Creating a Landscaping Service Agreement Template

A Guide to Landscape Service Agreements

A landscape service agreement is a written document that outlines the services to be provided to a client and at what cost in connection with the maintenance and care of a particular piece of property. Usually, the agreement also includes a list and description of the duties or tasks that will be performed on predetermined intervals such as weekly, semi-monthly, or monthly. For example, rest assured the same listed services as above will be performed on a monthly interval, but cut grass and pull weeds have been added to the weekly at $75.00 per week.
With respect to the parties to the agreement, the agreement identifies the provider(s) of the landscape or lawn care services (commonly known as contractors) and the client or person, firm, corporation or entity that has contracted for the service. It is important to note that unless the agreement specifically states otherwise, the agreement may not be assignable or transferrable to another person or entity without the written consent of the other party.
The landscape service agreement establishes the scope of work to be performed and the fees for the same. The agreement should also establish a starting and ending date of the services, specify the remedies for breach and any applicable cancellation or termination provisions. If the scope of work to be performed is lengthy, the agreement may also include a list of exclusions which may be some of the main services not to be performed . For instance, an agreement may provide that the following services are excluded from the agreement: mosquito, pest insecticide or fertilizer applications; tree removal or transplanting; diseased or dead shrub removal and transplanting; limbs or branches that interfere with mowing; snow or ice removal; and animal waste removal. Exclusions also may include broken or damaged storm windows, storm doors, skylights, fencing, signs and rules of the association.
For every landscape service agreement, there is the question of whether it is clear and comprehensive enough to protect the interest of the parties. Some jurists may offer that an oral agreement is binding but more difficult to enforce if the terms of the agreement become the source of a dispute. However, it is the hope of the parties to any service or labor contract that the terms do not become the source of a dispute. Whether a written landscape service agreement may become pivotal to the binding nature of an agreement between the contractor and the client is a subjective issue. It is recommended that each party should execute a written document that clearly identifies the parties and the services. In addition, including language in the landscape service agreement that provides clear terms for renewal and termination may be helpful in avoiding a future dispute.

Key Elements of a Landscape Service Level Agreement

When it comes to any business service contracts, the devil is in the details. The same can be said for landscape service contracts. There are 5 essential components to the ideal landscape service contract template:

1. Scope of Work

Clearly defining the scope of work you will perform is the first step in creating an effective contract that protects your business from scope creep. Be as specific as possible so that the customer has no confusion as to exactly what services you will be performing while on their property. Itemize your services as much as possible, giving a detailed description of the task at hand, rather than a general one-liner. Any limitations that are obvious should be mentioned, such as removing tree stumps and not underground root systems, cleaning up all debris, etc.

2. Cost

Obvious, yet often overlooked. You’re performing a service for your customer, and they need to know exactly how much it’s going to cost them. It’s equally important that they know if there are any costs for extras they didn’t include in your initial quote. For example, if you are doing a lawn treatment on 15 acres and the customer has 5 more areas of 5 acres each that need the same treatment, what are your fee estimates for that if they opt to add it to the contract?

3. Completion Timeframes

Anything that’s been agreed upon by you and the customer should also include a timeframe of when it will be completed. If you need to order materials for additional services, the start of your timeline should include the time for shipping/delivery. It’s a good idea to provide a level of flexibility to these timelines, as it’s hard to anticipate weather conditions, ordering timeframes, etc. that could delay project start or completion dates.

4. Payment Terms

How and when will you get paid? Will it be weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly? Understand that this will not just be based on what’s happening with your company or employee payroll, but also when your employees are going to have money available to pay you. Many companies have accounting departments that bill customers with a standard timeframe from when a service was performed. However, if you are a small operation or an owner/operator, you might need the money for bills in the middle of the month, so try to negotiate the timing of payments to work with your cash flow.

5. Outside Factors

It’s not uncommon for some landscapers to have customers that they have been in business with for years and have their services set up as year-round. In reality, though, winter months are slow and some months are more expensive because of the off-seasons of certain plants. Defining this in an agreement is both for the customer’s benefit to understand why they might not see you again for 4-6 months and for your benefit to ensure payment is received prior to the off season.
This is certainly not an exhaustive list. However, if you follow basic guidelines of protecting your business and communicating these to customers before a contract is signed, it will save both you and your customer hours of headaches in the long-run.

