8 Tips to Managing an HOA Landscaping Budget

It’s not always easy for HOA board members to agree, but can we all agree HOA landscaping budget management can be challenging?

Spending money is stressful. Decisions can be frustrating. There’s often frequent turnover of HOA board members, which means bringing new people up to speed on landscaping budget priorities. 

How about some helpful tips for cost-effective landscaping for HOAs?

1. Budget Enough for Snow Management

That’s easier said than done here in the unpredictable Mid-Atlantic, where there can be no snow one year and a snowmageddon the next. 

How to plan for that?

Your Level Green account manager has a seasonal snow history going back 20 years for every zip code in our area. 

We can measure the square footage of your parking lots, sidewalks and other pavement, and, using formulas and that snowfall history, give you a pretty close estimate of how much you should budget for snow removal.

Some years will be under that average estimate, some will be over. 

How to make it all even out, and eliminate the stressful guesswork? 

Consider a seasonal snow removal contract. It makes HOA landscaping budget management a lot less stressful. 

Customers with a seasonal contract for snow removal pay a set amount for snow and ice services for the season — no matter how much snow falls or how many visits to their property are needed.

Prices are set based on snowfall data averages taken over years. Some years bring a lot of snow, other years hardly any. 

If you sign a five-year contract, those low snow years and high snow years even out over the span of the contract.

Contracts include a provision that would reimburse a customer a percentage of the cost if it’s a year with very little snow.

When you choose a time and materials snow management contract, which is what HOAs often have, you’re taking a budget risk — gambling on the weather. 

You’re hoping for little snow, so you don’t have to pay as much. Cross all the fingers you want, but if nature dumps a ton of snow, you’ll have to pay up. 

A seasonal snow removal contract takes away the stress and uncertainty by locking in a fair price, based on snowfall data averages taken over years. 

When we get a lot of snow, your budget won’t suddenly triple. You know exactly how much you’ll pay.

2. Review the Scope of Your Contract Each Year

Cost-effective landscaping for HOAs means reviewing your contract regularly. Sit down with your account manager and give your landscape maintenance contract a good review.

Needs change. There might be services you no longer need. Or some you want to add. 

Maybe you’ve been adding on aeration and overseeding every year as an extra service. You’ll save money if you include it in your contract, rather than paying for it as an extra service every year.

3. Budget for Tree Care

When’s the last time you thought about your property’s trees?

It’s time. If your HOA landscape maintenance plan doesn’t include regular tree care, it should.

Many HOA communities are aging, built in the 1980s or 1990s. That means your trees have matured and the canopies are much thicker and denser than they were years ago. 

Dead or dying branches can tumble, causing significant damage and liability concerns. Routine tree pruning takes those dangerous branches out before they fall.

What if you have 50 or 100 trees on your HOA property? Pruning them all can get costly. So Level Green account managers work with customers to create a manageable commercial tree pruning plan and budget.

Crews can tend to 20 trees a year over the next five years.  That makes the cost much more manageable for your HOA landscape budget than waiting five years and pruning 100 trees at once.

And you reduce the risk of a tree or heavy branch falling on a pedestrian or car, both insurance and liability issues

All trees need occasional pruning. And many benefit from raising their canopies — pruning lower branches or thinning branches to let more sunlight through.

Maybe your grass looked great 20 years ago, but now it looks terrible. Your trees were new back then. Now they’re bigger and they’re shading the grass. You need to open up the tree canopies so sunlight can come through.

Set aside a  separate component of your HOA landscape maintenance budget to manage tree needs. Then work with your account manager to create a plan over time to spread out the cost.

Bonus:  Pruning a tree throughout its lifetime will maintain its nice shape and health, making your HOA property look even better.

4. Take Advantage of Budget Worksheets

Budget worksheets are a great tool for cost-effective landscaping for HOAs. Level Green account managers prepare annual budget worksheets to help customers plan their commercial landscaping budgets. 

They’re a helpful starting point. Then, budgets can be adjusted based on current needs. 

Account managers can help HOA boards and property managers prioritize services: Safety concerns first. Utility needs second. Beauty third.

5. Use Native Plants

Plant them in your HOA community, and practically forget about them. 

Natives naturally resist diseases and pests. They’re happier and healthier, needing less water than non-natives. And irrigation is a considerable landscaping expense, so native plants are great for cost-effective landscaping for HOAs.

We have some real beauties around here. Virginia sweetspire. Beautyberry. Pink Muhly grass. Black-Eyed Susan. You’ll run out of space before you run out of plants.  

6.  Plan Major Planting for Spring and Fall

Avoid the heat of summer for major plant installation projects. It’s more expensive to water new plants in the summer heat. In cooler seasons they can get established with less water.

7. Re-think Seasonal Color Beds

The cost of showy annual flowers can really add up, taking a toll on your HOA landscaping budget. 

Reconsider how you use them. Instead of expansive — and expensive — beds everywhere, prioritize a few pops of color where it really matters, like at your major entrances and maybe your clubhouse entry. 

Let beautiful hard-working perennials and grasses carry the load in other areas. They need less care and come back every year.

8. Consider a Multi-Year Landscape Maintenance Contract

A multi-year contract locks in prices so you avoid annual increases.

You’ll also get a better price overall if you’re willing to make a multi-year commitment. 

And fewer times to negotiate a new contract means less stress for you.

Trust Your HOA Landscape Maintenance Plan to Level Green

Your job isn’t always easy. Budgeting can be a real headache. Trust HOA-experienced Level Green account managers to help you plan a landscaping budget that works for you. 

Our commercial landscaping services in Maryland, DC, and Virginia go beyond landscape maintenance to offer construction and landscape design, landscape enhancements, snow and ice management and irrigation management.

If you’re not already a Level Green Landscaping client, we’d love to add you to our growing list of happy customers. Our focus is on commercial properties like offices, mixed-use sites, HOAs, municipalities and institutions in Maryland, Washington DC and parts of Virginia.

Contact us at 202-544-0968. You can also request a free consultation online to meet with us one-on-one.

We’d love to hear from you.