HOA landscaping
Built for the Way
CAMs Actually Work
in Boca Raton, FL
Professional HOA landscape services trusted by Community Association Managers across Broward and Palm Beach. Plant-for-life guarantee. Documented every-visit reporting. Transparent estimating you can hand to the board.
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40+
HOA Communities Served
$0
Plant Replacement Variance
14yrs
South Florida Experience
100%
Licensed & Insured
HOA Landscaping for Community Association Managers in South Florida
If you manage HOAs in Broward, Palm Beach, or Miami-Dade, you already know the landscape vendor is the relationship that makes your week harder or easier. Plant replacement invoices nobody budgeted for. Visits the board chair swears were missed. A complaint thread that started Tuesday morning and is still going Friday afternoon. The crew that shows up with a different lead every month. The vendor who only calls back after the third email.
Green Image Landscaping is built for the way Community Association Managers actually work. We service 40+ HOA communities across Broward and Palm Beach. Every visit ends with a written report in your inbox. Every install carries our lifetime plant replacement guarantee. Every estimate uses the same fixed-format scope so you can compare line by line — to us, to your incumbent, or to a competitor — and never wonder where a number came from. This page covers what to look for in an HOA landscape vendor, how our process works, what we do for HOA boards in South Florida, and the actual numbers from a 312-door Coral Springs renewal where we were not the cheapest bid and won the contract anyway.
The Real Problem CAMs Face With HOA Landscaping in Florida
Most HOA board members do not know what landscaping should cost. They know what their dues are, they know what the neighbor’s community pays, and they know what the last invoice said. Everything else is your job to translate.
That gap is where landscape vendors live. It is also where most of them get away with the four patterns every CAM has seen too many times:
Plant replacement as a profit center. The maintenance contract is priced to win the bid. The plant replacement invoices are where the margin actually lives. Plants die because the vendor under-waters and over-skips. Replacements get billed back to the community. The board approves them because the alternative is dead landscape on the entrance. You explain the variance line at the meeting.
Mow-and-blow service masquerading as full maintenance. The crew shows up Tuesday, runs the property in 90 minutes, and leaves. Pruning is reactive, not proactive. Pest pressure builds for three months before anyone treats it. Irrigation issues compound until something visible dies. The contract said full-service. The execution is route work.
Estimate formats designed to hide things. Every vendor’s proposal looks different. Different line items. Different assumptions about what is included. Different exclusions buried in different places. The board cannot compare them apples-to-apples. Whoever explains their proposal best — usually the incumbent — wins by default.
The disappearing account manager. You signed with the senior person who walked the property. Service started with the foreman you never met. The crew leads change every other month. Your point of contact for site issues is a dispatcher in another county who takes your call but does not know which community you are talking about.
CAMs do not need a vendor with better marketing. CAMs need a vendor whose operating model removes those four patterns from the relationship entirely. That is what this page is about.
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What Community Association Managers Should Look For in an HOA Landscape Vendor
If you are evaluating a landscape vendor for an HOA — whether you are putting it out to bid, walking a property with the board chair, or replacing a vendor that is not working — here is the framework. Same framework we recommend whether or not we are one of the bidders. We give the long version in our Ultimate Guide to Selecting a Landscaper for Your HOA, linked at the bottom of this page.
The Plant Replacement Question
Ask every prospective vendor a single question: “What is your plant replacement policy?” Listen for whether the answer is a written guarantee or a sentence that ends with “depending on the circumstances.” The vendors who do not stand behind their installs are telling you exactly how they make their margin. Ours is in writing: if a plant we installed dies under our maintenance, we replace it at our cost. No board approval. No invoice.
The Estimate Format
Ask to see a sample estimate before you commit to walking your property with them. The format tells you everything. Real operators have a standardized scope template — the same line items, the same frequencies, the same exclusion language across every property. Vendors that build each estimate from scratch are vendors that price each estimate to whatever they think the prospect will pay. The standardized format also means you can compare bids line by line without having to translate between formats. Ours has been the same template since 2018.
Site Visit Reporting
Ask: “What documentation do I get after each visit?” The answer should be “a report in your inbox, with photos, by end of day.” Anything less means you have no record of what was done, no documentation when the board asks why a complaint did not get addressed, and no evidence trail when there is a vendor performance dispute. If a vendor cannot show you a sample of their last five visit reports for an existing client, the answer to this question is meaningless.
