Quick Answer: Condo boards finishing their SIRS by December 31, 2026 are locking reserve budgets and reviewing discretionary spending, and landscaping gets looked at. Protect your line by splitting 2027 into routine maintenance, work that protects people and buildings, and enhancements that can wait. Hand the board a ranked list before they cut.
What does the SIRS deadline mean for the 2027 landscape budget?
It means the reserve number gets settled first, and everything else is fitted around it. Florida’s outside deadline for condo Structural Integrity Reserve Studies is December 31, 2026. Boards are drafting 2027 budgets at the same time, so they are locking reserves and reviewing discretionary lines.
Anything legal belongs with association counsel and the reserve study provider. That includes what the deadline requires of your association and what a reserve study covers. This post does not say where any landscape item sits in a reserve study.
What you control is the packet. If the board sees one undivided landscape number, it will cut that number. If it sees a ranked list, it can cut the right items.
Why do boards look at landscaping when they lock reserve budgets?
Because landscaping looks like the easiest line to trim. The cut does not show on the day of the vote. It shows in spring, when the entrance beds have gaps, the hedges are overgrown and an owner asks why.
That owner emails you, not the board. You explain a decision you did not make, with no record of what the property looked like before the cut.
The fix is to stop presenting landscaping as a single line. Present three buckets:
- Routine maintenance: weekly visits in the growing season and every other week the rest of the year.
- Work that protects people and buildings: trimming, drainage and walking surfaces.
- Enhancements: new beds, upgraded plant material, color and lighting.
Plant replacement gets its own line, covered below.
For boards and managers: our free 60 page Ultimate HOA Guide to Selecting a Landscaper covers what to ask and what to require before you sign. Get the free guide
Which landscape work protects people and buildings and should not wait?
Three kinds of work belong in the protect bucket, because each one costs more later if it is skipped.
- Tree and palm trimming over walkways, parking and roofs. Branches and fronds keep growing. Deferred tree trimming means heavier limbs over cars, paths and roof edges, and a bigger job when the board finally approves it.
- Drain and catch basin clearing so water leaves the property. A clogged basin does not announce itself. It shows up as standing water after a hard rain, washed out mulch and soil, and a drainage repair larger than the cleanup would have been.
- Hardscape trip hazards. A lifted paver or cracked walk gets worse, and a resident or visitor can trip on it before the board revisits the budget.
When you write these up, say what each one protects: a walkway, a roof, a parking lot.
Which enhancements can wait a year without hurting the property?
Most can wait, as long as the routine and protect buckets are funded. Skipping new beds, upgraded plant material, color or lighting for a year does not damage the property.
The mistake is cutting them all or approving them all. Rank them, and let the board fund them in parts:
- The item that fixes the first impression owners and visitors see, usually the entrance.
- The item that replaces something already failing, such as a bed that has thinned out.
- Plant material upgrades in lower traffic areas.
- Color and lighting additions.
The board funds item 1, maybe item 2, and moves the rest to next year. Each item is scoped on its own, so approving part of the list does not reopen the whole proposal. Here is how we scope landscape enhancements.
How should I lay out the landscape line in the board packet?
Put one page in the packet. Each item on that page gets three things:
- A named scope, meaning what will be done and where.
- A named exclusion, meaning what is not included.
- One plain line on what happens to the property if the board defers it.
Quote no prices on the summary page. The sample proposal shows the format.
Plant replacement goes on its own line, so the board sees it as a separate decision. Enroll in Plants for Life, and we replace any plant we install that dies of natural causes for the life of the plant.
How do I show the board what a cut will look like?
Show them the property as it is today. A board judges a cut more accurately from current conditions than from a description.
Use dated photos from visit reports: the entrance, walkways under tree canopy, catch basins and any lifted pavers. Put each next to its deferral line. Documentation follows the agreed reporting plan, and the sample visit report shows what one looks like.
Those photos protect you later. If spring brings a complaint, you have a dated record of what the property looked like at the vote.
What should I ask the vendor to put in writing before the budget vote?
Ask for what you need to build the one page, and ask before the packet deadline, not the week of the meeting.
- Each item as a separate scope with its own named exclusions, so the board can approve part of the list.
- Dated condition photos from recent visit reports.
- A plain statement of what the vendor sees today in trees, drains, catch basins and walking surfaces.
- A clear split between routine maintenance, protect work, enhancements and plant replacement.
Green Image is a commercial landscape company that has maintained and installed landscapes for HOA communities and commercial properties across Palm Beach, Broward and Miami Dade for 14 years. Our page for community association managers explains how we document for managers. Contract terms are decided by the contract, your board and counsel.
If the board does cut, you end up with a decision made with the photos in front of it, and a record you can point to afterward.
FAQ
What happens to our landscape budget if the condo has to fund reserves first?
The reserve number is set first, and discretionary lines, landscaping among them, are reviewed against what remains. Present three buckets so the board can trim enhancements before it touches routine care or safety work.
Which landscape items can wait a year?
Enhancements such as new beds, upgraded plant material, color and lighting can usually wait. Trimming over walkways, parking and roofs, drain clearing and trip hazards should not.
Does a landscape item count toward the reserve study?
Ask association counsel and the reserve study provider. We do not advise on what belongs in a reserve study.
What proof helps the board judge a cut?
Dated photos from visit reports, taken under the agreed reporting plan, showing the property as it is today.
Get a Quote: we walk your property and send a written proposal with photos within 72 hours.
