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Tidy front yard of a rental property

Garden care for rental properties, with one point of contact.

A rental garden gets away from everyone. The tenant was going to do it, the last gardener stopped turning up, and now there is an inspection on Friday or a new tenancy starting Monday. You want one person you can text, who turns up, does the job, sends a photo and invoices the right party.

I do regular garden visits and between-tenancy tidies for landlords and property managers across the west side. One person does every visit, the rate is the same as for everyone else, and the invoice goes to whoever you name. Photos of the finished garden come with every invoice, with none of the tenant's belongings in the shot.

The between-tenancy tidy is the common one: the outgoing tenant has let the garden go, the new one moves in on Friday, and the lawns and beds need to be presentable before the inspection. That is a one-off job with a two-hour minimum. Regular care is a monthly or fortnightly visit with a one-hour minimum, so the garden never becomes the reason an inspection goes badly. All garden waste is removed and charged as in the Prices table; the property's green bin stays the tenant's while the property is tenanted.

What a visit covers

  • Lawns mown and edged
  • Beds weeded, shrubs cut back
  • Hedges trimmed to their line, as high as I can reach from a standard stepladder, or single-storey roof height
  • Paths and driveway swept
  • Photos of the finished garden with the invoice
  • All garden waste bagged and taken away
Tidy garden at the front of a house

How often

Most gardens on the west side want a visit every two weeks through spring and summer, when the grass and the weeds are moving. A simpler section with more paving than planting can go to every three weeks, and through winter once a month keeps things in hand. Those are suggestions. The frequency gets set around your garden and what you want from it.

A regular visit is usually two to three hours. The first one is often longer, because the garden has to be brought back to a state a shorter visit can hold. After that it never gets to the point where it needs a rescue.

If you would rather start with a one-off tidy up and see how it goes, that is fine. A regular slot after that is set up around your preferences, and you can change it or pause it by text.

Prices

Item Price
Garden work, any service $60 per hour*
Minimum, regular visits 1 hour
Minimum, one-off jobs 2 hours
Green waste removal $30 minimum, which covers the first bag. Then $25 per 280 L bag or $40 per wool sack. Trailer loads are time at the hourly rate plus dump fees at cost.
Other waste (soil, rubbish, flax, bamboo, palm, anything mixed in) $45 minimum, then time at the hourly rate plus dump fees at cost.

Every service, lawns and hedges included, is charged at the same hourly rate for the time I am on site.

*I am under the GST threshold, so no GST is added. That could change at any time; if it does, GST goes on top of the rate and this page changes first.

How this works

There are two ways to start. Send me a few photos and I reply within 24 hours with the hours the job will take. Or book a visit straight away and I sort the scope with you on the day.

  1. 1. Get in touch. Send photos through the estimate form, text them to 028 416 1624, or book a visit online.
  2. 2. Agree the hours. From photos, I tell you the range of hours within 24 hours. If you have booked straight away, I look at the garden when I arrive and agree the hours with you before I start. Either way, if the job turns out bigger than expected I tell you before I keep going, and if you have a set budget I work inside it and do the most useful things first.
  3. 3. I turn up and do the work. A text the day before and another when I am on my way. The clippings leave with me, and the invoice is for the hours worked, with a photo of the garden as I left it if you were not home.

Waste. Everything I cut leaves with me unless you would rather it went in your green bin. Removal is priced per bag in the Prices table.

What I don't do

I am a gardener, so a few jobs go to someone else. If yours needs one of these, I will say so up front.

  • Tree felling, stump grinding, and tree work above stepladder or single-storey roof height: an arborist
  • Hard landscaping, paving, retaining walls and decks: a landscaper
  • Lawn renovation, returfing and new lawns: a lawn specialist
  • Anything inside the house
  • Reports or condition assessments; I am a gardener

Related services

FAQ

Who do you invoice?
Whoever you tell me, as long as they are one of the named contacts on the job: the property manager, the landlord, or the tenant if that is the arrangement. I do not invoice a third party who has not asked for the work. Card or bank transfer, 7 days.
Can you take instructions from the property manager?
Yes. One point of contact is easier for everyone. Give me the manager's name and number and the property address.
Do you need the tenant home?
No, but a tenanted property is done in line with the Residential Tenancies Act, which usually means the tenant has agreed and has had the required notice. Sorting access is the property manager's or the owner's job. If access is refused, or nobody is there at the booked time, the one-hour minimum is still charged.
Can you do several properties on one visit?
Yes, if they are close together. That is the cheapest way to run it for you, because the minimums and the travel spread across the properties.
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