You have three numbers for the landscape package and they are far apart. The low one looks good until you notice it says nothing about topsoil import. The middle one carries irrigation "from point of connection," and nobody says who brings water to that point. The high one includes a watering and maintenance period the other two skipped. None of them is wrong, exactly. They priced three different jobs. A landscape bid only means something when you know what is inside it. The fix is to set the scope before the numbers arrive, make every sub answer the same lines, and read the exclusions as hard as you read the totals.
Why Every Landscape Bid Reads Differently
Landscape is the trade where the drawings leave the most room. You usually get a planting plan with symbols and a schedule, maybe an irrigation layout marked design-build, and a spec section that may have been carried over from another project. Each sub fills the gaps with whatever they normally do.
One assumes the site contractor leaves finish grade ready to plant. Another assumes they will fine grade it themselves. One counts plants off the plan, another off the schedule, and on plenty of jobs those two counts do not match. One prices the irrigation controller, another assumes it comes with the electrical package.
The second reason is that subs exclude what they cannot see. Soil condition, water pressure, access and the state of the site when they arrive are all unknowns at bid time. Excluding them protects the sub. It does nothing for you, because those costs still exist. They just show up later as change orders.
Set the Scope Before the Numbers Come In
The most useful thing you can do is send out a one page bid form with your invitation. List the line items below and give each one three columns: included, excluded, or allowance with a dollar amount. Ask every sub to fill it in and attach it to their proposal. Now you are comparing the same lines instead of decoding three different formats.
Here are the lines that most often cause the spread.
Soil Preparation
Ask who does fine grading, whether they will rip or scarify compacted subgrade, how much topsoil or compost they are importing, and to what depth. Ask whether soil testing is included.
This line matters more than usual in western Washington. Many sites sit on dense glacial till or compacted fill that barely drains, and after months of equipment traffic it is closer to a parking surface than a planting bed. A sub who prices "amend existing soil" and a sub who prices real import and decompaction are not bidding the same work, and the plants will show the difference within a season or two. Make soil preparation its own line with a stated depth so nobody can quietly thin it out.
Plant Material
Ask whether they bid from the plan count or the schedule count, and whether sizes match the schedule as written. Some subs price smaller container sizes or common substitutes because they are easier to source, then submit substitutions after award. Require that substitutions be approved in writing and priced as a credit if the size drops. Put plants on the form with quantity and size columns the sub has to fill in.
Irrigation
This is where the biggest gaps hide. Pin down:
- Who owns the design if the plans say design-build
- Where the point of connection is, and who provides the meter, backflow device and mainline to it
- Who installs sleeves under walks and drive aisles, and when
- Who provides power to the controller
- Whether as-builts, testing and a coverage check are included
Sleeves deserve their own line. If the concrete goes in before the sleeves do, somebody is saw cutting or boring later, and that cost has to land somewhere. Treat planting irrigation as a full scope on the form, not one lump sum line.
Sod and Seed
Confirm which areas are sod and which are seed or hydroseed, what prep is included under each, and whether starter fertilizer is in. Ask who waters between install and acceptance. A sodding price that stops at "installed" can leave you holding a hose for weeks.
Mulch
Ask for type, depth and which areas are covered. Some subs price beds only and leave out tree rings or slope areas. A thin coat looks fine at walkthrough and disappears by the next season. Put new bed mulching on the form with a stated depth.
Establishment Watering and Plant Replacement
Ask how long the sub maintains and waters after install, what visits are included, and what the plant replacement terms are. Replacement language varies widely. One bid replaces dead plants for a set period, another only until acceptance, another excludes losses from lack of water once the owner takes over. Those are very different risks.
Cleanup Protection and Mobilizations
Ask how many mobilizations are included. On a phased job, a bid that assumes one trip will come back with remobilization charges. Ask who hauls debris and who is responsible when another trade drives across a finished bed.
Questions That Expose the Gaps
Once the forms come back, a short call with each sub will clear up most of what remains. These questions tend to surface the real differences:
- What did you assume about the condition of finish grade when you arrive?
- Which plan sheet and revision did you price?
- Where exactly does your irrigation scope start?
- What happens if the irrigation is not live when you are ready to plant?
- What is not in this number that you expect we will need?
That last question is the most useful one on the list. A sub who has done this work will usually tell you plainly. If the answer is "nothing," read the exclusions again.
Western Washington Timing Changes the Number
Schedule assumptions are a scope item here, and they move a landscape bid more than many GCs expect.
Summers in western Washington are dry for a long stretch. A spring or early summer install needs steady water through July and August. If the irrigation system is not running yet, that water comes from hand watering or a water truck, which costs real labor and should be priced up front, not argued about later.
The wet season brings the opposite problem. Laying sod or working beds on saturated soil compacts it and makes a mess of the prep you paid for. If your schedule puts landscape in the middle of winter, ask each sub what they assumed. One may have priced a winter install with protection measures, another may have assumed they could wait for drier weather. Those are different numbers for different schedules, and only one of them matches yours.
Plant availability shifts with the season too. If a bid is held for months before award, ask whether plant pricing and sizes are still good.
Keep the Comparison Honest After Award
The leveled bid form should not go in a drawer once you pick a sub. Attach it to the subcontract as the scope. Every line marked included is now in the contract, and every allowance has a number you can track against. That turns most later arguments into a quick look at the sheet.
A few habits help here:
- Reject proposals that come back without the form filled in
- Do not let a sub replace a line item with "per plans" when the plans are what created the question
- Carry any excluded items into your own budget or another trade's scope so they are covered somewhere
- Recheck the irrigation point of connection with your civil and plumbing subs before award
The lowest landscape bid is not a problem on its own. A low number with clear scope can be a good deal. The problem is a low number that only looks low because it left out soil, water or watering time. Once every sub answers the same lines, the real spread is usually much smaller than it first looked, and the one you pick is the one that will actually finish the job.
If you have a landscape package going out to bid, we are glad to put a number on it. You can request a quote whenever it suits your schedule.
