- The most revealing question is who will design and who will build — this tells you whether you're getting design-build accountability or a hand-off between strangers.
- In Seattle's clay soils and wet climate, any landscape company that doesn't proactively discuss drainage during their site visit is missing something fundamental.
- Ask to see projects completed three or more years ago — fresh installs always look good; the real test is how the work ages through Seattle's seasons.
- A one-year plant guarantee is the industry standard among established companies — shorter guarantees or vague "if maintained properly" language shifts all risk to you.
- Plant selection should involve site-specific evaluation (sun, soil, root competition, winter appearance) and cultivar-level recommendations, not generic species lists.
- How a company answers these questions — directly or evasively — tells you as much as the answers themselves.
Most homeowners interviewing landscape companies focus on the number at the bottom of the proposal. That’s understandable — it’s a significant investment. But in our experience across 2,000+ residential projects in Seattle, Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, and surrounding Eastside cities, the price rarely tells you whether a company will deliver the result you’re picturing. The questions you ask before signing tell you far more than the number you’re quoted. They reveal how a company thinks, how they handle problems, and whether they’ll still be around when that retaining wall starts leaning or those new plantings fail to establish.
Here are the 10 questions we’d want answered if we were on your side of the table — and what the answers actually tell you.
1. Who will design my project, and who will build it?
This is the single most important question, and most homeowners never ask it. The answer tells you whether the company operates as a design-build firm — where the designer and the construction team work under the same roof — or whether they’ll hand off your project to a subcontractor they may or may not have worked with before.
The distinction matters more than most people realize. When the designer is involved through construction, they can make real-time adjustments as site conditions reveal themselves. When the handoff happens between separate companies, details get lost. We’ve been called in to fix projects where the contractor interpreted the design plan differently than the designer intended — a retaining wall built six inches too low, plantings installed in the wrong exposure, drainage that looked right on paper but didn’t account for the way water actually moves across the property during a November storm.
What a good answer sounds like: A clear description of their process — who designs, who builds, how those teams communicate, and whether the designer stays involved during construction.
What a concerning answer sounds like: Vague references to “our network of contractors” or an inability to name specific people who will be on your property.
2. What happens if you discover something unexpected during construction?
Every experienced landscape company has stories about what they found once they started digging. In the greater Seattle area, that list includes unmarked utility lines, buried concrete from old foundations, root systems from neighboring trees extending 30 feet into the property, and glacial till — the dense, compacted soil layer left by the last ice age that sits just below the topsoil across much of Bellevue, Kirkland, and Redmond.
The question isn’t whether surprises happen. They happen on nearly every significant project. The question is how the company handles them.
What a good answer sounds like: A clear change-order process — they stop, document the issue, present options with associated costs, and get your written approval before proceeding. They should be able to describe a specific example from a past project.
What a concerning answer sounds like: “We’ll figure it out” or “That’s included” — because no one can include what they haven’t anticipated. Companies that guarantee no change orders are either padding their bids to absorb surprises (you pay either way) or planning to cut corners when something unexpected shows up.
3. How do you handle drainage on this property?
In western Washington, drainage is not a detail — it’s the foundation of every project. We receive 37 inches of rain annually, much of it concentrated between October and April. Clay soils across the Eastside — particularly in Kirkland, Sammamish, and parts of Bellevue — hold that water rather than letting it percolate.
A company that treats drainage as an afterthought will give you a beautiful patio that pools water, plantings that rot from saturated roots, and a retaining wall that eventually fails because hydrostatic pressure wasn’t addressed behind it.
What a good answer sounds like: They should walk your property and point to specific areas where water collects or flows. They should mention downspout routing, grading, French drains, or catch basins as part of their standard evaluation — not as an add-on. If your property has slopes, they should talk about how water will move after construction changes the grade.
What a concerning answer sounds like: “We’ll add drainage if we need to” or no mention of drainage at all during the site visit. If a company walks your Eastside property in January and doesn’t talk about water, that tells you something.
