Service

Landscaping for HOAs and Managed Properties

Common areas and managed estates kept to a written standard, with the reporting boards and managers need and the local rules built in.

Request a Property Assessment See programs

Residential street of tile-roofed stucco homes with brick-paver driveways, trimmed shrubs, lawns, and small palms

An association's landscape is shared, visible and argued about. Entrances, medians, lake banks, clubhouse grounds and perimeter hedges are what owners and buyers see first, and complaints arrive quickly when a hedge thins or a palm turns brown. Boards need a scope they can hold a contractor to, and managers need reports they can pass along to owners without rewriting them.

A program for an association or a managed estate starts with a walk of the property and an inventory of what is there, followed by a written scope that sets tasks, frequencies and standards by area. Compliance is built in: irrigation on the property's assigned days, a working rain shutoff, fertilizer only when local rules allow, and palms pruned to UF/IFAS guidance rather than to whatever looks tidy for a week.

In South Florida

Florida-friendly landscaping and association rules

Section 720.3075 of the Florida Statutes says association documents may not prohibit an owner from implementing Florida-friendly landscaping as defined in section 373.185, and may not create requirements that conflict with water management district rules or water shortage orders. Boards still review plans and set appearance standards. Partners can prepare drawings and plant lists for architectural review.

Watering days for shared systems

Under the South Florida Water Management District's rule, properties with no street address, or with both odd and even addresses on the same zones, such as multi-family communities and homeowners' associations, water on the even-address days: Thursday and/or Sunday on the two-day schedule. No watering is allowed between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Local ordinances can be stricter.

Fertilizer rules and certification

Florida law requires anyone applying commercial fertilizer to an urban landscape to hold the state's limited certification for urban landscape commercial fertilizer application, issued by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and renewed every four years. Application timing must also follow the county ordinance and any stricter municipal rainy-season ban where the community sits.

Storm season planning

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, with most activity between mid-August and mid-October. UF/IFAS advises inspecting trees for weak or damaged limbs before the season and against hurricane-cutting palms. Associations benefit from a written plan for pre-storm work and post-storm debris clearance before a storm is named.

What's included

Property walk and inventory of turf, beds, hedges, trees and palms
Written scope with tasks, frequencies and standards by area
Visit reports suitable for board packets and owner questions
Irrigation scheduling to assigned watering days and shutoff testing
Fertilizer timing matched to county and municipal ordinances
Palm and tree care to ANSI A300 and UF/IFAS guidance
Pre-storm and post-storm walk-throughs with written findings
Proposals for enhancements and replacements, priced separately

How often

Common areas usually run weekly in the growing season and every other week in the dry season, with hedges, palms and mulch on their own cycles. Reports follow each visit or roll up monthly for board meetings. Pre-storm walk-throughs happen before June 1, and post-storm walk-throughs after any significant event.

Who does the work

Association and managed-property programs are delivered by an independent partner company sized for the property. Partners are vetted for licensing and insurance before they receive requests, and fertilizer and pest work is done by personnel certified or licensed for it. Everything runs from a written scope the board or manager approves.

HOA in Palm Beach County's estate towns

HOA: common questions

Can the board require a specific landscape style?

Boards can set appearance standards and review plans, but section 720.3075 says association documents may not prohibit an owner from implementing Florida-friendly landscaping, and may not impose requirements that conflict with water management district rules. Association counsel can advise on how a specific rule applies.

What do the visit reports contain?

The work completed by area, anything found that needs attention, such as an irrigation break, a palm showing deficiency or disease symptoms, or a hedge with pest damage, and recommendations with photos. Reports are written to be dropped into a board packet or forwarded to an owner who asked a question.

Which watering days apply to our community?

Under the water management district's rule, communities with mixed addresses on the same zones, or no street address, water on the even-address days. Local ordinances can be stricter, and some Palm Beach County municipalities set their own days and hours. The program checks the rule for the community's jurisdiction and sets controllers accordingly.

How are enhancements handled?

Separately from the base scope. When a partner identifies a hedge that should be replaced, a bed that should be redesigned or a dying palm, it submits a written proposal for the board or manager to approve. Nothing outside the scope is done without approval, except urgent safety work agreed in advance.

Other services

Property assessment

Begin with a walk-through of the grounds

01Tell us about the propertyTown, property type and what you'd like looked after. Two minutes.
02A partner walks the groundsTurf, beds, palms, irrigation and drainage, with you, your manager or staff.
03You receive a written programScope, visit schedule and price in writing, before any work begins.

Prefer to talk it through? (561) 319-1104