Legal Landscape of Landscape Service Agreements

There are a number of essential legal concepts to consider in your landscape service agreement template or form. A few of the most important are limiting liability through a waiver of consequential damages and indemnity for injury or damage to persons or property, establishing a clear dispute resolution process and confirming compliance with local laws.
Limiting Liability Through Waiver of Consequential Damages
In California, for any contract, including a landscape service agreement template or form, it is policy to permit a party to contract around liability for certain losses – specifically damages that are considered "loss of profit" by the compulsive payment of costs, expenses, or business losses, in a lawsuit against the other party.
A disclaimer of liability for consequential damages in a landscape service agreement form is typical and often required by law to be included. A waiver of consequential damages in a landscape services agreement would be written along the lines of: "Notwithstanding anything in this Agreement to the contrary, and except as otherwise expressly provided herein, neither You nor Your sub-contractors, agents or employees will be liable to the other for any indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages arising from any cause or occurrence of any kind in connection with this Agreement, regardless of whether such damages were foreseeable or whether You or Your subcontractors, agents or employees had previously been advised of the possibility that such damages might occur."
Indemnification for Injury or Damage to Persons or Property
The broadest waivers of the right to recover for damage sustained to a person or property from a party to a contract is found in California Civil Code section 2782 where it is provided:

2782. Construction contracts; indemnity for death, personal injury or property damage; not limited by insurance; exceptions

(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), an obligation of a contractor to indemnify, defend, or hold harmless the owner or public agency for death, injury to persons, or damage to property arising from the contractor’s operations under the agreement is valid and enforceable to the following extent:

(1) The contractor is obligated to indemnify, defend, or hold harmless the owner or public agency for any claim, including attorneys’ fees, arising out of bodily injury to persons and damage to property if that claim arises out of the negligence, recklessness, or willful misconduct of the contractor or anyone who is directly or indirectly employed by or other persons or entities for whose acts the contractor may be responsible or for whose acts the contractor may be held responsible.
(2) The contractor shall indemnify, defend, or hold harmless the owner or public agency for any claim, including attorneys’ fees for the portion of the claim that results from: (A) the negligence, recklessness, or willful misconduct of the owner or public agency or other third party; (B) construction design plans or specifications furnished by the owner or public agency, if those plans or specifications are altered without consent; (C) construction design plans and specifications prepared by the contractor; (D) the owner or public agency’s failure to provide reasonable design or specifications; or (E) the faulty, defective, or inadequate plans or specifications if the plans or specifications follow and comply in all respects with the requirements of the owner or public agency.

(b) A provision in a construction contract that purports to indemnify, defend, or hold harmless the promise or another for losses or damages that arise from the sole or gross negligence, willful misconduct, or defect in the promisee’s performance of the contract is against public policy and is void.
(c) By enactment of this section, the Legislature intends to clarify the rules which govern certain provisions in construction contracts. This section as added does not preempt any other law.
A waiver of liability for losses or damages sustained by a person or property from the services or work performed in a landscape service agreement template or form is often written as follows:
"Landscaper Indemnity: Landscaper shall save and hold Owner, its officer, directors, shareholders and employees, harmless against any and all losses, claims and liabilities (including attorneys’ fees) arising out of or related to the work or services performed by Landscaper or the negligence or any error, act or omission of Landscaper or anyone acting under Landscaper’s direction or control. Nothing in the foregoing provision shall be applied to extend Landscaper’s liability to Owner or any other person and/or entity for indirect damages, including, without limitation, lost profits or lost opportunity costs or consequential damages resulting from the performance of services pursuant to this Agreement."
A mutual indemnity is often recommended to insure that both parties to a contract undertake to provide this coverage for the other and not only the Landscaper indemnifying the homeowners or property managers. The above indemnification language is intended to protect the landscape service provider from harm caused by the homeowner, property manager or their agent. It is important, however, for all parties to assess their own risk and determine how much risk they are willing to assume for the acts and omissions of their employee, agent and subcontractor.
Types of Dispute Resolution Procedures
Dispute resolution provisions under landscape service agreement template or form will vary according to the nature and value of the particular project and relationship of the parties. Several methods of resolving disputes are used in the industry. The most common forms of dispute resolution provisions are as follows:
Practical Considerations Regarding Compliance With Local Laws
For many owners and general contractors or public agencies there are permitting and licensure requirements pursuant to the State’s Business and Professions Code which are applicable to the particular project or work. These provisions are likely to become part of the landscape service agreement template or form.

