Website for garden and outdoor businesses

A landscaper's website: a portfolio first, then a way in

A patio or a new garden is bought with the eyes. The customer wants to see something you built that looks like what they have in mind, close to where they live, and recent. Everything else on the page, the services, the towns, the form, exists to get them from that photograph to a conversation with you.

For garden maintenance the logic is different. Nobody browses a gallery of mown lawns; they want to know that you come when you say, what a visit costs and whether you take the cuttings away. One website can serve both if it keeps them apart: projects on one side, regular work on the other, each with its own way of asking.

• Finished projects with the town, the type of work and, where you can, a before and an after.
• A page per service: patios and paving, lawns, planting, fencing, decking, pool opening and closing.
• For regular work: the frequency, what a visit includes, and whether green waste is removed.
• The area you cover, in words.
• How a quote works: free or paid visit, how soon, what you need to know beforehand.
• A form that asks the size, the access, photos and a rough budget.

Hedges, sheds and garden rooms: the dates and limits customers ask about

Two rules come up again and again on the phone, and both are worth a line on your website. The first is the nesting season. Citizens Information puts it simply: trees and hedgerows are protected during the main bird nesting season, and cutting or destroying vegetation is restricted between 1 March and 31 August, subject to certain exceptions. Say on the hedge-cutting page when you do the work, and open September early.

The second is what can be built without planning permission. A garage, shed, greenhouse or similar structure at the back or side of a house is exempt if, among other conditions, its floor area is not more than 30 square metres on its own or together with similar structures, a limit raised from 25 on 27 July 2026; it must be 4 metres or lower with a tiled or slated pitched roof, 3 metres with any other roof, and leave at least 25 square metres of open space. The conditions are the customer's to check with their local authority, but a contractor who can quote them is one who has done this before.

Citizens Information, “Biodiversity and protecting the environment”, read on 02/10/2026 · Citizens Information, “Planning permission for altering your house”, read on 02/10/2026

Written details and deposits: what the CCPC tells your customers

A landscaping job has everything the CCPC's page on home improvement warns about: a large sum, materials ordered in advance, and work that runs over several weeks. Its advice to the homeowner is a list you can answer in advance. Get written quotes from several contractors. Have the scope of the work and the payment structure in writing before any payment. Use a payment method that leaves a record. Be cautious about large sums up front, and avoid paying the full cost before the work is completed.

It also reminds homeowners that a contract can be made verbally, by email, by text message or by a quotation, and that photographs taken at key stages protect them in a dispute. They protect you too. A dated photo of the site before you start, and of each stage as it is finished, is the cheapest record you will ever keep.

With Traxo, the customer describes the garden when asking for a visit, books the quoting visit in the slots you opened, and can pay online when booking, in full or as a deposit, at 3% of what is paid and nothing else. State your cancellation terms where they are read before paying.

CCPC, “Home improvement and building work disputes”, read on 02/10/2026

VAT: where a gardener and a landscaping firm part ways

A gardener working alone on maintenance and a firm building patios don't quote on the same footing. Revenue's threshold for a business supplying services only is €42,500 of turnover a year: above it, VAT registration is obligatory; below it, you may elect to register. A business that also supplies goods, as a landscaper does with plants and paving, should check with its accountant which threshold applies to it.

What matters on the website is that a household reads the price it will pay. The CCPC's guidance for businesses says prices shown to consumers must include all applicable taxes, such as VAT, with no hidden charges. A price per visit, or a range per square metre, written VAT included if you are registered, answers the first question a customer has.

Revenue, “What are the VAT thresholds?”, read on 02/10/2026 · CCPC, “Pricing and price reductions”, read on 02/10/2026

A worked example: a week in May, and what holding it is worth

An example built for illustration, not a customer's story: a two-person landscaping firm with one patio a week in the season. A week promised in March on a handshake and cancelled in late April can't be resold: every other customer is already booked for a later date, and the paving is in the yard.

Work it out with your own figures: what a week of work bills, what the materials ordered for it cost, and how many weeks you can actually sell between April and September. Then set the deposit against that. On a €6,000 patio, a €1,500 deposit paid online when the date is fixed costs 3%, that is €45, and it is the difference between a week that is held and a week that is hoped for.

On the subscription side, Traxo's Starter plan on yearly billing is €480 excl. VAT for twelve months, or €50 a month excl. VAT with no commitment.

Six questions to ask before you sign

A web agency, a template builder and a website subscription all show a headline price. These questions, put to each, Traxo included, show the rest:

Traxo's answers: no commitment on monthly billing; the website and the domain name stop with the subscription, your Google listing stays yours, and your content and customer records are returned to you on request within thirty days, then deleted. You open your account online, build the website, pay, and put it online in one click; a free fifteen-minute launch call is there if you want it.

• Who adds new project photos after launch, and what does it cost each time?
• How long is the commitment, and how do I stop?
• Who owns the domain name, and what happens to it at the end?
• Is the quote form included, and can I change its questions myself?
• Is the Google listing linked to the website, or kept up separately?
• What do I get back when I leave: text, photos, customer records?