Garden Handover and Aftercare Preparation Checklist

Agree in advance who from the contractor will walk the garden with you, and ask that the walk is not rushed into the end of a working visit.

The person who can answer detailed questions is often not the one closing the site down, and asking early makes their attendance far more likely.

Walk the garden while it is light and again after dark if lighting formed part of the work, since the two walks reveal completely different things.

Lighting aimed in the afternoon rarely behaves as expected at night, and the moment to raise it is while the team can still adjust it.

Walk the garden in wet weather if you possibly can, or at least look at where water stands after rain before the team leaves the site.

Surfaces and levels behave differently in rain, and this is the observation most often made after everyone has gone.

Take your original brief and the drawings with you, and compare what is in front of you against what was agreed rather than what you now remember.

Gardens change as they are built and much of that is sensible, but the differences should be understood rather than discovered later.

Note anything you are unsure about as a question rather than a complaint, and write it down while you are standing in front of it.

Items described from memory afterwards are hard to place on site, and a note taken where you stand keeps the conversation practical.

Ask to be walked along every route you will actually use, including the bin route, the way to any store and the path taken with an armful of shopping.

Routes are where new gardens most often disappoint, and walking them with the builder present is the moment to notice.

Ask for a final layout drawing showing what was actually built, since gardens rarely finish exactly as they were first drawn.

The as-built layout is what any future professional will want to see, and it is almost impossible to reconstruct once the team has moved on.

Ask for a written record of what was planted and where, so that you can identify things later without guessing from appearance alone.

Names get lost within a season, and without a list you cannot ask a professional an intelligent question about anything that struggles.

Ask for a record of where cables, pipes and irrigation lines run beneath the garden before anything is planted or laid over them.

This is the single most valuable piece of paper from a garden project and the one most likely to be missing when it is needed.

Anyone digging later depends on this; if no record exists, ask a qualified professional to establish what is buried before work is planned.

Request the information sheets supplied with the surfaces, timber, fixings and finishes used, including how each should be cleaned.

Cleaning something the wrong way is a common cause of damage in the early stages, and the sheets usually exist somewhere in the contractor's file.

Ask what paperwork exists for any electrical or water supply work carried out in the garden, and who is holding it.

This paperwork tends to be issued by a specialist trade rather than the landscaper, so it needs asking for specifically.

Electrical and water supply work belongs with the relevant qualified trades; ask what documentation they issue and confirm locally what applies.

Note the contact route for questions once the team has left, and who is expected to answer them.

The person on site is often not the person who deals with later questions, and establishing that now avoids chasing later.

Ask plainly who is responsible for watering new planting once the team has left, and write the answer down rather than assuming it was covered.

Both sides frequently believe the other is handling watering, and nobody discovers the misunderstanding until the planting shows it.

Note what is expected to happen if the weather turns dry soon after planting, and who is meant to act on it.

Dry spells shortly after planting cause most early losses, and an agreed response prevents a long stretch in which nobody acts at all.

Ask what the planting is expected to look like while it establishes, so that a thin, sparse appearance is not mistaken for failure.

Owners often intervene unnecessarily because nobody told them what normal early growth looks like in that position.

Record how mulched or bare areas are meant to be kept, and who removes unwanted growth from them by hand while planting fills in.

Open ground between new planting collects growth quickly, and agreeing who deals with it prevents the beds from being given up on.

Write down when the garden needs attention and when it is better left undisturbed, in the contractor's own words rather than your summary.

Well-meant early tidying can undo work that has just been done, and a note in their words settles arguments later.

Ask what cover, if any, applies to planting that fails to establish, and what conditions are attached to it.

Terms vary between contractors and suppliers; ask for them in writing rather than relying on what was said in the garden.

Note when the household will be away, since an absence soon after planting is a common reason aftercare quietly lapses.

If a holiday falls in the establishing period, it is far better to arrange cover in advance than to return to losses.

Agree how outstanding items will be recorded, who holds the list and how each one is marked as resolved.

A single shared list prevents the situation where each side is working from a different version of what remains.

Note that living material and built elements behave differently over time, and ask how each is treated when something is added to the list.

A plant that sulks and a paving unit that rocks are not the same kind of problem, and treating them alike helps nobody.

Photograph each outstanding item where it sits, since written descriptions of garden faults are difficult to place again afterwards.

Photographs anchor the item to a location, which matters in a garden where nothing has a room number or a wall reference.

Ask what is expected to settle, weather, fade or change appearance naturally, so that normal behaviour is not logged as a fault.

Timber, stone and gravel all change in their early stages, and knowing which changes are expected saves unnecessary complaint.

Record what is excluded from any follow-up, such as damage caused by weather, pets, children or later works by others.

