Hire a Landscaper Melbourne VIC - Get Local Quotes

Hiring a Landscaper for a Melbourne Garden

Melbourne landscapers charge roughly $60 to $95 per person per hour, but larger jobs can be priced as a single fixed sum after a site visit. That sum combines the crew's time with turf, soil, pavers, stone, plants, machine hire and tip fees, so the line items tell you more than the hourly rate. For the kinds of work landscapers take on around the state, see our Victorian landscaping services page. Victorian rules can change how a garden job is run, from who may build it to how the contract is written. Several of those rules only start to apply when the job includes structural work such as a deck, an attached pergola or a retaining wall.

Businesses offering landscaping in Melbourne range from sole gardeners who mow and plant to registered builders who run excavators, pour footings and build walls. Sometimes a garden designer draws the plan and a separate crew builds it, and sometimes one business does both under a single contract. The right choice depends on how much of the job is planting and soft work, such as lawn, mulch and garden beds, and how much is construction covered by building law. Matching the business to the job is the first decision, and it affects every quote that follows.

Estimated Prices for Melbourne Garden Work in 2026

The figures here are estimates for metropolitan Melbourne in 2026, and they line up with the Quote Yard's guide to finding a landscaper in Melbourne. Turf supplied and laid costs about $18 to $35 per square metre, and preparing clay ground for it adds roughly $12 to $25 per square metre. Concrete pavers supplied and laid run at about $80 to $140 per square metre, while bluestone and other natural stone sits at about $160 to $280. Zoned irrigation for a suburban back yard costs around $1,500 to $4,500, depending on the number of zones and how much drip line goes into the beds. Sleeper retaining walls under one metre cost about $350 to $600 per square metre of wall face, and taller engineered walls about $700 to $1,400. Whole project budgets and staging advice are set out in the Victorian landscaping cost guide.

Adbri Masonry and Austral Masonry make concrete pavers and segmental retaining blocks, and each sells several ranges at different prices. Lawn Solutions Australia licenses turf varieties such as Sir Walter DNA Certified buffalo and TifTuf hybrid couch, and the variety named on a quote changes the price per square metre. Machine time adds up quickly, with a bobcat, which is a small loader, and truck costing roughly $110 to $160 an hour with an operator. Removing spoil, the soil and rubble dug out of the yard, adds about $350 to $700 for each six wheeler truck load taken off a clay block. Small jobs such as pruning, weeding or mulching are charged by the hour, often with a minimum of two or three hours.

Garden Jobs That Fall Under Victoria's Building Contract Laws

In Victoria, landscaping counts as domestic building work only when it is tied to building, renovating, extending or repairing a home, or to a structure that needs a building permit. The Building and Plumbing Commission (BPC), which replaced the Victorian Building Authority on 1 July 2025, says verandahs, attached pergolas, associated decks, retaining structures and fencing are generally domestic building work. Planting, ornamental ponds, outdoor furniture, cubby houses, driveways and paving are generally not, when they are the only work under the contract. Consumer Affairs Victoria gives the example of a contract solely for planting a lawn, which would not usually be domestic building work. That distinction decides whether the job needs a registered builder and a written major domestic building contract.

Once the domestic building part of a job takes the total contract price over $10,000, the work must be done by a registered building practitioner under a written major domestic building contract. The BPC's own example is a $2,000 deck built alongside $9,000 of new lawn, which adds up to $11,000 and so needs a registered practitioner. On the other hand, a $20,000 palm planting job with no structures does not need one at all. Splitting a project into several smaller contracts does not get around the rule, because staged contracts are treated as one contract under the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995. Any landscaper who builds decks, walls or pergolas should be able to tell you on the first visit whether your job goes over that limit. Treat a much cheaper quote for structural work from an unregistered business with real caution.

Jobs that sit outside the building contract rules are still covered by the Australian Consumer Law. Under that law, services must be supplied with due care and skill, be fit for the purpose you made known, and be finished within a reasonable time. Consumer Affairs Victoria recommends a written contract for all building work, including work costing $10,000 or less. For a planting or paving job, keep the agreement simple, with the scope, price, start date and what happens if plants fail.

