A landscape RFP has one job: make three strangers describe the same work in the same units so your board can compare prices instead of prose. Most RFPs fail at it — they ask for "full-service landscape maintenance, bid to include all labor and materials," and then the board spends a month untangling three incompatible proposals. The template below fixes that by doing the specifying up front. Copy it, fill in your community's numbers, and every bid that comes back will already be in line-by-line comparable form.
Before you send it: measure once
The single biggest upgrade to any RFP is real site data. Walk the property — or have your manager or a committee member do it — and count what is countable: turf area, bed area, palms, trees, irrigation zones. Bidders who do not have to guess do not have to pad, and bids built on the same quantities cannot hide scope games. If nobody can measure, say so in the RFP and require bidders to attach their own measured quantities to the bid, which makes discrepancies visible instead of buried.
The template
Section 1 — Community overview and site data
State the community name, address, management contact, and bid timeline (issue date, property-walk date, question deadline, bid deadline, award date, service start date). Then give bidders the numbers:
| Site element | Quantity | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Doors / units | ___ | For context and per-door budgeting. |
| Maintained turf area (SF or acres) | ___ | Split common area vs. individual lots if the HOA maintains lots. |
| Bed area (SF) and bed count | ___ | Note which beds carry annuals. |
| Hedge runs (LF) | ___ | Street-facing and interior. |
| Palms (by species if known) | ___ | Royals, queens, sabals — species drives pruning cadence. |
| Canopy trees | ___ | Oaks, mahoganies, etc. |
| Irrigation: controllers / zones | ___ | Water source: potable, reclaimed, well, lake. |
| Amenity areas | ___ | Clubhouse, pool surrounds, courts, dog park, mailbox clusters. |
| Gates / access constraints | ___ | Codes, escort requirements, quiet hours. |
Site-data table — fill in your community's actual quantities. "Unknown" is an acceptable entry; a blank is not.
Section 2 — Base scope of work
This is the heart of the document. Specify each service with a frequency and a standard — never "as needed." The table below is a complete Southwest Florida base scope; delete rows you genuinely do not want and adjust frequencies to your property.
| Service | Required frequency | Standard |
|---|---|---|
| Mowing | Weekly Apr–Oct; every 10–14 days Nov–Mar (state total annual visits) | St. Augustine cut at 3.5–4 in; sharp blades; alternating patterns; clippings off hardscape. |
| Edging & line trimming | Every mow visit | Blade-edged walks, curbs, and drives; bed edges redefined monthly. |
| Blow-down | Every visit | Walks, drives, curbs, amenity surfaces; debris never blown into storm drains. |
| Hedge & shrub trimming | Every 4–6 weeks in season | Maintain established lines; no shock pruning of flowering material out of cycle. |
| Bed weeding | Spot every visit; full detail monthly | Entries and monument beds prioritized every pass. |
| Irrigation wet check | Monthly, all zones | Every zone cycled and observed; findings reported with photos; rain shutoff verified. |
| Turf pest & disease scouting | Every visit | Chinch bug, webworm, fungus flagged with photos before spread. |
| Litter policing & detailing | Every visit | Common areas, dog stations, mailbox clusters; amenity decks weekly. |
| Palm pruning | Annual or bi-annual by species | Dead/dying fronds and seed pods only; no over-trimming of green fronds (UF/IFAS standard). |
| Canopy lifting | Annual, completed before June 1 | Clearance over roads, walks, signage, and lighting; deadwood removed. |
| Mulch | 1–2 cycles/yr (state months) | Stated bag or yard count per cycle; 2–3 in depth; kept off trunks. |
| Seasonal color | 3–4 rotations/yr (state bed list) | Quoted per bed per rotation with soil amendment at change-out. |
Base scope table — the frequencies shown are standard SWFL practice and a sound starting point.
Section 3 — Unit-price schedule for out-of-scope work
Require every bidder to complete the same extras schedule. This is where low base bids are kept honest: labor per hour (maintenance and install), mulch per bag installed, sod per SF installed, palm pruning per tree above the included height, irrigation repair labor and parts markup, storm/emergency labor rate, and debris haul per load. For reference, BCQ's published book rates are $65/hr maintenance labor, $80/hr install labor, $8/bag mulch installed, $1.25/SF sod installed, and $10/LF concrete curbing — any bidder's schedule can be compared against posted rates like these.
Section 4 — Service levels and reporting
"Contractor shall provide a photo-documented digital service report for each visit, delivered within 24 hours, identifying work performed, crew, and any deficiencies observed. Contractor shall respond to Association service requests within one business day, and to urgent requests (irrigation main breaks, hazards blocking access) the same day. A monthly summary suitable for inclusion in the board packet shall itemize completed visits, open issues, and recommendations with pricing. Repeated failure to meet these service levels in any sixty-day period constitutes cause for termination."
Section 5 — Storm response
Storm terms belong in the RFP, not in a phone call the day after landfall. Require: a defined response trigger and window, a debris-priority order (access and hazards first), pre-agreed emergency labor rates, and photo documentation formatted for insurance claims. We published the exact clauses to ask for in what your landscaper's storm-response SLA should say — lift them directly.
Section 6 — Insurance, licensing, and compliance
- Certificate of insurance naming the association as certificate holder — general liability and auto, with workers' compensation for all crew (not exemptions).
- W-9 and proof of business registration (verify the entity on Sunbiz).
- If fertilization or pest control is in scope: the applicable FDACS licensing and Green Industries BMP training, and written compliance with the Lee County fertilizer ordinance including the June 1 – September 30 blackout.
- Vendor requirements from your management company (portal onboarding, background checks where required).
Section 7 — Term, transition, and termination
Specify contract term (12 months is typical), a transition plan requirement for the first 30 days with baseline condition photos, termination for convenience with 30–60 days' notice, and — critically — no evergreen auto-renewal with escalators the board never re-votes. If there is an escalator, cap it and make renewal an affirmative act.
Section 8 — Bid form and evaluation criteria
Give bidders a one-page form: fixed monthly price itemized by the Section 2 scope lines, the completed Section 3 unit schedule, references from three comparable communities, and their proposed crew/account structure. Publish your weighting so bidders compete on what you actually value — for example: scope completeness and unit pricing 40%, references and comparable experience 25%, reporting and responsiveness 20%, price 15%. Boards that weight raw price first tend to buy the as-needed lines twice.
Mistakes that undo good RFPs
- Skipping the pre-bid property walk — bids priced from an aerial photo get re-priced after award, in the vendor's favor.
- Letting bidders substitute their own contract at signing, discarding the RFP terms the board evaluated.
- Awarding on price and negotiating scope afterward — that order is backwards and every vendor knows it.
- Not naming who owns irrigation repairs, storm work, and fertilization — the three scopes most often assumed by both sides to be the other bid's problem.
Use the template freely — it works whether or not BCQ is on your bid list. If we are: we bid RFPs line for line against the stated scope, flag gaps separately instead of burying them in the price, and deliver the COI and W-9 with the bid. That format is standard across our HOA programs and the portfolio reporting we run for property managers. Request a quote below, or call or text (239) 799-5594.