Exclusions are far easier to discuss calmly now than at the moment something has gone wrong.

Agree how and when the list will be revisited, rather than assuming a return visit will simply happen on its own.

Return visits slip once a team is on the next site, and an agreed arrangement is what makes them happen.

Ask to be shown every isolation point, tap, valve and switch that controls something in the garden, and note where each one is.

Finding the isolation point in an emergency is not the moment to be searching behind planting for the first time.

If you are unsure what any control does, ask the relevant qualified trade rather than experimenting with it yourself.

Have any irrigation controller demonstrated in front of you, and write down the settings it has been left on.

Controllers are rarely intuitive, and the settings chosen at handover are the ones that suit the planting in its early stages.

Anything connected to the water supply should be altered only with advice from a qualified trade if you are unsure.

Ask how the outdoor lighting is switched, what it has been set to and who would change it if the arrangement does not suit you.

Lighting set for a handover visit often does not match how the household actually uses the garden after dark.

Note what any pump or moving part needs through winter, and who is expected to attend to it.

Water features and pumps are the parts most often neglected until the cold has already caused a problem.

Ask which parts of the installation need attention before winter arrives and what tends to happen when that is missed.

Hearing the consequence rather than just the task makes it far more likely to be remembered.

Where the answer involves the water supply, electricity or drainage, arrange it through the relevant qualified trade.

Write down the location of any drainage chamber or access point installed or uncovered during the works, and photograph each one.

Access points disappear under planting within a season, and finding them again without a photograph is unpleasant work.

Ask for spare surfacing units, gravel, timber or fixings to be left, and agree where they will be stored out of the way.

A later repair using material from the same batch is far less obvious than one made from whatever is available at the time.

Note the reference details of the materials used and where they came from, so a future repair can use the same thing.

Colour and finish shift between batches, and a written reference gives a future repair the best chance of blending in.

Check that packaging, offcuts, broken material and surplus soil have been taken away rather than tucked behind a shed or into a hedge.

Material hidden at the bottom of a garden becomes your problem the moment the team drives away.

Walk the access route, including the side passage, verge, path and driveway, and note any damage caused by deliveries or machinery.

Damage on the way in is nobody's focus during the works and everyone's argument afterwards.

Damage to a shared path or public verge may involve the local authority; raise it rather than assuming it will be dealt with.

Ask what cleaning has been done and what is left for you, particularly dust and mud on paving, glass and any adjoining surfaces.

Expectations differ widely here, and settling them avoids the sour note that often ends an otherwise good project.

Confirm that temporary protection, fencing, boarding and standing material will be removed, and that the ground beneath is made good.

Ground under protection is usually compacted or bare, and it is easily forgotten once the covering has gone.

Photograph every part of the garden methodically at completion, including boundaries, surfaces and the joints between different materials.

A complete set of photographs at completion is the reference point for anything that changes afterwards.

Photograph shared boundaries, fences and neighbouring surfaces, since questions about damage are far easier to settle with a record.

Boundary damage is often noticed by a neighbour after the team has gone, and a dated photograph avoids an unpleasant exchange.

Note where new planting sits in relation to fences, drains, buildings and boundaries, in case questions arise as it grows.

Positions that seem generous at planting can become contentious with growth, and the original spacing is worth recording.

Write down anything agreed verbally during the works that never made it onto a drawing or into an email.

Site conversations are where most changes happen, and they are the first things to be remembered differently by each side.

Keep your notes, photographs, drawings and product information in one place, since this is what any future professional will ask you for.

Scattered records are the reason owners end up commissioning investigation work that a single folder would have answered.

Record the condition of anything retained from the old garden, such as an existing wall, tree, path or store.

Retained items are easy to overlook at handover and are exactly where later disagreements about damage tend to arise.

Ask what the garden needs season by season, and write it down in the contractor's words rather than in your own shorthand.

Their wording carries detail that a summary loses, and it can be handed to whoever ends up doing the work.

Decide who is doing that work: the household, the same contractor, or a separate gardener, and record the answer.

Gardens decline in the gap between intention and arrangement, and naming the person closes it.

Note which tasks need equipment the household does not own and would have to obtain or borrow.

A task that needs equipment nobody has is a task that will not happen, and it is better known now.

Ask which parts of the garden are most likely to be neglected and what that neglect tends to lead to over time.

Contractors know from experience which elements get abandoned first, and their answer is worth more than a general schedule.

Write down what the garden will look like at its dullest point in the cycle, so that appearance is expected rather than alarming.

Gardens handed over in full growth look very different later, and an owner who was warned is far less likely to intervene badly.

Consider whether anything installed asks more of the household than it will realistically give, and raise that now rather than after it has declined.

It is still possible at handover to agree a simpler regime for a demanding area, which is much harder once it has been let go.