The contract is not where the money is
Grounds maintenance looks like a simple, cheap category. A base contract covers mowing, edging, bed maintenance and seasonal cleanup at a predictable monthly or seasonal price, and it usually comes in close to budget.
Then the year happens. Seasonal color goes in twice. An irrigation zone fails. A storm drops a limb. Three beds get refreshed because they looked tired before a visit from head office. None of it was in the contract, all of it was approved in the field, and the category finishes 30% over.
The base contract is rarely the problem. Enhancements are.
Measure the site before you go to market
Bids priced against different assumptions about turf area, bed area and mowing frequency are not bids for the same work. A measured site map is the single highest-value thing to prepare, and most organizations do not have one. It covers turf, beds, hardscape, irrigated zones and tree inventory.
It also survives the contract. Once measured, every future bid, every enhancement quote and every unit rate can be checked against it.
Structure enhancements before you need them
The fix is not to stop doing enhancement work. It is to price it in advance.
Require unit rates in the bid: per plant by size, per cubic yard of mulch, per hour for irrigation repair by technician type, per caliper inch for tree work. Then set approval thresholds so field-level decisions stay small and anything material goes through someone with a budget.
This changes the conversation from “what will this cost?” asked under pressure, to “that is 40 plants at the contracted rate,” checked against a number agreed months earlier.
Snow is a risk allocation decision
Snow and ice is not really a pricing question, it is a question of who carries weather risk.
Per event or per inch puts the risk on you. Cheaper in a mild winter, uncapped in a bad one.
Seasonal fixed price moves the risk to the contractor, who prices a margin for carrying it. More expensive on average, but a number you can budget and defend.
A hybrid splits the risk and is where most large portfolios land: a seasonal base up to a defined event count or snowfall total, then per-event pricing above it.
Whichever you choose, define the trigger depth, response time, what surfaces are included, whether salting is separate, and what constitutes a completed service. Snow disputes are almost always about definitions, not rates.
What to put in the RFP
- A measured site map with turf, bed, hardscape and irrigation areas
- Service and frequency schedule by season, not a single annual scope
- Irrigation scope, including who owns repairs and who pays for water
- Unit rates for enhancements, plants, mulch, tree work and repairs
- Approval thresholds for anything outside the base contract
- Snow terms: trigger, response, surfaces, salting, pricing structure
- Quality standards and inspection, with photographic reporting where sites are unstaffed
What good looks like afterward
Enhancement spend tracked against the base contract rather than buried in it, unit rates applied instead of quoted ad hoc, irrigation maintained by someone accountable for water cost, and a snow structure whose worst case you have already modelled.
Grounds sits inside the broader facilities services category. For running the event, see RFP management.
- A measured site map
- Service and frequency schedule by season
- Irrigation scope
- Unit rates for enhancements
- Approval thresholds
- Snow terms
- Quality standards and inspection
Issued in your structure, not the vendor's, so every bidder prices the same scope and the bids can be compared line for line.
How we help
- Spend Analysis: Spend analysis establishes where your organization stands and where value is trapped.
- Procurement Transformation: Transformation decides where procurement should go and what deserves resources first.
- Strategic Sourcing: Strategic sourcing turns strategy into implemented results.
- Value Tracking: Value tracking protects and extends value after implementation.
- Procurement Training: Training builds your team's capability so results last after the engagement ends.
- Fractional CPO: A fractional CPO gives you senior procurement leadership without a full-time hire: someone who owns the function, sets the commercial agenda and builds the team that eventually replaces them.
- Procurement Assessment: A structured diagnostic of how procurement actually operates across six dimensions, evidenced rather than asserted.
- Category Management: Category strategies that survive contact with the business.
- Supplier Negotiation: Negotiation outcomes are decided in the preparation.
- Cost Reduction: Cost reduction judged on what reaches the P&L.
- RFP Management: We run the whole sourcing event: scope, bidder list, document, evaluation and award.
Frequently asked questions
What should a landscaping RFP include?
A site map with measured turf, bed and hardscape areas, a service and frequency schedule by season, irrigation scope including who owns repairs, enhancement and replacement procedures with approval thresholds, snow and ice terms if bundled, quality standards with inspection method, and a pricing sheet separating the base seasonal contract, unit rates for enhancements, and snow pricing.
Should snow removal be priced per event, per inch or seasonally?
It depends on who should carry the weather risk. Per-event and per-inch pricing puts the risk on you and costs less in a mild winter. A seasonal fixed price moves the risk to the contractor, who prices a margin for it, and gives you a budget number you can hold. Many organizations use a seasonal base with per-event pricing above a defined threshold, which splits the risk.
Why do landscaping costs exceed the contract every year?
Because the base contract covers mowing and routine maintenance, while the spend is in enhancements, seasonal color, irrigation repairs, tree work and storm cleanup. That work is approved individually, often in the field, and rarely against a unit rate. Landscape budgets are usually overrun by things nobody negotiated.
How do you compare grounds bids fairly?
Measure the site properly first. Bids priced against different assumptions about turf area, bed area and mowing frequency are not comparable at all. Then require unit rates for the enhancement work, because that is where the difference between bidders actually shows up.
Who should own irrigation repairs?
Whoever can be held accountable for water cost and system condition. Leaving repairs as time-and-materials outside the contract removes any incentive to maintain the system, and irrigation is one of the few grounds items with a direct utility cost attached.