Original research
How to prepare your yard for landscapers, week by week
Most delays on day one are things the homeowner could have sorted the week before.
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Written by HyreYard Research Desk Research and fact checking
The short answer
To prepare for landscapers, mark every private buried line the utility locators will not, clear the work area and the access route, settle HOA and permit questions, and agree in writing where materials, the dumpster and the crew’s vehicles go. Do the paperwork and the line-marking a few weeks out; the clearing and access the day before.
The step most people miss is private lines. 811 locators mark utility-owned lines, not yours.
Virginia 811’s homeowner brochure lists lines to septic tanks, electric lines to sheds or landscape lighting and lawn sprinkler systems as examples that will not be marked (VA811 brochure).
If you know where those run, flag them, or tell the contractor you do not know so they can price a private locate.
Two to four weeks before
Plant list, depths, materials and what is excluded. See how to read a landscaping estimate.
Many HOAs require approval before work starts. See HOA landscaping rules.
Walls, structures, gas and electrical often need them. Name the responsible party in the contract.
The national 811 service says every digging project requires contacting 811 a few business days in advance (811). Usually the contractor files; confirm it.
Sprinkler mains, valve boxes, drip lines, lighting cable, gas to a grill, lines to a shed or septic. Illinois Extension material notes locators do not mark private lines such as underground sprinkler systems or a gas line to a grill, and that private lines are the homeowner’s responsibility (Illinois Extension).
If machines, deliveries or a dumpster will block a shared drive or street parking, say so early.
The week before
Point out sprinkler heads, septic lids, soft ground and anything you want protected.
Flag or tape plants, stones and trees that must not be removed. Trees you keep need their root zone protected; see critical root zone.
Pot them up and move them out of the work zone, or ask the crew to set them aside if that is in scope.
Paint and flags should cover the dig area. Do not mow or rake them away.
HomeAdvisor’s prep guide suggests checking water pressure early if irrigation is part of the job (HomeAdvisor). Crews also need a working hose bib for cleanup and watering in plants.
The day before and the morning of
Toys, furniture, grills, hoses, pots, decorations.
Side gate open and wide enough, path free of obstacles, cars off the driveway if materials are being dropped there.
Open gates and machinery do not mix with dogs.
Outdoor outlet working if tools need it; agree whether the crew can use it.
If the crew is working in lawn areas.
Name and phone of the foreman for the day.
Turn off the controller so the work area is not soaked overnight.
Who handles what: you or the landscaper
| Task | Usually | Put it in writing? |
|---|---|---|
| 811 locate request | Contractor | Yes, name who files |
| Marking private lines | Homeowner, or a paid private locate | Yes |
| HOA approval | Homeowner | Yes, as a condition of start |
| Building permit | Varies | Yes, name who pulls it |
| Moving furniture and objects | Homeowner | Rarely needed |
| Protecting lawn on the access route | Contractor | Yes, including repair |
| Debris and soil haul-off | Contractor | Yes |
“Usually” is a HyreYard judgment of common practice; your contract decides.
After the crew leaves
Watering new plants
Ask who is responsible for watering until plants establish, because plant warranties often depend on it.
Turning irrigation back on
Check each zone after work near the lines; heads get buried or broken. Run the sprinkler runtime calculator if new beds changed the zones.
The walkthrough
Walk the job with the scope in hand before the final payment. Hardscape jobs have their own list: patio final walkthrough checklist.
Your inquiry
Tell us about the work
Nothing goes to a landscaping company unless you agree.
Free, with no obligation: a person at HyreYard reads your request and replies by email. Matching is not live yet, so this is not a quote, and nothing goes to a landscaping company unless you agree. If a tree or limb is on a power line, stay away and call the utility.
Find a Landscaping Company
One short form: your address and how to reach you. A person at HyreYard reads it and replies.
Questions
Should I clean my yard before landscapers come?
Does 811 mark sprinkler lines?
Do I need to be home when landscapers work?
Should I tip landscapers?
Written and audited by
HyreYard Research Desk
Primary-source research, data analysis and fact checking
We are a research desk, not a landscaping company. We read the statute, the municipal code, the water-district rule or the federal soil file ourselves, and we publish the figure with the document it came from and the date we retrieved it.
Where a number cannot be traced to a primary source, we publish the shorter page and say what we could not verify. This desk is new.
The counts below are what we can already stand behind, and every one of them is counted from the studies on this site.
- 255
- source documents cited, each linked
- 112
- government (.gov) domains among them
- 258
- citations carrying a retrieval date
- 10
- research studies published
How this desk works
- Primary sources only. A rule comes from the statute, ordinance, board or agency that issued it, cited by section, with the URL and the retrieval date. We do not cite a blog that cites a code.
- Coverage is a number. A table titled to fifty states has fifty sourced rows. A table of cities is titled to the cities we actually read. Gaps are published as gaps.
- Company counts stay inside seven states. Texas, Arizona, Washington, California, Oregon, Florida and North Carolina. Texas is the largest roster on the weakest evidence, a self-reported NAICS sales-tax permit, because Texas licenses no landscaper. National claims rest on federal or state agency data, never on our counts.
- Fact, calculation, analysis and recommendation stay labeled. "According to…" is a source. "HyreYard analyzed… and calculated…" is ours. "This suggests…" is interpretation. We do not present our reading as something the source stated.
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Authorship on this site is organizational: the analysis belongs to the desk rather than to a named individual, and we do not publish credentials we do not hold. Our editorial policy sets out how we source, date and correct what we publish.