Building a 2027 HOA Landscape Budget for a Houston Community: The Line Items Boards Forget
Most HOA landscape budgets have one big line that matches the contract. Then the year happens: a valve fails in August, the entrance beds look tired by spring, a freeze takes out the boulevard shrubs. Here is how we would lay out a budget for a Houston community heading into 2027.
Start with base maintenance, and know what it covers
Base maintenance is the contract. In Houston, most HOA contracts are built around 42 visits a year: weekly from mid-March through October, when turf grows fast and beds need steady attention, and every other week from November to mid-March, when growth slows down.
Those visits cover mowing, edging, string trimming, blowing hard surfaces, routine bed weeding and basic pruning. The exact list should be written in your scope. If it is not written down, assume it is not included.
Base maintenance is mostly labor hours. That is what you are buying. When a maintenance number looks very low, ask how many hours per visit it assumes. A price that only works by cutting hours shows up later as missed beds and rushed edging.
Our guide to HOA landscape maintenance scope walks through what a clear scope should say.
Split irrigation into inspection and repairs
Most contracts include a monthly irrigation inspection. A tech runs each zone, looks for broken heads, leaks and coverage problems, and reports what they find.
Your contract includes a monthly irrigation inspection. In August, the tech finds a failed valve. Who usually pays to fix it?
See our answer
Best practice: It is billed separately, hourly plus parts. The inspection is just the inspection. Repairs are usually billed separately at an hourly rate plus parts, and on an older system that line can be large.
So budget irrigation as two lines: the inspection, which is often inside the base contract, and repairs, as their own line based on last year's repair invoices. Pull last year's repair tickets before you set the number. If you do not have them, that tells you something too.
When you compare vendors, look closely at the irrigation hourly rate and the parts markup. Those two numbers can change the real yearly cost more than the maintenance price does. More on how we handle this on our irrigation management page.
Mulch and seasonal color
Mulch refreshes and seasonal color rotations are often the largest line after base maintenance. They are also where residents see the most value. Fresh mulch and full color beds at the entrance are what people notice when they drive in.
Decide how many mulch refreshes and color rotations you want a year and which beds get them. In Houston, color usually follows the seasons, with cool season plantings in fall and warm season plantings in spring. The Houston commercial landscaping calendar shows how that timing usually falls. Write the quantities into the budget, not just a lump sum. It makes next year's comparison much easier.
Optional programs and enhancements need their own lines
Fertilization, weed control and pest treatments can make a real difference in turf and plant health. Many boards treat them as optional, and that is fine, as long as it is a choice and not an accident. Budget them as their own lines so the board can decide each year whether to keep, add or trim a program.
Enhancements are anything beyond keeping the property as it is: new beds, plant replacements, drainage fixes, entrance upgrades, sod replacement. Without a planned line, every one of them turns into a special request mid-year. Put a modest line in the budget and tie it to a short list of projects the board actually wants.
When you look at vendors, check how they price enhancements and extra work. A low maintenance number with high add-on pricing can end up costing more over the year. Our enhancements page explains how we scope this work.
Tree work and a freeze and storm reserve
Large tree pruning, crown raising over streets and sidewalks, removals and stump grinding are usually not part of a maintenance contract. Give tree work its own line. If your community has a lot of mature trees, prune one section of the property each year to keep the cost steady.
Houston has shown us that weather is a budget item. The February 2021 winter storm killed or badly damaged a lot of plant material across the region. Hurricane Beryl came ashore on July 8, 2024 and left downed trees and debris across Greater Houston. Neither one was in anybody's landscape budget.
You cannot predict the next one, but you can set aside a reserve for debris cleanup, tree work after high wind and replacing plants lost to a hard freeze. If the year goes quiet, the reserve can roll forward or fund enhancements late in the year. Our Houston freeze damage guide covers what usually needs to happen after a freeze.
Guess, then tap each card.
A hard freeze kills the shrubs along the main boulevard.
The tech finds three broken sprinkler heads on the monthly check.
The board wants a new flower bed at the amenity center.
A large oak limb hangs over the sidewalk.
Why all-inclusive contracts usually cost the community more
Some HOAs try to avoid surprises by writing an "all-inclusive" contract. Everything goes into one monthly price: irrigation repairs above and below the line, tree and shrub removal, plant replacements, even vandalism repairs. It sounds safe. In practice, it usually works against the community.
An HOA asks bidders for one all-inclusive price that covers irrigation repairs, plant replacement and vandalism. What usually happens?
See our answer
Best practice: The landscaper pads the price, so the community usually overpays. No landscaper can know how many breaks, dead shrubs or vandalized beds next year will bring. A careful one adds a cushion big enough to cover a bad year. Most years are not that bad, so the community pays for repairs that never happen.
There is a second cost. When those items are built into the price, the board loses its say. It does not see the repair, approve it or get options on how to handle it. For most communities, these items work better as they come:
- A cushion for a bad year, paid every year
- The board never sees or approves the work
- No options on how to fix it
- Hard to compare bids
- Irrigation repairs at a clear hourly rate plus parts
- Tree and shrub work proposed when needed, for the board to approve
- Vandalism fixed as a repair, from the reserve
- Bids compare real numbers
You still get predictability. It just comes from the budget lines and reserve above, not from a padded contract price. When you compare bids, ask each vendor to price these items separately.
Do not forget water, and ask why prices go up
Water is often in a different part of the HOA budget, but your irrigation system and watering schedule drive that bill. Under the City of Houston's Stage 2 rules, Houston Public Works lists HOA common areas as watering on Tuesdays and Fridays, 7pm to 5am. Rules can change, so check with your water provider. Our page on landscaping during water restrictions explains how boards can plan for it, and a landscape and irrigation audit is a good place to start if the bill keeps climbing.
Most vendors propose a yearly increase at renewal. That is normal: labor, fuel, equipment and materials all go up over time. What you want is a clear reason. An increase on base maintenance, on irrigation rates and on mulch pricing are three different conversations, and a change in scope is not the same as a rate increase.
Ask for your vendor's input, but write the budget yourself
Your landscape vendor knows your property. Ask them for last year's irrigation repair history, which beds need mulch or color most, trees that need attention soon, plant material near the end of its life and the enhancement projects they would recommend, ranked by priority.
But the board owns the budget. Compare their input against your own priorities, your reserve study and what residents care about. Our guide to HOA vendor due diligence has questions worth asking, and what really drives commercial landscaping costs in Houston explains what moves prices.
Many HOA landscape contracts renew on January 1 or March 1, so the budget conversation has to happen in the fall. Starting in Q4 gives you time to walk the property, ask questions and avoid signing a renewal in a rush.
A simple line item checklist
Tick off each line your draft budget already has. If one is missing, decide on purpose whether to leave it out. That is the difference between a budget and a guess.
Your result updates as you go.
Lines still missing:
Want real numbers for your 2027 budget? Get a free quote with every line priced separately.
Get a free quoteFor more on working with a landscape vendor as a board, see our Landscaping for HOA Boards series.