Commercial Landscaping for HOAs in Franklin County: Guide

If you are on an HOA board in Grove City, Bexley, Upper Arlington, Pickerington, Canal Winchester, or Groveport, you have probably already learned that “we’ll mow and mulch” is not actually a landscape contract. I write commercial bids for HOAs and townhome communities across Franklin County every spring, and the boards that get good outcomes all do the same handful of things during the bid process. Boards that skip those steps get burned, sometimes for a full season.

Here is what I tell every HOA president, property manager, and finance chair who calls.

What should an HOA landscape contract actually include?

A complete HOA landscape contract in Franklin County should cover at minimum: weekly mowing during the growing season, string-trimming and edging, hard-surface blowing, spring and fall cleanups, mulch refresh, shrub pruning windows, turf treatments if scoped, snow notification thresholds if separate, and a clear inclusion or exclusion of irrigation, leaf removal, and stump grinding. Anything not written into the scope will become a change order halfway through the season.

The biggest single mistake I see is HOAs accepting one-page quotes that say “mowing, mulching, and trimming.” That is not a contract, it is a wish. A real HOA scope is 3 to 6 pages with a service-by-service breakdown, frequency, and what triggers extra cost.

How is HOA landscaping priced in Franklin County in 2026?

HOA landscaping in Franklin County is typically priced as a flat annual contract, split into 10 or 12 equal monthly invoices. The annual total for a typical 30 to 80 unit townhome community runs anywhere from $18,000 to $120,000 depending on common-area acreage, the number of mulched beds, whether entry monuments and signage beds are included, and the per-unit foundation work.

Every commercial property is a written quote on the property because two communities with the same unit count can have very different scopes. A Grove City community with one shared mowing strip is a fraction of the cost of a Bexley community with individual front-yard service to every unit.

When boards ask me for a “ballpark per unit,” the rough working number for full-service is $400 to $1,400 per unit per year, but that range is wide for a reason and any number I give you over the phone is a placeholder until I walk the property.

How do I get apples-to-apples bids from multiple landscapers?

Write a single scope document and send the exact same one to every bidder. This is the single most powerful thing an HOA can do. Without it, you are not comparing prices, you are comparing how each contractor decided to define the job.

A useful scope document includes:

• Map or address list of all common areas
• Mowing frequency expectation (28 to 32 mows is typical for our season)
• Trimming and edging frequency (every mow vs every other)
• Number of mulch yards expected and depth
• Bed locations and total square footage
• Shrub pruning windows and shrub count
• Spring cleanup and fall cleanup scope (debris removal, gutter relationship)
• Turf programs included or excluded
• Irrigation work included or excluded
• Insurance and licensing requirements
• Communication expectations and contact protocol
• Invoicing schedule

You can pull a free template off most property management association sites, or your community can adapt one. If you do not have time to write one, hire a third-party walk-through to draft it. The 4 hours of board time spent on a real scope saves dozens of hours of complaints later.

What questions should an HOA board ask landscape bidders?

Beyond price, ask every bidder these:

1. Are you licensed, insured, and bonded? Get the certificate of insurance directly from their carrier, not a printout. Minimum $1M general liability is reasonable for HOA work.
2. Who is my single point of contact when something goes wrong? Companies that route HOA boards through a general inbox tend to miss things.
3. What is your crew’s tenure? High turnover crews damage shrubs and miss details.
4. How do you handle change orders? A written change-order process up front prevents surprise invoices.
5. What happens if it rains on my mow day? Do they push to the next day or wait a week?
6. Can I see two HOA references in Franklin County? Drive past those properties. The eye test does not lie.
7. What is your equipment plan for our property? A 70-unit Pickerington community with narrow gates is not a zero-turn job everywhere.

If a bidder hedges on any of those, that is your answer.

What does a typical Franklin County HOA mow week look like?

For a mid-size townhome community in Franklin County, a full mow week usually breaks down like this:

• Crew arrival 7 to 8 AM with two operators and a trailer
• 30 to 45 minutes per acre of common turf depending on obstacles
• String trimming around buildings, mailboxes, fences, and signs
• Edging concrete walks and driveways every other visit
• Blowing all hard surfaces, including any guest parking lots
• Quick visual sweep for damage or hazards
• Photo documentation for the board if requested

On a Canal Winchester community I service, a 7-acre common-area mow takes my two-man crew about 4 hours start to finish. Same crew can knock out 2 to 3 small communities in a day if they are clustered.

