fast moving markets like Iowa, landscaping is an important part of managing the property, building the brand, keeping tenants happy, and keeping the property's value over time.
You’re managing an asset by putting together a well thought out maintenance schedule, a clear contract, and relevant KPIs. You're putting money into making your property last longer, look better, be safer, and give everyone who visits a professional experience every time.
From the earliest design sketch to regular upkeep several years later, we at Larkin Landscape & Design believe in doing landscape right. And that way of thinking can assist business owners and property managers make their outside spaces a long-term asset when it comes to commercial buildings.
If you manage a business property in Central Iowa or somewhere else with changing seasons and external problems, we suggest you take a step back, make a maintenance schedule, and write a contract that shows how important good landscaping is. The effort will be worth it in the long run because of how it looks, how well it works, how happy tenants are, and how much the property is worth.
If you need help making a sample maintenance calendar, draft contract outline, or KPI tracker that works for your property, just let us know. We'd be happy to help.