Checking a Landscaper's Building Registration

The BPC registers builders in classes, and one limited class covers landscapers who build structures, called Domestic Builder (Limited to the construction of structural landscaping). Holders of that class can take on structural landscaping above the $10,000 limit, while an unregistered landscaper can still do planting, turf and other soft work at any price. The Building and Plumbing Commission website has a practitioner search, and the name and number on the register should match the name on your quote. Check that the registration is current and that its class covers every structure in your contract. If a deck or pergola is a large part of the job, a builder found through Melbourne carpentry quotes may price the structure on its own.

Building registration covers building work only, so other parts of a garden job need separate licences. Connecting irrigation to the mains and laying stormwater drains are plumbing work for a licensed or registered plumber. Outdoor power points, garden lighting on 240 volts and pump circuits must be installed by a licensed electrician. The contract should name each of these trades, or say clearly that you will hire them yourself.

Home Warranty Cover and Deposit Limits for Garden Contracts

The Home Warranty Scheme replaced domestic building insurance for eligible contracts signed on or after 1 July 2026. It applies to domestic building contracts over $20,000 for buildings of three storeys or less, and the BPC runs it. The scheme covers lost deposits, incomplete work and defective work, so a large garden contract with structural parts can fall within it. Some older guidance still quotes a $16,000 insurance threshold, which applied to contracts signed before that date. According to the Victorian Government home warranty pages, a claim can be made when a building issue is first identified. Get the landscaper or builder to confirm in writing whether your contract is covered before you pay any deposit.

Deposits on domestic building contracts are capped by law at 10 per cent for contracts under $20,000 and 5 per cent for contracts of $20,000 or more. After the deposit, Consumer Affairs Victoria advises paying only for completed stages and never in advance of the work. On a back yard rebuild, sensible stages might be the excavation and retaining, the drainage and irrigation, the paving, and then the turf and planting. Each stage should be one you can see and check before you pay for it. Holding back a fair final payment gives the crew a reason to come back for the small items.

Payment terms for jobs outside the building laws are set by the contract itself, so they need more care. Planting or paving jobs with no structures can still be paid in stages, with the deposit kept small and the balance paid on completion. Being asked to pay most of the price before plants or pavers have even been delivered is a warning sign. Paying by bank transfer or card leaves a clear record, which matters if anything later goes wrong.

Which Garden Structures Need a Building Permit

Planting, paving and turf work on its own needs no building permit, and the BPC confirms that driveways, paving and cubby houses fall outside the permit system. A retaining wall needs a permit when it is one metre or more in height, or when it sits on or near a boundary where it could damage the neighbouring property. A pergola is exempt if it is no more than 3.6 metres high, covers no more than 20 square metres and meets the siting rules in Schedule 3 of the Building Regulations 2018. Decks with a structural subfloor need a permit, although timber boards laid straight onto an existing surface are generally not treated as a deck. Gazebos under 10 square metres used as non-habitable buildings are exempt, while larger ones and most verandahs are not.

Fences have their own height limits, and a fence built above them needs a permit. Timber side or rear boundary fences up to 2 metres high are exempt, but the limit drops to 1.5 metres within 3 metres of a street boundary. Councils such as Stonnington and Darebin require a building permit for a masonry front fence over 1.2 metres, and for a timber or metal front fence over 1.5 metres. Within 9 metres of a corner, front fences are limited to 1 metre so drivers can see around the corner. Taller fences may still be possible through a Report and Consent, which is a separate council approval. Quotes for fencing in Victoria should say who applies for any permit and who pays the fee.

Retaining wall prices change sharply once a permit is needed, because the wall then needs an engineer's design, a building surveyor and inspections. As estimates, engineering for a Melbourne retaining wall costs about $800 to $2,500, and the permit and surveyor about $500 to $1,500 more. For wall types, drainage and boundary cost sharing, see our guide to retaining wall builders. Even a low wall close to a boundary can need a permit under the boundary rule, so mention any nearby fence or neighbour's building when you ask for a price.

Tree Protection Rules That Differ Between Councils

Each Melbourne council writes its own tree protection local law, so the same tree can be protected in one suburb and free to remove a few streets away. In Boroondara, the Tree Protection Local Law protects canopy trees with a trunk circumference of 110 centimetres or more at 1.4 metres above the ground. Trees measuring 150 centimetres or more around at ground level are also covered there. Removing one of those trees needs a permit even if it is dead or a recognised weed species. Glen Eira's Canopy Tree Protection Local Law, in force since 3 September 2020, covers trees over 5 metres tall with a trunk circumference of 140 centimetres or more, measured 140 centimetres up the trunk. Palms taller than 8 metres are also protected under the Glen Eira law.