Should the contract be 10 monthly payments or 12?

Twelve monthly payments smooths cash flow and is what most HOAs prefer in Franklin County. It means you are paying for the work in December, January, and February before any of it happens, but the monthly line item stays even and predictable in your board’s budget. Ten-month contracts (March through December) tie payments closer to actual service but create a bigger monthly hit during the season.

Either works. Just pick one and write it in.

What about snow removal? Should it be in the same contract?

For most Franklin County HOAs, I recommend keeping snow on a separate contract or as a clearly separated section of the master agreement. Reason: snow service is wildly variable year to year. Combining them into one flat number means either you overpay in a mild winter or your contractor takes a beating in a heavy one, and neither outcome is good for the long-term relationship.

A clean structure: landscape work on a 12-month flat, snow on per-push pricing with clear trigger depths and a written ice-melt protocol.

How long should an HOA landscape contract run?

Annual contracts with auto-renew and a 60-day cancellation window are standard. Some communities sign 2 or 3 year contracts to lock pricing, which can be smart in a year when material and labor costs are climbing. Most contractors will give a small discount on a multi-year, usually 3 to 5 percent.

Avoid evergreen contracts with no exit clause. Your board changes, your service needs change, and you want the option to re-bid every 1 to 3 years.

What should be in a commercial walkthrough before you sign?

Before any board signs, the contractor and a board member should walk the property together. On that walk, confirm:

• Every bed location and approximate yardage
• Every shrub bed and pruning expectation
• Any irrigation heads to flag for the mow crew
• Bed lines that need cutting or maintaining
• Sight-line issues at entrances
• Any specific shrubs or trees that have a history (storm damage, customer complaints, etc.)
• Trash pickup days that conflict with mow days
• Pool, playground, mailbox kiosk, and signage areas

I do this walkthrough for free on every Franklin County HOA bid I write. If you want one, schedule it through the commercial quote page and I will block 60 to 90 minutes for your property.

How do you handle resident complaints in a commercial contract?

Complaint protocol should be written into the contract. The structure I recommend:

1. Resident calls the property manager or board contact, not the landscape crew
2. Board contact emails the landscape company’s single point of contact
3. Acknowledgement within 24 business hours, resolution plan within 48
4. Documented follow-up after resolution

Crews getting flagged down by residents during mow day is a recipe for missed sections and arguments. Funnel it through the board.

What about turf chemicals? Should the HOA control that?

For most Franklin County HOAs, yes, lock the turf chemical program into the landscape contract or carry it as a separate parallel contract with the same vendor or a licensed third party. The Ohio EPA requires licensed applicators for commercial chemical application, and you want clear documentation of what is sprayed, when, and at what rate. Boards that leave turf chemicals as an unscoped add-on either overpay on emergency callouts or end up with a community-wide weed problem by July.

Common HOA turf program in our region: pre-emergent crabgrass control early spring, broadleaf weed control as needed, grub preventive mid-summer, fall fertilizer. Per OSU Extension guidance, programs should be timed to growing-degree days, not the calendar.

The honest bottom line for HOA boards

The boards that get the best outcomes in Franklin County all do four things: they write a real scope, they bid it to three contractors at once, they walk the property with each bidder, and they read the contract before signing it. The boards that skip those steps almost always end the season frustrated.

I would rather quote your property and lose the bid to a competitor than win a bid where the scope is unclear and we both regret it by August.

Schedule a commercial walkthrough for your Franklin County HOA or townhome community:

• Phone: 614-425-9789
• Commercial quote: /quote/commercial
• Email: Lawnharmonyohio@gmail.com

Lawn Harmony Landscaping LLC — licensed, insured, locally owned, 5.0 stars on Google. We service Grove City, Bexley, Upper Arlington, Pickerington, Canal Winchester, Groveport, Columbus, Circleville, Lancaster, Baltimore, Chillicothe, Washington Court House, and Jeffersonville. Every commercial property gets a written scope and a written quote after a full walkthrough.