Question re: Landscape Warranty (landscaping, company, offer)

[rose12345]

Hi everybody,

I was curious what's your experience with the landscape warranty, when hiring landscaping company. What's the "standard" landscape warranty, especially for the plant materials (e.g. tree, shrub, evergreen)?

This is the first time when I'm about to hire landscaper to do my yard and wondering what's normally included in the warranty....or what should I pay attention to.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience.

[HappyNCGirl]

Hi Rose. I've had landscape plans drawn up, and then had the plants installed per the plan. We've done this on three occasions. Each installation came with a one year limited warranty on the plant material.

Expect to lose at least two or three plants during the first year, even if you are watering and doing your best to maintain them. This last installation, I had the company come out and replace a tree and a couple of shrubs. We later lost two arborvitae and some azaleas due to an undetected issue of having water sitting about 6 inches below the surface. This past year has been all about burying pipes for the downspouts, and trying to get the left side of our yard to drain better. Those plants were not covered by the warranty due to the warranty limitations and disclaimers.

Best wishes!

[sls76]

I would look for a two year warranty on trees.

[rose12345]

HappyNCGirl and sls76, thank you very much for your feedback, I really appreciate it.

It seems that one year warranty on flowers/shrubs/evergreens and two-years for tree is "standard". At least that's what the landscaping companies I interviewed offered, too.

I was curious because of the drought situation, I will be using only recycled water...so wondered whether drought could affect the landscape warranties.

Thanks again!

[MrsBTA]

We found that a while ago, a lot of landscapers were not offering their warranties anymore because of the drought (or only offering them if you signed up for a reclaimed watering service, or something along those lines). However, now that we're getting some rain again, and most people are allowed to water now, the standard warranties should be back in place.
Oddly enough, we're actually having a problem now where some of our shrubs are drowning - I'm pretty sure we've lost at least one due to too much water. And the only thing watering them since they got planted has been mother nature... Go figure! We're still waiting to hear back from the landscaper to see if they'll replace them or not.