What a landscaping quote should include

Quote and estimate are not the same document

A quote is a promise to do specified work for an agreed price. Once accepted it binds both sides whether or not it was written down, and the trader cannot charge more because their own costs rose. Extra work agreed along the way is the only ordinary route to a higher bill.

An estimate is an informed guess, and the final price only has to be reasonable. No statute defines reasonable, which is why estimates lead to more disputes than quotes do. Asking a contractor which of the two they have sent, and getting the word written at the head of the document, removes the ambiguity in one line.

What the law actually requires on it

Contracts agreed in a customer's home fall under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. Schedule 2 requires the main characteristics of the service, the trader's identity and trading name, a geographical address, telephone and email, and the total price inclusive of taxes or, where that cannot be calculated in advance, the manner in which it will be calculated.

Itemising labour and materials separately is not a legal requirement, though it makes comparison possible. VAT is different on invoices: a registered business must show the VAT separately and display its registration number. Contracts where payment is £42 or less fall outside the information and cancellation rules altogether.

The 14 day right nobody mentions

Landscaping agreed in the customer's home carries a 14 day cancellation right running from the day the contract is entered into. Only construction of a new or substantially new building is excluded, along with urgent repairs the consumer specifically requested, which covers storm damage call-outs and very little else.

Traders must give the cancellation information and a cancellation form on paper or another durable medium. Failure to do so extends the cancellation period to twelve months, and supplying the information late restarts the 14 days from receipt. Failing to give the notice at all is a criminal offence under regulation 19.

Starting work inside the 14 days needs an express request from the customer on a durable medium. Where that request was not obtained, or the cancellation information was never given, regulation 36 says the consumer bears no cost for the service supplied. A contractor pushing to start tomorrow without paperwork is risking the whole value of the job.

Deposits, stages and retention

Citizens Advice advises pushing deposits as low as possible and never agreeing to more than 25 per cent. A deposit should buy something identifiable, usually materials or plants ordered in, rather than funding the contractor's diary. Receipts for every payment, made by card or bank transfer rather than cash, are the record that matters if anything goes wrong.

Stage payments suit projects over a few weeks, with each stage tied to completed work rather than a calendar date. The Royal Horticultural Society suggests holding back around 15 per cent until faults have been rectified. Whether preliminary visits or design work carry a charge, and whether that charge is refundable against the build, is worth settling before either begins.

Variations, standards and what to do when it goes wrong

Section 49 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires services to be performed with reasonable care and skill. Section 50 turns statements the customer relied on into contract terms, and a change to those terms is not effective unless expressly agreed. Where no price was fixed, section 51 imposes a reasonable price and section 52 a reasonable time.

Remedies are set out at sections 54 to 56. Poor workmanship entitles the customer to repeat performance at the trader's cost, including labour and materials, or a price reduction where repeat performance is impossible or too slow. A price reduction can be the full amount paid, and must be refunded within 14 days by the original payment method.