Licensing — the Real List
In Florida, the licenses that matter for an HOA landscape vendor are: a state pesticide applicator license (Limited Commercial Landscape Maintenance, at minimum, ideally with the broader Commercial Pesticide Applicator certification), a Certified Irrigation Contractor license if irrigation is in scope, ISA Certified Arborist credentialing if any tree work is in scope, and General Liability and Workers Compensation insurance with current COIs. Ask for documentation. Verify the license numbers on the FDACS or DBPR public registry before signing. Most vendors who tell you they are licensed are not telling you which licenses, which is the part that matters.
Insurance Limits and Indemnification
Minimum General Liability of $2M aggregate is standard for HOA work. Workers Comp is non-negotiable. Auto liability of $1M per occurrence covers the trucks on your property. Ask for a Certificate of Insurance naming the HOA as additional insured before the first visit, not after. The vendor that hesitates here is the vendor whose paperwork is not current.
References From Comparable Communities
Ask for three references from HOAs that match yours in size, type, and price point. A vendor whose entire portfolio is small townhouse HOAs should not be your vendor for a 400-door master-planned community, no matter how good they are at the smaller work. Drive by two of the references unannounced before you call. The property tells you more than the CAM on the other end of the phone will.
Communication Cadence
Ask: “How often will I hear from my account manager when nothing is wrong?” The answer should be at least monthly, with a documented site walk and a written summary delivered to the CAM. Vendors who only call when there is a problem are vendors whose entire account management strategy is reactive. You will end up managing them instead of them managing your property.
Most HOA Boards Pick the Wrong Landscaper. They don’t know it for eighteen months.
The cheap quote wins the contract. Months later, the community starts paying for it through declining curb appeal, resident complaints, emergency replacements, and vendors that stop responding.
We wrote this guide to help HOA boards and property managers ask the questions that actually matter before signing the next contract.
The hidden costs behind low landscaping bids
One-page HOA RFP template and vendor scorecard
5-year cost comparison between cheap vs professional vendors
The 7 red flags boards miss before signing
Frameworks used by HOA boards across South Florida
Get The Guide
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Three Things We Do That Most South Florida HOA Vendors Do Not
Plants for Life
Every plant we install on an HOA maintenance contract carries a lifetime replacement guarantee. If it dies under our maintenance, we replace it at our cost. No board approval needed. No invoice generated. The number that hits your community’s books is the contract number, every quarter, with no “supplementary plant material” surprises. This is the single line item that has driven more than half of our HOA renewals — because it removes the line item your board hates most.
Every Visit Report
Every site visit ends with a written report delivered to your inbox by end of day. Photos of the work. Notes on conditions. Flags on anything that needs board attention before the next visit. You have a documented record of what happened on your property, every week, without having to ask. The reports are also what you forward to your board the day before the meeting so the landscape line is not the longest discussion of the night.
Transparent Estimating
Every estimate uses the same fixed-format scope template. Same line items. Same frequencies. Same exclusion language. Whether you are getting an estimate for a 92-unit condo or a 600-door master-planned community, the format is identical, and you can hand it to your board, your finance committee, or a competing bidder and they can read it. The format has been the same since 2018. We do not customize it to win bids — we customize the property, not the paperwork.
How We Work With CAMs and HOA Boards
Our process is built around the way a CAM actually has to operate — one site assessment, one written proposal, one signature, then ongoing service that does not require you to manage the vendor. Five steps. Same on every account.
Step 1 — Walk
We meet you on the property. Ninety minutes minimum. We document plant inventory, irrigation zone count and condition, hardscape condition, drainage observations, tree health, and anything we surface that the board should know about. You get a written walk report within five business days, regardless of whether you hire us. The walk costs you nothing.
Step 2 — Propose
Within seven business days of the walk, you receive a fixed-format proposal. Scope by line item, with frequencies. Exclusions in plain language. Pricing for the recurring contract, plus separately priced enhancement options the walk surfaced (irrigation repairs, plant replacements, mulch refresh, drainage corrections). You can adopt all, some, or none of the enhancements. The recurring contract pricing does not change based on what you adopt.