Using Template to Create Your Service Agreement

The provided landscape service agreement template is just a guide into what a possible contract may look like when entering into a contract with the end service provider/customer. How users and readers go about customizing such a template is very important to understanding their relationship with the actual document that they are using.
First, because of the nature of the landscape industry and the type of relationship that is formed, users and readers should be cautious of changing language within the document without knowing the effect of such changes. While certain sections do need to be changed or added to, other sections may actually need to be followed as written so that it does have its full effect.
Further, the document contains suggested business sections where the reader may want to add in specific sections that are relevant to their business . However, without knowing what the specific business would actually be, the following sections are just suggestions to add in when the reader wants to customize this document for their own business:
While these are just some of the sections that the reader may need to add in or make form specific changes to, there may be additional sections that the user may want to consider adding.
With this being said, the user shall print out this document and cross out language and/or add in sections where necessary. If this document is saved electronically, it does not help the reader to add it to their own document library because if they save it in the same format, they will lose all of the changes that they made. Therefore, if the user or business is creating their own electronic version, they could simply add it into a word processing document or a PDF editor so that they are able to retain all of their changes.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Generally, there are two mistakes made when using an agreement template: (1) not adequately filling in the blanks or (2) persistent copying and pasting language from a prior agreement without reviewing it.
When using a template, it is important to ensure you have not left any blanks, regardless if the blank is followed by "TBD" or similar language. Leaving blanks in the agreement exposes your company to additional risk, as employees or independent contractors could be confused by the document’s terms, particularly if they are unfamiliar with how the agreement typically works. The template should also be updated with your company’s correct contact information.
The most commonly copied and pasted mistakes are: (1) the language regarding the termination provisions and/or notice provisions; (2) the definition of the parties; and (3) the definitions of the "services" or "work." It is common that one or more of the parties will have changed, or that the scope of work will have changed. In such cases, there is a risk that the parties and/or scope of work will be inaccurately defined. It is always recommended that a company uses a "Services Agreement" template, and not another type of agreement that is intended for a different service or operation, as that agreement will likely contain irrelevant provisions.
Another area that is commonly cut and pasted is an indemnification clause or hold harmless agreement. That clause should be tailored to both parties. For example, if you are subcontracting a job, and indemnifying the general contractor, your indemnification clause should be limited. It would not make sense in that case for the subcontractor to indemnify the general contractor for the general contractor’s negligence; rather, the indemnity clause should limit it to liability arising out of the subcontractor’s negligence.
Relatedly, if your company is a subcontractor, and you are required to name the general contractor’s insurer as an additional insured, that clause needs to be specific to the general contractor. Similarly, if you were previously completing work on residential property, you should confirm you are no longer required to add the homeowner as an additional insured. Further, these clauses should be limited to the scope of your work and responsibility. In the case of renovation or restoration work, the general contractor, subcontractor, and everyone involved should agree on a protocol for reasonable removal, replacement, and remediation of any pre-existing damage, mold, or other issues. Without proper drafting of the indemnity provisions, the company’s insurance may be responsible for damage outside of items caused by the company’s negligence.

Advantages of Well-Written Agreements

A clearly written and comprehensive service agreement lays the foundation for your relationship with your clients. Any ambiguities pave the way for potential disputes. As such, outline the full scope of work in as granular detail as possible, and reference any additional documentation that your client will read and approve of. Any agreements that you have with your subcontractors and suppliers should also be made available to the client. This establishes trust between all parties . A detailed agreement will set the standards for how any disputes are handled, whether through negotiation, arbitration, mediation or litigation. Beyond the legal impact that it can have, a professionally-structured service agreement, provided at the beginning of the relationship, makes a great first impression. Clients will appreciate your how seriously you take your role and that you are prepared to conduct business in a manner that is helpful to the parties involved.