How to Hire a Landscaper on the Gold Coast: 10 Questions to Ask First

Landscaping is one of the easiest industries to get badly burnt in. The cost of entry for a sole trader is low, regulations are patchy, and most homeowners only hire a landscaper a few times in their lifetime. That asymmetry — first- time customer meeting tenth-time installer — is where the worst stories come from.

The good news is that the bad operators are easy to spot if you know what to ask. The questions in this article are the ones I'd ask if I were hiring someone to landscape my own home. Ask all ten before you accept any quote.

1. Can I see your QBCC licence?

In Queensland, any landscaping work over $3,300 legally requires a QBCC (Queensland Building and Construction Commission) licence. Structural work — retaining walls over 1m, decks, pergolas, drainage — requires licensing regardless of value.

A licensed builder can give you their QBCC number on the spot. Look it up at qbcc.qld.gov.au — search their name, confirm the licence is active and unrestricted, check for disciplinary history. Lux is QBCC licensed; we'll give you the licence number in writing as part of every quote.

Walk-away signal:Hesitation about the licence number, suggestions that “it's a small job, you don't need a licence,” or providing a number that doesn't match their business name on the QBCC register.

2. Are you fully insured? Can I see the policies?

Two separate insurances matter:

• Public liability insurance (covers damage they cause to your property or others). Minimum $10 million on any Gold Coast landscape job.
• Workers compensation insurance (covers their crew if anyone is injured on your site). Without it, you could be liable.

A professional landscaper will email both certificates to you within a day of request. Refusing or stalling is a red flag.

3. What's your project process from quote to handover?

The way they answer this question tells you more than the actual answer. A landscaper who's built a proper business will describe:

• Initial site visit and brief (free).
• Design phase or detailed scoping document.
• Itemised quote with payment schedule.
• Project start date and timeline.
• Communication cadence (weekly updates, milestone check-ins).
• Final walkthrough and handover.
• Warranty and aftercare.

For more detail on what good process looks like, read our backyard transformation timeline guide — it walks through every stage with realistic durations.

Walk-away signal:“Yeah we'll just turn up and get stuck in.” Or a vague answer about “every job's different.” Real process exists or it doesn't.

4. Is the quote fixed or estimated?

A fixed quotemeans the price doesn't change unless you approve a written variation. An estimate means the final invoice can be higher than the original number — sometimes much higher.

Reputable Gold Coast landscapers provide fixed quotes once they've done site investigation. If you're given an estimate, ask: what specifically could push the price up, and by how much? A landscaper who can't answer that hasn't scoped the job properly.

5. How do you handle variations?

Variations happen — site conditions change, you change your mind about a material, council asks for an amendment. The question is how the landscaper handles them.

Best practice: every variation is a separate written document, signed by you before the work happens, with the cost impact spelled out. Worst practice: verbal agreement on the day, money added to the final invoice with no paper trail.

6. What's your payment schedule?

On the Gold Coast, the QBCC enforces strict rules:

• Deposits are capped at 20% for residential work under $20,000, and at 10% for work over $20,000. Anything above is a QBCC violation.
• Progress payments must be linked to completed work — not to calendar dates.
• Final payment is due after the work passes your final inspection.

A landscaper asking for 50% upfront isn't just being aggressive — they're breaking QBCC rules. Don't pay it.

7. What materials are you using, and what brand or grade?

Specificity is everything. “Pavers” isn't a spec. “Travertine 600x300x30mm honed, IBL Pty Ltd, Tumbled Cream” is a spec. The professional's quote will name materials by brand, dimension, grade, and supplier.

Same for plants. “Native shrubs” isn't a spec. “Lomandra confertifolia ‘Little Con’ in 200mm pots, 50 units” is a spec. The cheaper grades of any plant species are usually 30-50% less and look identical for the first six months — then fall behind. You want specifications you can verify.

8. Can I see three recent projects in person or by video walk-through?

Photos lie. Real Gold Coast landscapers can show you completed projects — ideally you can drive past, or they can do a video walk-through with the property owner on the line. Photo portfolios alone, especially with stock-looking renders, mean the work isn't verifiable.

Bonus question:“Can I talk to the homeowner from the most recent project you finished?” A landscaper who's done good work will say yes immediately.

9. How do you handle the warranty if something fails?

Two warranties matter:

• Workmanship warranty — typically 12 months on landscape construction (retaining walls, decking, paving, lighting installs).
• Plant establishment warranty — usually 90 days, subject to reasonable watering and care.

Critically: how do they handle a claim? Do you call them and they come back within 2 weeks? Do they invoice you for the callout? Are they still in business five years from now? The QBCC home warranty scheme covers you for up to 6 years of structural defects — but only if they're QBCC licensed (back to question 1).

10. Are you handling the council approvals?

Any retaining wall over 1m, any work near boundaries, any structural pergola attached to the house — these need Gold Coast Council approval. Reputable landscapers handle the entire process (engineering brief, lodgement, certifier coordination) and surface the fees as separate line items.

Walking away from council approvals or hoping no one notices is the single biggest hidden risk in landscape construction. It makes the work technically illegal, can void your home insurance, and gets flagged at sale time. Read more about when approvals are needed in our retaining walls Gold Coast guide.

Bonus: how does the landscaper communicate?

This isn't a question to ask — it's a pattern to notice. The landscaper you want will:

• Return calls and emails within 24 hours.
• Send written follow-ups after every conversation.
• Update you proactively when timelines shift.
• Be specific about what they will and won't do.

If the landscaper takes 5 days to send a quote during the courting phase, they'll take longer once they have your deposit. Communication patterns at quote time predict communication patterns during the build.

What good looks like

Hiring well in this industry is mostly about disqualifying the bad operators rather than finding the perfect one. Run a landscaper through these ten questions. If they pass them all comfortably, you're in good hands. If they hesitate or push back on more than one, keep looking.

Want to compare what a Lux quote looks like against another? Reach out via the contact page or call 0485 032 685. Site visits are free across the Gold Coast — we'll happily walk through any of these questions with you in person.