4. What's your plant guarantee, and what does it actually cover?
Plant guarantees vary widely across the industry. Some companies offer no guarantee at all. Others guarantee for 90 days — which barely gets a plant through one season. A few guarantee for a full year, which is the standard we hold ourselves to at Classic Landscaping.
But the guarantee itself is only half the story. What matters equally is what the company does during that guarantee period to make sure plants establish successfully. A newly installed landscape in Seattle needs careful attention during its first summer — the dry months from mid-June through September are when most new plantings fail, not during the rainy season when most people assume plants are fine.
What a good answer sounds like: A specific guarantee period (one year is the industry standard for established companies), plus a description of what they do to support plant establishment — watering schedules, follow-up visits, mulching, irrigation adjustments.
What a concerning answer sounds like: “Plants are guaranteed as long as they’re maintained properly” — which shifts all responsibility to you without defining what “properly” means for the specific species they installed.
5. Can I see projects you completed three or more years ago?
A freshly finished landscape project always looks good. The sod is green, the pavers are clean, the plantings are nursery-perfect. The real test is what it looks like three, five, or ten years later.
Asking to see older work tells you several things at once: whether the company has been around long enough to have a track record, whether their material choices hold up to Seattle’s climate, and whether their planting selections mature well or create maintenance problems as they grow.
What a good answer sounds like: Enthusiasm. A company that does quality work is proud of how their projects age. They should be able to point you to specific properties — ideally in neighborhoods near yours — where you can see how their work has held up through multiple seasons. Our portfolio includes projects spanning years, including a Kenmore lakeview remodel where the multi-tiered retaining wall and native plantings were designed to look better with age.
What a concerning answer sounds like: Only offering photos from the day of completion, or an inability to provide references for projects older than a year. If every reference is from the last six months, ask why.
6. Who specifically will be on my property each day?
Landscape construction involves heavy equipment, structural work, and skilled trades. The crew working on your property should include people who know what they’re doing — not just laborers following generic instructions.
This question matters particularly for hardscape work (patios, retaining walls, steps) where the quality of the base preparation determines whether the surface holds up or fails within a few years. In our experience, the difference between a patio that lasts 20 years and one that starts shifting after three winters comes down to whether the crew understood Seattle’s freeze-thaw cycle and built the base accordingly — a minimum 6-inch compacted gravel base in our clay soils, compared to the 4 inches that might suffice in a sandier region.
What a good answer sounds like: Named team members or crew leads, their experience level, and their roles. Bonus points if they mention specific certifications — ISA Certified Arborist for tree work, for example, or masonry experience for stone and paver installation.
What a concerning answer sounds like: “We have a great team” without being able to tell you who will actually show up.
7. How do you select plants for this specific site?
This question separates horticultural professionals from companies that order whatever’s available at the wholesale nursery that week. A good landscape company evaluates your specific site conditions — sun exposure at different times of day, soil type (which varies significantly even within a single Eastside neighborhood), existing root competition from mature trees, wind patterns, and what the property will look like in winter, not just summer.
At Classic Landscaping, our nursery-trade roots shape how we approach plant selection. We don’t just know that Japanese maples work in Seattle — we know that ‘Bloodgood’ holds its color better in partial shade than ‘Emperor One,’ that ‘Seiryu’ is one of the few upright laceleaf varieties that handles our wet winters without developing verticillium wilt, and that most homeowners who plant a ‘Crimson Queen’ against a south-facing wall in Bellevue will watch it scorch by August.
What a good answer sounds like: They ask about your sun/shade patterns, mention soil testing or at least visual soil assessment, and recommend specific cultivars (not just “we’ll put in some Japanese maples and hydrangeas”). They should mention what the planting will look like in January, not just June.
What a concerning answer sounds like: A plant list that sounds generic — “shade-loving perennials” or “native plants” without identifying species or cultivars, or a promise to “pick the best stuff” at the nursery.
Evaluating Landscape Companies?
We're happy to answer your questions — even if you're still comparing options.