The Glen Eira law covers more than removal, because pruning a canopy tree or carrying out works within its tree protection zone also needs a permit. A tree protection zone is the area around a tree, worked out under the Australian Standard AS 4970, where digging and soil changes can damage the roots. For a landscaper, that can mean irrigation trenches, new garden edges or a paving base under a protected tree all need approval before work starts. The maximum penalty in that law is 20 penalty units, a penalty unit being a dollar amount set by the Victorian Government each year. An arborist from tree lopping and arborist services can measure the tree and set out the protection zone, at roughly $400 to $900 for a report on one tree.

Council local laws apply alongside the planning scheme, the council's set of planning rules, where overlays such as the Vegetation Protection Overlay and Significant Landscape Overlay can also control removal or lopping. An overlay is an extra planning control mapped over certain land, and the free planning property report for your address lists any overlay that applies to the lot. For more on overlays, bushfire exemptions and arborist reports, see our tree removal page. Settle any tree permit before the landscaper's start date, because waiting on a council decision can hold up the whole job.

Plumbers, Electricians and Other Trades on a Garden Job

A Melbourne garden project can need at least one other licensed trade, and the quote should say whether the landscaper is subcontracting that work or leaving it to you. Plumbing jobs include connecting new irrigation to the mains, fitting any required backflow valve to stop garden water flowing back into the mains, and laying stormwater drains. A Melbourne plumber must issue a compliance certificate for plumbing work costing more than $750. Garden lighting, outdoor power points and pump circuits on 240 volts need an electrician, who issues a certificate of electrical safety. You can price that part of the job separately through Melbourne electrician quotes.

Hunter Industries and Rain Bird make irrigation controllers, valves and sprinklers, and Netafim makes drip line for garden beds. Havit Lighting makes low voltage spike lights and deck lights, while Clipsal makes weatherproof outdoor power points. Brick letterboxes, piers and garden walls belong with a bricklayer, and you can compare prices for that trade when hiring a Melbourne bricklayer. Large concrete paths and slabs can be poured by a concreter booked separately from the landscaper. Old garden sheds lined with fibro sheeting may contain asbestos, so have it checked before demolition and use a licensed removalist where WorkSafe Victoria requires one. Price ranges for small sheds and sheeting are on the Melbourne asbestos removal cost page.

Designing Around Melbourne's Permanent Water Saving Rules

Melbourne Water is the wholesaler that supplies drinking water to the city's retail water corporations, which include Yarra Valley Water, South East Water and Greater Western Water. Permanent water saving rules apply across Victoria every day of the year, and they affect how a new garden should be watered. Watering systems, which include sprinklers, drip hoses and weeping hoses, may only run between 6 pm and 10 am. Hand watering is allowed at any time with a watering can, a bucket or a hose fitted with a trigger nozzle. Fountains and water features must recirculate their water. Hard surfaces such as paths and driveways should not be hosed clean, apart from a few limited exceptions.

In practice, an automatic system has to do its work overnight or in the early morning. On a large yard with many zones, the controller needs enough programs and start times to run every zone inside that window. New turf usually needs frequent watering in its first weeks, so plan to water it by hand during the day or lay it in the cooler months. The rules cover only drinking water from the mains, so rainwater, approved greywater (used water from showers and laundries) and bore water are not limited in the same way. Davey makes pumps for running irrigation from a tank, and a plumber who handles rainwater tank plumbing can connect one to the garden.

Garden Beds and Paths Beside a House on Basalt Clay

Large parts of Melbourne's north and west sit on clay weathered from the Newer Volcanics basalt flows, and engineers have long recorded how strongly it shrinks and swells as it dries and wets. Around a house on a concrete slab, that movement matters far more than in the middle of a lawn. Garden beds watered heavily against one wall, or trees planted close to the slab, can dry or wet the clay unevenly under the footings. The soil report and slab design for a newer house are prepared under the Australian Standard AS 2870, and they record the site class, a rating of how much the soil moves, for your block. Show that report to the landscaper before any beds, trees or paths are planned near the house.

