Most gardens in the Kingdom do not fail in their first year. They fail in the third, when the irrigation has drifted, the hedges have been clipped by whoever happened to be free, and nobody remembers which zone feeds the palms. A maintenance contract is what stops that slow slide, but only if it covers the right things.

This guide explains what a landscape maintenance contract should include in Saudi Arabia, how often a garden really needs attention, how contracts are priced, and what to check before you sign one.

What Is a Landscape Maintenance Contract?

A landscape maintenance contract is an agreement for a team to look after a garden or grounds on a fixed schedule, usually for a year at a time. It sets out what work is done, how often, who pays for water, plants and materials, and how quickly the contractor responds when something breaks.

Most contracts here run for twelve months with monthly payments. They cover routine visits plus an agreed amount of reactive work, such as irrigation repairs after a pipe is damaged.

What Should a Maintenance Package Include?

A complete package covers six areas. If a quote leaves one of them out, ask why.

• Irrigation. Weekly checks of every zone, emitter cleaning, leak repairs, and changes to the controller schedule as the seasons turn. In this climate it is the most important line in the contract, and our smart irrigation guide explains why.
• Plant care. Pruning, hedge clipping, deadheading, staking young trees and replacing plants that fail.
• Lawn care. Mowing, edging, feeding and occasional renovation wherever there is natural turf.
• Palm care. Removing dead fronds, cleaning the crowns, and watching for red palm weevil, a serious pest across the Kingdom that is far cheaper to catch early.
• Soil and feeding. Fertiliser and soil improvement timed to the growing seasons, rather than spread on the same day every month.
• Cleaning. Litter, leaf drop, weeding, and keeping paths, paving and water features clean.

Reporting matters as much as the work. A good contractor tells you what was done on each visit and raises problems while they are still repairs rather than replacements.

How Often Should a Garden Be Maintained in Saudi Arabia?

More often in summer than most owners expect. Between June and August a planting bed can go from healthy to scorched in a few days if a dripper blocks, so a weekly visit is the minimum for most villa gardens, and anything larger usually needs people on site several days a week.

The heavier jobs are spread through the year. Pruning and feeding cluster in the cooler months either side of summer, palms are cleaned once the dates are in, and the irrigation schedule is reset twice: once before the heat arrives and once after it breaks. The planting side of the same year is covered in our autumn planting calendar.

What Is the Difference Between a Basic and a Full Contract?

Mostly, what happens when something goes wrong.

• A basic contract covers routine visits: mowing, clipping, litter and a visual check of the irrigation. Repairs and replacement plants are charged separately.
• A full contract adds irrigation repairs, plant replacement up to an agreed value, pest treatment, seasonal planting and a guaranteed response time.

Basic contracts look cheaper on paper. For gardens with a lot of planting or an older irrigation system they often cost more over the year, because every small failure arrives as its own invoice.

How Is a Maintenance Contract Priced?

Contractors price maintenance on four things: the area, how densely it is planted, the state of the irrigation, and how often the team visits. A big lawn edged with simple hedging is quicker to look after than a smaller garden full of mixed beds, specimen trees and tall palms that need a lift to reach.

Water is the other variable. Some contracts include it and some do not, and in this climate the difference is large enough to change which quote is actually cheaper. The same factors drive installation prices, which our guide to the cost of landscaping in Saudi Arabia walks through.

How Do You Choose a Maintenance Contractor?

• Step 1: Walk the site together. Ask the contractor to walk the whole garden before quoting. A price worked out from a drawing or a phone call will miss the problems that drive the real cost.
• Step 2: Get an irrigation audit first. Have every irrigation zone run and checked before you agree a price. Most older gardens have leaks and blocked emitters, and it is easier to fix them at the start than argue about them later.
• Step 3: Put the scope in writing. List exactly what is included, how often it happens, and what is charged on top. Plant replacement, pest treatment and water are the items most often left vague.
• Step 4: Agree response times. Agree how quickly the team will attend an irrigation failure in summer. In July a few hours can be the difference between a repair and a replacement.
• Step 5: Ask how visits are reported. A short visit report with photos tells you the work is being done and gives you a record if something fails later.

Villa, Compound or Commercial: What Changes?

The jobs are the same. The scale and the stakes are not.

• Villas usually need one visit a week, ideally from the same people each time, so someone knows the planting and notices when it changes.
• Residential compounds need a resident team, because shared areas are used every day and residents notice within hours when something is wrong. AALICO’s compound work includes Al Bustan Village in Riyadh.
• Commercial and public sites need work planned around the people using them, with noisy jobs done early or out of hours and a clear record for the facilities team. Our commercial landscaping guide covers these sites in more detail.

If you are still at the design stage, the cheapest maintenance contract is the one you design for. Our low maintenance garden guide shows where those savings come from.

If you are choosing a new contractor at the same time, our guide on how to compare landscaping companies in Saudi Arabia gives you ten checks and a scorecard to use on each quote.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often should a garden be maintained in Saudi Arabia?

At least weekly for most villa gardens, and more closely between June and August, when heat stress can damage planting within days. Residential compounds and commercial sites usually need a team on site several days a week or full time.

What does a landscape maintenance contract usually include?

Irrigation checks and repairs, pruning and hedge clipping, lawn care, palm care, feeding, pest control and general cleaning. Fuller contracts also cover plant replacement, seasonal planting and a guaranteed response time.

Is a full maintenance contract worth paying for?

For gardens with dense planting, palms or an older irrigation system, usually yes. Basic contracts charge separately for each repair and replacement, which often adds up to more over a year.

When should the irrigation schedule be changed?

Twice a year as a minimum: before the summer heat, usually in April, and after it breaks, usually in October. A smart controller can adjust automatically in between.

Talk to AALICO About Maintenance

AALICO has looked after gardens and grounds across Saudi Arabia since 1980, from private villas to residential compounds and large public projects. If your garden is looking tired, or you want a second opinion on an existing contract, get in touch and we will start with a site walk. The full range of what we do is on our services page.