Landscape maintenance is the regular work that keeps a landscape healthy and tidy all year. Someone comes on a set schedule. They cut the grass, trim the plants, pull the weeds and clear up. Every few months they also feed the soil and treat pests. Most places in Singapore need someone every week or two.
- Someone comes on a set schedule. They do the work and clear up after.
- The landscape decides how often. The faster it grows, the more often someone comes.
- Some work is only every few months. Feeding, pests and the watering.
- Tree work and replanting are separate. They are priced on their own.
- Most places need someone every week or two. See how to set the schedule.
This is a plain guide to what landscape maintenance means in Singapore.
It covers what the work is, who needs it, how often it happens and what changes the price.
What is landscape maintenance?
It is looking after a garden or grounds so they stay healthy and tidy over time. Someone comes on a set schedule, does the work, and clears up.
It helps to split it from the two things people mix it up with.
- Landscape design and build is making something new. A garden gets designed, then built.
- Landscape maintenance is keeping it going afterwards.
- A one-off clean-up is rescuing a garden that has been left too long. That is a single job, not maintenance.
Most gardens here need all three at some point. A new garden is built, then maintained, and if the maintenance stops for long enough it needs a clean-up before it can go back on a schedule.
People underestimate how fast that happens here. A garden left alone for a month does not look slightly worse. It looks like nobody owns it.
What services are included?
Mowing, weeding and clearing up happen every visit. Hedges and shrubs are trimmed every month or two. Feeding, pest treatment and a proper check of the watering system run about every three months.
The three-month work is the part that is easy to lose, and it is the part worth checking a quotation for. Cutting alone keeps a place tidy while slowly running it down. Feeding, pest treatment and watering checks are what decide how the grounds look in two or three years.
What our maintenance covers sets out the full list, visit by visit.
What is not part of it?
Tree work, replanting and repairs. These need different people, different machines or approval first, so they are quoted on their own when they come up.
- Tree work. Pruning and removing trees is a different job with its own certifications.
- Replanting. Refreshing a tired bed is a project. See how often a condo should replant.
- Paving, kerbs, decking, drainage and lights.
- Repairs to the watering system. Checking it is normal. Replacing a broken pump is not.
- Storm clear-up.
This is not a contractor being awkward. None of it can be predicted a year ahead, so building it into a monthly figure would mean charging every site for something most of them never need.
Who needs landscape maintenance?
Anywhere with planting that someone is responsible for. In practice that is four kinds of place here, and each one wants something different.
Condominiums
The biggest grounds and the most people walking past them every day. Hundreds of residents need the place to look the same every day, so the entrance and the pool deck matter more than the back boundary.
We have done the landscape work at Glentrees and at Marbella.
See landscape maintenance for a condominium for how the work is organised and what the MCST should be getting.
Landed homes
One garden, one owner and nobody to hold a meeting with. A homeowner is mostly buying their weekends back, and the trees are usually the part a gardener cannot handle.
We have done the landscape work at 66 Watten Estate, 28 Chu Street and 35 Jalan Remeja.
See garden maintenance for a landed home for what to hire and what to ask.
Commercial buildings
Entrances, car parks and planter boxes. The work is usually smaller than a condominium and less forgiving, because a dead planter by the door is the first thing a visitor sees.
Schools and developers
Larger sites, often with safety rules and timing restrictions attached. Work has to fit around term dates, handover dates or people who should not be near machinery.
We have done the landscape work at Hwa Chong International School and at Red Swastika School.
The work across all four is similar. What each one cares about is not, which is why the condominium and the landed home have separate posts.
How often is it done?
Most gardens in Singapore need someone every two weeks, and weekly where there is grass that people look at or walk on. Monthly only suits places with very little grass.
Grass decides it. There is no winter here, so it never stops growing, and mowing is the job that cannot wait.
The full answer on how often covers what the monsoon changes and how to tell your schedule is too slow.
What does it cost?
There is no single price, because no two sites take the same amount of work. Four things move it.
- How big the grounds are, and how much of that is grass.
- How often someone comes. This changes the price more than anything else.
- What each visit covers. A mowing round and full plant care are different jobs.
- How hard the site is to work. Slopes, roof gardens and narrow access all take longer.
Anyone who gives you a monthly figure over the phone without seeing the place is guessing. Every site should be looked at first.
How do I get started?
Get someone to come and look, then get what they propose in writing before you compare it with anyone else.
Four things worth asking.
- How often will you come?
- What is done each visit, and what only a few times a year?
- Is taking the garden waste away included?
- What is not covered?
Then compare on the work, not the number. Two quotations that look far apart are usually buying different amounts of work, and the cheaper one is often a mowing round with a landscape name on it. That is fine to buy if it is what you meant to buy.
What we do
Crystalene looks after gardens and grounds across Singapore for condominiums, landed homes, commercial buildings, developers and private schools. We come and look at the site first, then set out what it needs and how often, so you can see the work before deciding.
You get job sheets every visit and a monthly report, so what was done is visible rather than assumed. We are bizSAFE Level 3 certified and an NParks approved contractor, with ISA-certified arborists on staff for the tree work maintenance does not cover.