Paths and paving beside the house should fall away from the walls, so rain and irrigation water run off instead of soaking the clay near the footings. Keep garden bed soil below the weep holes and damp course, the gaps and waterproof layer near the base of the brickwork, and water those beds with short runs of drip line. On new estates in the outer north and west, the yard can be bare clay, so a landscaper may need gypsum, a mineral used to loosen clay, and imported soil before plants grow well. Suburbs closer to the bay sit on sandier ground, which drains quickly and needs more organic matter to hold water. Geofabrics makes bidim geotextile, a fabric laid under gravel and drainage stone to stop clay working up into it. Drain pipes and pits must reach the property's legal point of discharge, the approved stormwater connection, and a plumber offering stormwater drainage plumbing can make it.

Landscaping Near a Pool or Spa Barrier

Pools and spas able to hold 30 centimetres or more of water must be registered with the local council, and the safety barrier must be inspected every four years. A barrier needs a clear space of at least 900 millimetres on the outside, including an arc at the top of the fence, and 300 millimetres on the inside. Retaining walls, pot plants, outdoor furniture and other objects that a child could climb must stay out of those zones. For this reason the BPC warns that landscaping near a pool or spa barrier can make it non-compliant and unsafe. Placing a new garden bed, planter box or step beside the fence can turn a compliant barrier into one that fails.

Plan the garden around the barrier from the start, and show the landscaper exactly where the fence runs. Planters, built-in seats and raised beds should sit well clear of the outside face, and climbing plants should not be trained up the fence. Raising the ground next to the barrier reduces its effective height, so new paving or turf must not build up against the fence. If an inspection finds a problem, you can get the fixes priced through pool fence repairs and compliance.

Designer, Design and Construct or Managing It Yourself

There are three common ways to run a Melbourne landscaping project, and each changes how quotes are compared. With design and construct, one landscaper draws the plan and then builds it, which keeps one business responsible for the result. Alternatively, a separate garden designer or landscape architect draws a plan that several builders then price, which makes quotes easier to compare line by line. A concept plan costs roughly $800 to $2,500, while a full plan with levels and drainage runs at about $2,500 to $6,000. You can compare what each type of plan includes on our garden design page.

Managing the job yourself means hiring the excavation, retaining, paving, plumbing, electrical and planting trades one by one. It can save the margin a head contractor, the business running the whole job, adds, but you take on the scheduling, the order of work and the risk when one trade's mistake affects another. Irrigation pipes need to go in before paving and turf, for example, and drainage before either. With this approach, get each trade to confirm in writing which earlier stage must be finished before they start. Owners planning a mostly native garden can look at native garden design and planting for designers who focus on planting.

Whichever route you choose, agree early on who keeps the master plan and who updates it when something changes on site. Small changes, such as moving a path or swapping a tree, can affect drainage, irrigation zones and levels further along. One marked-up copy shared by everyone stops two trades building to different versions. Garden lighting is easier to plan at this stage too, and you can price cable runs and fittings through garden lighting installation.

Plant Establishment, Handover and Maintenance

New plants and turf are most at risk in their first summer, and the contract should say who is responsible for them during that time. Some landscapers offer a written establishment period, during which they replace plants that die despite correct watering. Others give no plant guarantee unless they also hold a maintenance contract, because they cannot control the watering after they leave. Either approach is fair if it is written down before the job starts. The planting list should give the species, pot size and number of every plant, so any replacements match the original.

At handover, the landscaper should give you the irrigation zone list, the controller program and a sketch showing where valves and pipes run. Holman makes tap timers and controllers for small systems, and the brand and model of any controller should be written on the handover sheet. Lawn care in the first months also needs clear instructions, including when the first mow can happen and how often to water within the rules. If a fertiliser such as Osmocote, made by Scotts, goes into the new beds, the handover notes should name it. Keep these notes with the contract, plans, permits and compliance certificates. Future buyers and the next landscaper will both need them.

Booking a maintenance contract for the first year gives the new garden regular care while the plants settle in. Visits typically cost about $50 to $100 each for a small garden, covering mowing, weeding, pruning and checks of the irrigation. Stihl and Husqvarna make the hedge trimmers, blowers and mowers used for this kind of work, and the quote should say whether the crew brings its own equipment. More detail on regular visit pricing is on the lawn mowing and garden maintenance page.

