Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Landscaper

Are you insured, and can I see proof?

Public liability insurance matters more than almost any other single question on this list, it protects you if something goes wrong during the work, damage to your property, an injury on site, or a dispute over faulty work. Any established landscaper should be able to provide proof of current insurance without hesitation, and genuine reluctance or vagueness here is one of the clearest warning signs worth taking seriously.

It's also worth asking specifically about the level of cover, since a policy that technically exists but covers a token amount offers little real protection on a significant project.

Can I see examples of previous work, ideally similar to mine?

Photos of completed projects tell you a great deal about a landscaper's actual standard of finish, not just their marketing claims. Ask specifically for examples similar in scope to your own project, a specialist in small courtyard planting schemes isn't necessarily the right choice for a full sloping garden redesign involving retaining walls and drainage, and vice versa.

Where possible, ask whether you can see a completed project in person or speak to a previous customer directly, seeing finished hard landscaping in real life, ideally a year or two after completion rather than fresh out of the box, tells you far more about durability than any photo can.

What exactly is included in the quote?

A detailed, written quote should specify materials by name or product, not just a general category, the labour involved, and critically, what's included in groundwork, excavation depth, sub-base specification and drainage provision. This is where cost differences between quotes usually come from, and a landscaper unwilling or unable to break this down in writing makes it very difficult to compare quotes meaningfully or to know exactly what you're paying for.

It's also worth explicitly asking whether waste removal and disposal is included, this is a common area for a lower quote to have quietly left something out, only for it to appear as an additional cost once work is underway.

How long will the project take, and what could delay it?

A realistic timeline, including likely start date and expected duration, helps you plan around the disruption a garden project inevitably brings, and it's a reasonable question for any landscaper to answer clearly rather than vaguely. It's also worth asking what factors could realistically extend the timeline, weather delays on groundwork, material lead times, or discoveries once excavation starts, since a landscaper who's thought this through in advance is generally more reliable than one who hasn't considered it at all.

Be cautious of anyone promising an unusually fast turnaround for a substantial project, rushed groundwork is one of the most common causes of hard landscaping failing early, and a realistic timeline is usually a better sign than an impressively short one.

Who will actually be doing the work?

It's worth knowing directly whether the person you're speaking to will personally carry out or directly supervise the work, or whether it's being subcontracted out, and if so, to whom. There's nothing inherently wrong with subcontracting specialist elements of a job, but you should know who's actually on site, what their experience is, and who holds ultimate responsibility if something goes wrong.

This matters particularly for anything structural, retaining walls, drainage, groundwork, since these are the elements most likely to cause expensive problems years down the line if done poorly, and knowing exactly who's accountable for that work is worth confirming upfront rather than assuming.

What guarantee or aftercare do you offer?

A landscaper confident in their own work should be willing to offer some form of guarantee or warranty on workmanship, separate from any manufacturer's warranty on materials themselves. Ask specifically what's covered, for how long, and what the process is if something does go wrong after completion, a vague verbal assurance is considerably weaker than something confirmed in writing as part of the contract.

It's also reasonable to ask about aftercare more generally, particularly for planting, does the price include a follow-up visit to check establishment, and what happens if plants fail to establish properly in the months after installation.

Do I need planning permission, and whose responsibility is it to check?

Certain garden projects, larger structures, driveways over a certain size, work near boundaries or protected trees, can require planning permission or fall under specific drainage regulations. A genuinely experienced landscaper should be able to flag anything in your specific project that might need checking, even if they're not the one submitting an application on your behalf.

It's worth clarifying explicitly whose responsibility it is to confirm these requirements before work starts, since a project that runs into planning problems partway through can be considerably more disruptive and costly to resolve than checking properly at the outset.

What are the payment terms?

Reasonable payment terms typically involve a deposit to secure the booking and cover initial material costs, with the balance paid on or after satisfactory completion, rather than the full amount being requested entirely upfront. Be genuinely cautious of anyone asking for full payment before any work has started, this is one of the more common patterns associated with problem contractors and cash-in-hand arrangements that offer little recourse if things go wrong.

It's also worth asking how any variations to the original scope, if something changes once work is underway, would be priced and agreed, ideally in writing, rather than discovering additional charges only once the final invoice arrives.

Red flags worth taking seriously

• ›Reluctance or vagueness when asked about insurance, or an inability to provide proof when asked directly.
• ›Requests for full payment upfront before any work has started.
• ›No written quote, or a quote that's noticeably vague about materials, groundwork and what's actually included.
• ›Pressure to decide quickly, or unusually large discounts for signing immediately.
• ›No previous work you can see, verify, or speak to a past customer about.
• ›Reluctance to put a workmanship guarantee or aftercare commitment in writing.

Why these questions matter more for hard landscaping

These questions matter for any garden project, but they carry particular weight for structural hard landscaping, patios, driveways, retaining walls and decking, where poor workmanship is expensive to fix and often not visible until it's already failed. A planting scheme that doesn't quite work can usually be adjusted relatively cheaply, a driveway with an inadequate sub-base needs digging up and rebuilding entirely.

This is exactly the level of transparency we build into every quote for our Garden Design & Landscaping, Patio & Paving and Decking projects, a detailed written breakdown of scope, materials and groundwork, proper insurance as standard, and a clear guarantee on workmanship, precisely because we'd want the same transparency asked of us if we were the ones hiring.

Bringing it all together before you commit

None of these questions are unreasonable to ask, and a genuinely established, properly run landscaping business should be entirely comfortable answering all of them clearly and in writing. If you're also trying to work out a realistic budget before requesting quotes, our guide to how much landscaping actually costs is a useful starting point, and if you're weighing up whether the investment is worthwhile at all, our piece on whether landscaping adds value to your home covers that question directly.

Whether your project is a compact courtyard in somewhere like Southwark or a larger, more involved garden redesign out toward Kingswood, the same questions apply regardless of scale, and asking them upfront is one of the simplest ways to avoid a costly mistake.