Maintenance vs construction
Maintenance and construction are different businesses.
Both get called landscaping. Here is how they differ, and why Advance Landscapes only does maintenance.
Two different businesses
Most people use the word landscaping for both. In practice, building a landscape and looking after one for years need different equipment, different skills and a different kind of relationship with the client.
Construction builds a landscape
A landscape construction company is essentially a builder. It owns the yellow gear: bulldozers, excavators and bobcats. It needs to be very good at estimating, it builds the job once, and then it moves on to the next site.
Many construction companies also run a maintenance team. It is usually the smaller and less valued part of the business, and the work often shows it.
Maintenance looks after it for years
A maintenance company owns the orange gear: hedgers, trimmers, blowers and mowers. It needs to be very good at looking after the same site consistently, month after month. The aim is to do the job well and never have to move on, so the relationship with the client matters as much as the horticulture.
Side by side
| Landscape construction | Landscape maintenance | |
|---|---|---|
| Equipment | The yellow gear: bulldozers, excavators and bobcats | The orange gear: hedgers, trimmers, blowers and mowers |
| Core skill | Estimating, then building to plan | Looking after the same site well, visit after visit |
| Time on site | One project, then on to the next | Years on the same site |
| Measured by | The finished build on handover day | How the site looks every week of the year |
| The relationship | Ends when the job is signed off | Is the whole business |
Why we only do maintenance
Advance Landscapes is a maintenance business, and we are large site specialists. We don’t do landscape construction or new builds, so our crews, equipment, training and systems are all set up for one job: keeping commercial grounds in good condition every month, on sites where consistency matters most.
- The same crew on your site, working to an agreed monthly schedule.
- Equipment and training chosen for maintenance, from pole hedgers to elevated work platforms.
- Our own employed crews. Specialist irrigation and arborist work is the only thing we may subcontract, and we manage it.
- No lock-in contract. Many clients have been with us for years, and we would rather keep them through the quality of our work.
Building something new?
For a new landscape or a major rebuild, engage a landscape construction company. Once the build is handed over, we can take on the ongoing maintenance and keep it looking the way it was designed.