Changes, Hidden Ground and Weather Delays

Garden jobs can change once digging starts, because buried rubble, rock, old footings and tree roots only show up during excavation. Under Victoria's domestic building rules, you and the builder must agree any change in writing, with the new price and completion date, before the extra work is done. Even on smaller contracts outside those rules, the same habit protects both sides. Ask the landscaper how hidden items such as rock or buried concrete will be priced, and whether a rate per cubic metre or per hour is written into the quote. Wet winter weather on Melbourne clay can stop machine work for days, since loaders and trucks churn soft ground and damage the site. A contract that sets out how wet weather days are handled avoids arguments about the finish date.

Plans of underground gas, water, power and telecommunications assets are free through Before You Dig Australia, and the landscaper should request them before any trenching or post holes. Those plans do not show private pipes and cables on your own land, such as a power line to a shed or an old stormwater drain. Tell the landscaper about any private services you know of, and expect them to locate them before digging. Damage to a gas or power line can be dangerous as well as expensive. Larger cuts into a slope may need a separate machine crew, and excavation contractors in Victoria can price bulk digging on its own.

When a Garden Contract Goes Wrong

Start by raising the problem with the business in writing, with dated photos, and give them a fair chance to fix it. For domestic building work, the BPC runs a free dispute resolution service, which was previously known as Domestic Building Dispute Resolution Victoria. It uses conciliation, a meeting run by a neutral person, and if that fails it can issue orders or certificates that let the dispute move on to a tribunal. Claims under the Home Warranty Scheme for a covered contract are also made through the BPC. The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal is where unresolved building disputes are finally heard.

Jobs outside building law, such as planting, turf or paving on its own, are covered by the Australian Consumer Law. Consumer Affairs Victoria can give advice on those rights and may help you negotiate with the business. If plants die soon after handover, check first whether the watering instructions were followed, because a landscaper can fairly refuse a claim when they were not. Keep your messages polite and factual, since they may later be read by a conciliator or a tribunal member. If you are still unsure about the irrigation or paving part of the work, check our irrigation and garden watering systems page or the paving pages.

Warning Signs in a Melbourne Landscaper's Quote

Some problems can be spotted in the quote before any work starts on site. The first thing to question is structural work above $10,000 with no builder registration number on the paperwork. Watch for a deposit request above 10 per cent, or above 5 per cent once the contract reaches $20,000. Planting shown only as a single allowance, with no species or pot sizes, makes it impossible to check what was delivered. Retaining walls a metre or more high with no permit, engineer or drainage listed have probably been underpriced. An irrigation system with no mention of a plumber for the mains connection is another gap.

Spoil removal deserves a close look on any clay block, because a low quote may leave it out altogether. Paving prices should state the base depth, the edge restraint that holds the pavers in place, and the falls that carry water away, not just the paver and the area. Turf quotes should name the variety and say whether the old lawn is removed and the soil improved first. FormBoss makes steel garden edging, and a quote that names the edging product and height is easier to compare than one that just says edging. Finally, check that the timeline allows for permits, tree approvals and wet weather on clay.

Briefing Three Melbourne Landscapers on the Same Plan

Comparable quotes start with every landscaper pricing the same plan. Give each one a sketch or marked-up photo of the yard with rough measurements, showing which areas will be lawn, beds, paving or retaining. Note the suburb, the side access width, any slope, any large trees and the location of any pool barrier. Photos taken from the back door and from the far corner of the yard help a landscaper judge levels before the site visit. If the layout is still undecided, pay for a concept plan first, so the quotes follow one design. Three quotes give you a useful spread of prices to compare.

For larger projects, ask for the price split into stages such as earthworks, retaining, drainage, irrigation, paving and planting. Staged pricing lets you hold back parts of the job or hand them to a specialist, such as paving and driveway installation or artificial turf installation. It also shows clearly where two totals differ, such as spoil removal or soil preparation. Check how long each price holds and when each business can start. Where a deck or pergola is part of the job, compare the landscaper's price with quotes from Victorian deck builders.

Before you sign, confirm the builder registration where structures are involved, the deposit amount, the payment stages and who obtains each permit. Make sure the contract names the plumber and electrician, or says you will engage them yourself. The plant list, turf variety, paver range and controller model should all appear in writing. Clear written quotes at the start make it far easier to check the finished garden against what you paid for.