--- title: Nobody Owns the Landscape After the Ribbon Cutting. That's the Problem. description: Ensure your landscape thrives post-construction by including maintenance in contracts. Prevent gaps in care and protect investments for future success. --- - 1-844-PROSCAPE - - - - - [mailto:info@proscape-services.com](mailto:info@proscape-services.com) [![Proscape\_logo\_horizontal\_white](https://www.proscape-services.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Proscape_logo_horizontal_white.png?width=2059&height=341&name=Proscape_logo_horizontal_white.png "Proscape_logo_horizontal_white")](https://proscape-services.com) - [Our Services](https://www.proscape-services.com/our-services) - [Commercial Landscape Maintenance](https://www.proscape-services.com/commercial-landscape-maintenance) - [Snow & Ice Management Services](https://www.proscape-services.com/snow-ice-management-services) - [Commercial Landscape Construction](https://www.proscape-services.com/commercial-installation-projects) - [Why ProScape](https://www.proscape-services.com/why-proscape) - [ProScape Hybrid Approach](https://www.proscape-services.com/proscape-hybrid-approach) - [Meet Our Team](https://www.proscape-services.com/team) - [Who We Serve](https://www.proscape-services.com/who-we-serve) - [Solutions](https://www.proscape-services.com/proscape-solutions) - [Careers](https://www.proscape-services.com/careers) - [Work With Us](https://www.proscape-services.com/contact-us) - [Become a Service Partner](https://www.proscape-services.com/become-a-service-partner) - [Contact Us](https://www.proscape-services.com/contact-us) This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. Contact Us [![Proscape\_logo\_horizontal\_white](https://www.proscape-services.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Proscape_logo_horizontal_white.png?width=2059&height=341&name=Proscape_logo_horizontal_white.png "Proscape_logo_horizontal_white")](https://www.proscape-services.com/) ### Contact Us #### Follow Us - - ### Blog # ProScape Solutions [Derek Stone, GM](https://www.proscape-services.com/proscape-solutions/author/derek-stone-gm) Sep 24, 2026 #### [Nobody Owns the Landscape After the Ribbon Cutting. That's the Problem.](https://www.proscape-services.com/proscape-solutions/nobody-owns-the-landscape-after-the-ribbon-cutting.-thats-the-problem) Everyone is rushing to complete the construction portion of the project, but no one has been assigned responsibility for maintaining the site.   Nothing catastrophic happened. There was simply a stretch of six or eight weeks when no one was mowing, no one was pulling weeds, and no one had been told it was their responsibility.   We see this most often on multi-family projects, but retail and office developments run into the same issue. The building gets occupied on schedule, construction starts wrapping up, and the landscape sits in limbo until ownership takes over and a property manager assumes responsibility.   By then, weeks may have passed, and a landscape that looked great at installation can already be heading in the wrong direction.   ### The Handoff That Never Really Happens   Landscape installation typically lands near the end of the construction sequence, when nearly everyone involved is focused on getting the project across the finish line.   But what about the sod that was installed at the entrance months earlier to create curb appeal? Or the trees and plant material that went in during an earlier phase of construction?   The general contractor is chasing final inspections and punch-list items. The owner is thinking about lease-up and occupancy. The property manager may not even be fully involved yet.   Without a predetermined plan, responsibility for the landscape gets handed off by default, or it gets ignored until there is a problem.   Someone's maintenance technician may start mowing because mowing is the obvious part. Meanwhile, the irrigation controller keeps running the program the installer set during establishment, even though the watering needs have changed. Beds aren't being maintained. Weeds start taking over. Plants aren't being monitored for stress.   Everyone assumes someone else has it covered.   That gap may only last a few weeks, but a few weeks can make a significant difference when you're dealing with newly established turf and plant material.   And none of this shows up in a construction contract unless someone intentionally plans for it.   ### Put Maintenance in the Contract as a Line Item   This is the part that actually prevents the problem, and it happens long before turnover.   The construction contract should include a line item for landscape maintenance, budgeted by the general contractor, covering the period from the day material goes in the ground until the owner formally takes over the property. Mowing, bed weed control, irrigation adjustments, watering for new trees and plant material, and basic plant health monitoring all belong in that scope.   It should be priced by the landscape contractor doing the installation, based on how long the site will realistically sit between install and turnover. If the construction schedule slips, that line item extends with it.   Without dollars attached to it, maintenance during construction is just an assumption. With a line item, it has an owner, a budget, and a start date.   ### Where Each Party Fits   Preventing the gap doesn't require a complicated process. It requires clearly defining who is responsible, when that responsibility begins, and what needs to happen during the transition.   **The general contractor owns the documentation, the timeline, and the maintenance budget.**What was installed? When was it installed? What is covered under warranty? What maintenance is required to protect that warranty? And is there money in the contract to perform that maintenance before turnover?   Those details need to be communicated as part of project closeout. A plant warranty doesn't provide much protection if no one is responsible for providing the care required to keep that warranty intact.   **The property manager owns the continuity.** The property management team should understand what the landscape requires before turnover, not after the first tenant complaint or after plant material begins to decline.   Ideally, a maintenance partner is selected and under contract before the final walkthrough rather than 30 days into occupancy.   **The landscape partner owns the bridge.** The transition from installation to ongoing maintenance should be intentional. That can include a walkthrough while the installation team is still on site, a written establishment plan, irrigation expectations, warranty requirements, and a maintenance schedule based on what was actually installed.   The goal isn't simply to hand someone a generic mow-and-blow schedule. It's to make sure the landscape receives the right care as it transitions from a construction project to an occupied property.   ### The Takeaway Post-construction landscape problems aren't always design problems or installation problems.   Often, they're budget problems that turn into accountability problems. Something gets planted. Construction continues. A few weeks pass. Everyone assumes someone else is taking care of it.   By the time ownership or property management realizes there is a gap, the landscape may already require corrective work that could have been avoided.   If you're pricing a project right now, add a maintenance line item to the construction contract before it gets signed. If you're closing one out this fall, put the landscape maintenance start date on the construction schedule right next to the final inspection and turnover dates.   Assign an owner to it, fund it, and make sure the irrigation, warranty, and establishment requirements move with the property when responsibility changes.   That one line in the contract can prevent a lot of what otherwise shows up next spring. 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