HOA landscape maintenance involves a unique set of challenges, from multiple homeowners’ high expectations to communication to timing.
When Level Green Landscaping crews show up to maintain an HOA, we know it’s more than a collection of lawns, trees, shrubs, and flowers.
1. Communication Between The HOA Landscaping Company & Property Manager
We list this one first for a reason. It’s huge.
The best landscaping strategy at HOAs is to focus on communication between the HOA landscape maintenance company and the HOA property manager, Wisniewski says. Then the property manager can keep the HOA board and residents informed.
“The property manager needs to communicate with the residents so they know exactly what we’re responsible for and what we’re not,” he says.
Imagine a hundred different residents calling the landscaping company account manager to ask if crews can prune their shrubs, when they’ll be mowing, or if new perennials will be installed.
“Every HOA community we serve is different and has different services in their contract,” Wisniewski says. “At some HOAs we do all the mowing. Some just have us mow the common areas. One HOA might have us mulch beds and do pruning on individual homes, another might not.”
You can see the potential for confusion.
“Having a great management company with great communication really helps,” Wisniewski says. ”We have found that proactively communicating with HOA boards helps tremendously”.
“We go to as many HOA board meetings as possible to answer residents’ questions, explain what things we’re responsible for there, make sure they know who to contact if they have questions,” Wisniewski says.
It’s a chance for us to field questions from board members and sometimes residents, to give seasonal updates on our work, to find out about any big events coming up, like summer picnics, block parties, or Christmas events.
If we have access to the HOA community’s calendar, we can make sure our landscape maintenance visits don’t fall on these days, so we interrupt as little as possible.
2. Timing is Everything
Nobody wants to be rattled awake by the sound of a mowing crew at 6 a.m.
So Level Green HOA landscape maintenance crews strategically plan their tasks, Wisniewski says.
Nice quiet weeding can be done early, saving the noisier equipment work for after everybody’s had their coffee.
3. Friendly HOA Landscapers
Sure, our crews are there to mow and prune, install seasonal flowers, and blow away debris.
But they’re also nice.
“Consideration is extremely important,” Wisniewski says. “Our crews watch out for people walking so they can stop noisy equipment while they pass.”
More homeowners are home during the day than usual during the COVID pandemic, he says. That means more people watching crews go about their tasks.
“It means more people are giving us compliments on our work, which is nice,” Wisniewski says.
It also means more residents strolling out to ask crews if they can please tend to a shrub in the backyard, cut back some perennials, or fill in a hole by the driveway.
“A lot of these things would just take a minute,” Wisniewski says, “but if we stop to do something for everybody, those minutes add up quickly, and we’ll get way behind.”
Often, these stray tasks aren’t included in the HOA landscape maintenance contract, he says, so crews have to say no.
But they’re always nice about it.
4. Management Matters
“We make sure we have an Account Manager or Operations Manager on site when crews are working at HOA properties,” Wisniewski says. That ensures all the work can go smoothly, and that somebody is on site to answer any homeowner questions so crews can stay on task.
5. Property Service Reports
Level Green’s digital property service reports detail exactly what services were performed when on HOA properties.
Were flower beds weeded? Trees pruned? Mulch delivered? Irrigation checked?
There’s no mystery — it’s all outlined for the HOA property manager, in a snap. It might include a photo, too. Crews might point out a hole they discovered that should be filled in so nobody twists their ankle.
These instant updates keep communication flowing.
Need HOA Landscaping Maintenance? Trust Level Green
When we partner with an HOA, we know we don’t just have one customer — we have 150 or more.
We know you’re watching. That’s why we have measures in place to keep your HOA landscape maintenance running smoothly.
We’re sticklers for details.
If you’re not already a Level Green Landscaping client, we’d love to add you to our growing list of happy customers. Our focus is on commercial properties like offices, mixed-use sites, HOAs, municipalities and institutions in Maryland, Washington DC and parts of Virginia.
Contact us at 202-544-0968. You can also request a free consultation online to meet with us one-on-one.
We’d love to hear from you.