Step 3 — Onboard
Once you sign, we onboard the property over the first two weeks. The first month carries an extra reset visit at no scope upcharge — we use it to bring the property to baseline so we are not maintaining someone else’s deferred maintenance for the first quarter. Your account manager is named and introduced. The crew lead who will be on your property is named and introduced. The escalation contact for after-hours is named in writing.
Step 4 — Service and Report
Service runs on the schedule in the contract. Every visit ends with the report. Your account manager walks the property with you monthly, sends the written summary, and flags anything that needs board attention. We escalate proactively — if we see a tree that needs to come down for safety, we do not wait for the next quarterly meeting to surface it.
Step 5 — Stay Close
We attend board meetings on request — not every one, but the annuals and the budget-setting meetings, where the landscape line is going to come up and you would rather have your vendor in the room than try to translate. We attend at no charge. The CAM never has to defend the line item alone.
HOA Landscape Services in South Florida
Full service across the lifecycle of an HOA common area. Every service below is delivered by the same Green Image account team, on the same maintenance contract, with the same reporting and the same plant guarantee where applicable.
Recurring Grounds Maintenance
Mowing, edging, blowing, weed control, trimming, mulch, and seasonal pruning.
Landscape Design & Installation
Entrance refresh, common area redesign, and plant material installation under lifetime guarantee.
Sod Installation & Replacement
Full conversion, partial repairs, athletic-grade or ornamental sod installation.
Irrigation Services
Diagnostic, repair, smart controller upgrades, and full system installation under Certified Irrigation Contractor supervision.
Drainage Solutions
French drains, catch basins, downspout integration, and retention pond edge management.
Tree Services
Pruning, removal, planting, ISA Certified Arborist consultation, and hurricane prep assessments.
Landscape Lighting
Design, installation, low-voltage system upgrades, and transformer services.
Hardscaping & Retaining Walls
Paver installation and repair, retaining wall design-build, walkway, and patio work.
Artificial Turf
Dog parks, putting greens, and low-water alternatives for high-stress HOA zones.
Storm Response & Emergency Cleanup
Priority dispatch, debris removal, fallen tree cleanup, and post-storm assessments.
Erosion Control & Shoreline Stabilization
Solutions for retention ponds, lakes, and canal frontage through our Shoreline Erosion Control division.
Case Studies — HOA Communities We Have Renewed
Anonymized for client privacy. Numbers and circumstances are accurate. CAM references with full community details available on request.
The Coral Springs Renewal
312-door community
Setup
Mid-sized gated HOA in Coral Springs. Annual contract $164,000 with incumbent. 2023 plant replacement invoices: $9,200 — none budgeted.
Approach
90-minute property walk. Surfaced 3 irrigation zones the previous vendor masked with hand-watering. Built proposal with lifetime plant guarantee baked in at no separate line item.
Result
$11,000 higher than cheapest bid. Board saved $2,200 net year one. Complaints 14→2. Renewed annually.
The Mid-Year Switch
184-door Boynton Beach
Setup
184-door HOA. Mid-contract dispute over 3 missed visits in 60 days and unapproved mulch invoices.
Approach
Walked property same day she called. Written assessment in 72 hours. Reset scope first month at no upcharge.
Result
Zero missed visits. Zero unapproved invoices. Two reports monthly without asking. 3-year renewal approved. CAM referred two more communities.
Frequently Asked Questions From CAMs and HOA Boards
How much should an HOA in South Florida pay for landscaping?
The honest answer: it depends on the door count, the common area square footage, the irrigation zone count, the tree inventory, and the level of finish the board wants. For a 200 to 400-door HOA in Broward or Palm Beach with standard common area landscaping, recurring maintenance contracts typically run $130,000 to $220,000 annually. The variance is mostly driven by plant material density, irrigation system size, and tree population. The single biggest driver of total cost over five years is the plant replacement variance line — which is why our pricing leads with the lifetime plant guarantee.
Are you licensed and insured in Florida?
Yes. We hold state pesticide applicator certifications under FDACS, are insured at $2M General Liability aggregate, carry Workers Compensation on every employee, and provide Certificates of Insurance naming the HOA as additional insured before our first visit. License numbers are available on request and verifiable on the public registry.
