What to Include in a Landscape Construction Quote

Homeowners often ask us to explain why one quote is 40 per cent cheaper than another. Nine times out of ten it is not the rates - it is the scope. One quote has priced the drainage, the excavation, the waste removal and the engineering; the other has left them out and will invoice them as variations.

What a complete quote itemises

• Site establishment, protection, access and amenities
• Demolition and waste removal, with tipping fees stated
• Excavation and earthworks, including a stated rock allowance
• Structural works - retaining, footings, engineering certification
• Drainage and stormwater, including connection to the legal discharge point
• Services - electrical, lighting circuits, irrigation, gas, pool equipment
• Hard landscape by area, with the specific material, finish and supplier named
• Soft landscape - soil profile depths, plant schedule with sizes and quantities
• Approvals, certification and any consultant fees
• Program, payment schedule, variation process and warranty terms

Watch the provisional sums

Provisional sums are legitimate for genuinely unknowable items - rock, contaminated fill, a service discovered mid-dig. They are not legitimate as a way to make a quote look competitive. If paving, planting or lighting is a PS rather than a fixed price, the quoted total is not a total.

A cheap quote is usually a short quote. Count the lines before you compare the numbers.

Compare like for like

Before comparing prices, line the scopes up side by side and mark what each excludes. Then compare inclusions: is the stone the same stone, the same thickness, the same finish? Is the same volume of soil being imported? Is the same engineer certifying the wall?

Licences, insurance and warranty

In NSW, residential building work over the statutory threshold must be carried out under a builder's licence with home building compensation cover where applicable. Ask for the licence number, current public liability and workers compensation, and the written warranty period. SDL Creations holds NSW Builder Licence 363676c and backs its work with a six-year structural warranty.

How variations should work

Variations are normal on construction sites. What is not normal is finding out about them on the final invoice. Every variation should be quoted, approved in writing and reflected in a revised program before the work is done.