What insurance should a landscaper have?

At minimum, general liability insurance — ask for a certificate naming you as certificate holder, which any insured company can produce in a day. If the company has employees, workers' compensation matters too: without it, an injury on your property can become your problem. 'We're licensed and insured' on a truck door is a claim, not proof.

Should I get multiple landscaping quotes?

Yes — two or three, with identical scope. The value isn't just price comparison; it's that differences between quotes reveal what each company thinks the job actually requires. If one quote includes soil prep and irrigation adjustment and another doesn't, you've just learned what the cheaper one plans to skip.

What's a reasonable deposit for landscaping work?

For installation projects, 25–50% at signing is normal — materials like plants, rock, and pavers are bought up front. Be cautious with anyone demanding full payment before work starts, and with cash-only pricing. For recurring maintenance, you shouldn't pay a deposit at all; monthly billing after service is standard.

Do landscapers guarantee their plants?

Good ones warranty installed plants for 30–90 days, sometimes a year for trees — provided your irrigation runs as directed. Get the warranty in writing along with the watering requirements, because that's the first thing discussed if a plant dies. No warranty at all usually signals the company doesn't expect to be around.

How far ahead do landscapers book in The Villages?

In season (roughly October through April), two to six weeks for installation projects is typical, and the best-reviewed companies run longer. Same-week availability for a large project during peak season deserves a follow-up question about why the calendar is empty.

Local guide

How to Choose a Landscaper: 7 Questions That Sort Pros from Pretenders

A practical checklist for hiring a landscaper in The Villages: insurance, ARC experience, written scope, plant warranties, and the red flags that predict a bad job.

Updated July 11, 2026

Every landscaper's truck says "licensed and insured." Every website says "quality work at fair prices." None of that tells you who will still return your calls in August. What does: the answers to seven specific questions, asked before any money changes hands.

Use this checklist against companies in The Villages landscaping directory — it takes one phone call per company.

1. "Can you send a certificate of insurance?"

Not "are you insured" — send the certificate. Any legitimately insured company can have their agent email one within a day. You're looking for general liability (typically $1M) and, if they have employees, workers' comp. This one question filters out more bad operators than the other six combined.

2. "Have you done ARC applications in The Villages?"

Visible landscape changes here — curbing, rock conversions, tree removal — generally need Architectural Review Committee approval first. A company that works The Villages weekly will say "yes, we'll handle the application with you." A company that asks "what's ARC?" will hand you a compliance problem along with the invoice.

3. "Who exactly does the work?"

Some companies sell the job and subcontract the labor. That's not automatically bad, but you want to know: Is the crew employed by you? Who supervises? Who do I call mid-project? A foreman who was at the sales visit is worth a lot.

4. "What's in the written scope?"

Get quantities, not adjectives. "Refresh beds" means nothing; "14 Indian hawthorn (3-gal), 6 yards of brown river rock over weed fabric, haul away existing" means everything. When quotes differ in price, the scope is almost always why — and vague scope is where disputes are born.

5. "What's the plant warranty, and what voids it?"

The honest answer is some version of: "30–90 days, if you water as we direct." That's fair — a landscaper can't control your irrigation controller. What you're listening for is whether a warranty exists at all and whether watering instructions come in writing.

6. "What happens after heavy rain or frost?"

Central Florida will test any landscape: summer downpours, the occasional January freeze. Companies that plan for it (frost cloth for tender plants, drainage-aware bed design, post-storm checkins for tree damage) are operating on experience. Companies that shrug are pricing for the day of installation only.

7. "When can you start — and why?"

Counterintuitively, you want to hear a delay. Good companies in The Villages book two to six weeks out in season. "We can start tomorrow" on a $10,000 project in February means the calendar is empty, and calendars are empty for reasons.

Red flags worth walking away from

Cash-only pricing, or a "discount" for paying everything up front
No physical address or a phone that's never answered by a person
Pressure to sign the day of the estimate
No addresses of past work you can drive past
A quote dramatically below the others with no scope difference to explain it

The short version

Insurance certificate, ARC experience, named crew, written scope with quantities, plant warranty in writing. Ask all five, compare two or three companies from the directory, and the decision usually makes itself.