Do you work with my management company?
Probably. We service properties managed by FirstService Residential, Castle Group, KW Property Management, Campbell Property Management, Seacrest Services, and several smaller boutique firms across Broward and Palm Beach. The management company relationship is the CAM’s relationship — we work the way the CAM works, attend the meetings the CAM needs us at, and report through whatever portal or workflow the management firm uses.
How does the lifetime plant replacement guarantee actually work?
Any plant we install under the maintenance contract is covered. If it dies under our continuous maintenance, we replace it at our cost — same species, same size at install date — without a separate invoice or board approval. The guarantee voids only if the plant is damaged by a third party (vehicle impact, vandalism, contractor damage on a non-Green Image project), if irrigation is disabled by the HOA against our written recommendation, or if the maintenance contract lapses. Plants installed by a previous vendor are covered separately under our Plant Health Care add-on if you elect it.
How do you handle complaints from individual homeowners?
They get routed to the CAM, not to us. Our process is built around the management chain — the homeowner reports to the CAM, the CAM relays the issue to our account manager, and we respond within one business day with documentation of what we did or what we will do. We do not field direct complaints from residents because that creates a parallel reporting line that bypasses your authority and breaks down quickly. The exception is during active storm response, where we set up a direct dispatch line for the community.
What if we already have a landscape contract in place?
We can walk your property and provide a side-by-side proposal at no cost. If the numbers favor a switch, we handle the transition — including coordinating with the incumbent on equipment removal, irrigation handoff, and pesticide schedule continuity. We do not pursue mid-contract switches unless the CAM is the one initiating the conversation and there is a documented performance issue with the incumbent.
Do you do landscape design and installation, or only maintenance?
Both. About 35% of our HOA work is install and design — entrance refreshes, common area renovations, sod conversions, drainage corrections, irrigation overhauls. We bid install work the same way we bid maintenance: standardized scope format, lifetime plant guarantee on the install, written warranty on the work. Most of our install jobs come from existing maintenance clients who saw the proposal format and trusted us to scope a larger project.
Can you handle storm response after a hurricane?
Yes, with priority dispatch for HOA contract clients. We pre-position crews and equipment ahead of named storm landfall, mobilize within 24 hours of the all-clear for contract clients, and triage by safety priority — fallen trees blocking access, hazardous limbs, then debris cleanup. Pricing for storm response is documented in the master contract so there is no negotiation in the days after the event.
Where in South Florida do you service?
Broward County and Palm Beach County are our primary service area, with selective coverage into northern Miami-Dade. Specifically: Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Wellington, West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, Royal Palm Beach, Coral Springs, Parkland, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Plantation, Weston, Pembroke Pines, Hollywood, Aventura, and Doral. If your community is outside that footprint, ask — we do extend for the right account.
What is the fastest way to get a proposal?
Send your community details to the form at the bottom of this page (door count, address, current vendor, and contract renewal date if you have it). Alex from our team will reach out the same day to schedule the property walk. From walk to written proposal is typically seven to ten business days.
Where We Serve South Florida HOAs
Green Image services HOA communities throughout Broward and Palm Beach County, with selective coverage in northern Miami-Dade. Our crews are based in Boca Raton, with route density across:
- Boca Raton
- Delray Beach
- Boynton Beach
- Wellington
- West Palm Beach
- Palm Beach Gardens
- Jupiter
- Royal Palm Beach
- Coral Springs
- Parkland
- Pompano Beach
- Deerfield Beach
- Plantation
- Weston
- Pembroke Pines
- Hollywood
- Aventura
- Doral
- + Surrounding areas
Local route density matters for HOA work — it is the difference between a vendor that responds within four hours when something goes sideways and a vendor whose nearest crew is 90 minutes away on the Turnpike.
Have Alex Reach Out
If you manage an HOA in South Florida and are evaluating a landscape vendor — whether that is for a renewal coming up, a mid-contract switch, or a new community coming online — Alex on our team will walk your property and put a written proposal in your hands. No charge for the walk. No pressure on the proposal.
Every plant we install carries our lifetime replacement guarantee
Written documentation of every site visit, in your inbox by end of day
Same standardized scope format on every proposal, comparable line by line