Talk to Our Team8. What does your maintenance program look like after the project is done?
Some landscape companies build and walk away. Others offer ongoing maintenance. Neither approach is inherently wrong, but the answer reveals whether the company is invested in the long-term health of what they install.
A landscape in Seattle requires different maintenance in different seasons: spring clean-up and mulching in March, irrigation adjustment as the dry season begins in late June, pruning of specific shrubs at their correct timing (hydrangeas in late winter, rhododendrons right after bloom, conifers in late spring), fall leaf management and bed preparation in October, and winter monitoring for storm damage and drainage issues.
What a good answer sounds like: A structured program — either their own maintenance team or a referral partner they trust and have worked with. They should describe what the program includes and what it costs, ideally with seasonal detail that reflects how Seattle landscapes actually behave.
What a concerning answer sounds like: “You can call us if you need anything” — which means there’s no program and you’ll be searching for a maintenance crew on your own, hoping they understand the design intent behind what was planted.
9. What permits will this project require, and who handles them?
In King County and the surrounding jurisdictions, permits are required for retaining walls over 4 feet, any work within shoreline management areas, significant tree removal, and structures like pergolas or covered patios. The rules vary by city — Bellevue has different requirements than Kirkland, which has different requirements than unincorporated King County.
A company that’s built extensively in the area should know the local permitting landscape without looking it up. They should be able to tell you during the initial consultation whether your project is likely to trigger permit requirements and what that process looks like — timeline, cost, inspections.
What a good answer sounds like: Specific knowledge of your city’s requirements. For the Kenmore project in our portfolio, the retaining wall required geotechnical engineering, King County permitting, and seismic compliance review — all of which we managed. A good company handles the permitting process for you, building the timeline and cost into their proposal.
What a concerning answer sounds like: “We don’t usually need permits for this kind of work” — which is either inaccurate or suggests they’re planning to skip the permitting process, leaving you liable if the city discovers unpermitted work.
10. What's your timeline, and what could change it?
Seattle’s landscape construction season has a rhythm. The busiest months are April through October, when most homeowners want work done and weather is most cooperative. But experienced companies plan year-round — design work happens through the winter, site preparation and hardscape can proceed in drier fall and early spring windows, and planting is often best done in October or March when the soil is warm but rain will handle the watering.
What a good answer sounds like: A realistic timeline with built-in contingency. In Seattle, any outdoor construction schedule needs to account for weather delays — a company that promises an aggressive timeline with no buffer is either overpromising or hasn’t built here long enough to know better. They should tell you their current backlog honestly. If they can start next week on a major project, ask why their schedule is empty.
What a concerning answer sounds like: “We can start right away and have it done in two weeks” for a project that clearly requires more time. Aggressive timelines often mean either shortcuts during construction or a schedule that stretches when reality sets in — and by then, you’ve already signed.
The Question Behind All These Questions
What you’re really evaluating isn’t just competence — it’s character. A company’s willingness to answer these questions directly, without getting defensive or evasive, tells you more than their portfolio or their price. The companies that welcome tough questions are usually the ones that have earned the right to answer them confidently.
In our experience, homeowners who take the time to ask these questions before signing don’t just avoid bad contractors — they end up with better projects. The conversation itself often surfaces design ideas, site challenges, and expectations that improve the outcome for everyone.
If these questions resonate and you’d like to ask them in person, we’re happy to sit down and walk through your project. That’s what a consultation is for.
The Bottom Line
What you’re really evaluating isn’t just competence — it’s character. A company’s willingness to answer these questions directly, without getting defensive or evasive, tells you more than their portfolio or their price. The companies that welcome tough questions are usually the ones that have earned the right to answer them confidently.
In our experience, homeowners who take the time to ask these questions before signing don’t just avoid bad contractors — they end up with better projects. The conversation itself often surfaces design ideas, site challenges, and expectations that improve the outcome for everyone.
If these questions resonate and you’d like to ask them in person, we’re happy to sit down and walk through your project. That’s what a consultation is for.
