The customer praises the planting, but a damaged edging unit is still on the defect list. A landscaper referral program stops the crew asking for an introduction before the garden, variation and invoice are settled.
Treat the referral as a handover. Finish the original job. Let the new person choose whether to make contact. Then qualify their property from scratch.
Decide which landscaping work you want referred
Choose the work before you ask the crew to seek landscaping referrals. A loose request for “any landscaping” brings in work you may not have the crew, equipment or licence to cover.
Check Australian scope boundaries before making a promise
Write down the actual task. “Garden work” is not enough. State whether the request includes planting, excavation, structural retaining work, drainage, irrigation or outdoor lighting.
Ask the licensing regulator for the state or territory where the property sits which licence class covers that task. For a New South Wales property, put the named task to the NSW Fair Trading licensing and qualifications team (opens in a new tab) and write down the answer.
Keep workplace safety as a separate question. For work in New South Wales, use the SafeWork NSW guidance on legal obligations (opens in a new tab) to check workplace safety for the planned task, equipment and crew. Use the corresponding WHS regulator when the property is in another state or territory.
A licence question decides who may perform or contract for the named work. A safety question deals with how the crew plans and carries it out. Do not merge the two checks.
Once those boundaries are clear, write down the services you want. Use the words a customer understands: planting, garden clean-ups, turf preparation, recurring garden maintenance or full garden builds.
Separate the service types. They have different referral triggers and different intake questions.
- A garden build has a completion and handover point.
- A one-off clean-up has a defined visit and finished scope.
- Recurring garden maintenance needs a chosen satisfaction point.
- Drainage, retaining work, irrigation and lighting need separate scope checks before you promise anything.
Set a service area as well. Record the suburbs or postcodes your crew can cover without damaging the program of works. A friendly introduction outside that area is still unsuitable work.
If clean-up customers could suit scheduled visits, use the process for turning garden clean-ups into recurring work. Do not promise that the first customer’s visit frequency will suit the next garden.
Build three gates into your landscaper referral program
Every introduction passes through three gates. The original garden is accepted. The new person agrees to contact. The referred property fits the business.
Miss one gate and the referral stays on hold.
Gate one: clear the original garden
Open the accepted quote or work order. Walk the finished area. Check the planting, edging, turf, clean-up, waste removal and any other promised work.
Ask whether the agreed scope is complete. Record the answer. A compliment about one part of the garden does not close a defect somewhere else.
Stop the referral request when any of these remain open:
- A defect or unfinished task.
- A disputed variation.
- An unexplained invoice line.
- Waste that should have been removed.
- A customer complaint.
- A missing handover document.
On the Oak Street electrical job, the quote was 1,105. The lined ceiling led to extra cable and chasing, approved as a 160 variation. The invoice was 1,265. Clear the changed work and explain the matching invoice before asking for an introduction. These are sample currency units, not a rate card.
Do not discuss an unexpected invoice total and ask for a favour in the same conversation. Finish the commercial handover first.
Gate two: let the new person choose contact
The source customer can offer an introduction. That does not mean the other person has agreed to hear from you.
Ask the customer to speak to them first. The cleanest route is a shared message in which the new person joins the conversation and states what contact they want.
Keep electronic marketing and personal information as separate questions. Check the Australian Communications and Media Authority guidance on avoiding spam (opens in a new tab) before sending electronic marketing. Use the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner guidance on the Australian Privacy Principles (opens in a new tab) for questions about handling personal information.
Do not collect a friend’s phone number at the gate and treat it as permission. Record that the introduction is pending. Wait for the person to join it or contact the business directly.
Gate three: qualify the new property
A recommendation tells you where the enquiry came from. It does not prove the new property is a job you should take.
Put the enquiry through your normal intake before deciding whether to book a visit.
Choose the introduction route before the crew asks
Give the crew a small set of routes. Do not make them invent a process beside the trailer.
Give the customer wording to pass on
Use a short message that leaves the choice with the other person:
> A landscaping business has completed [type of work] at my property. Would you like me to introduce you so you can discuss [requested work] at yours?
If the person agrees, the customer can start a shared message:
> I’m introducing [person] to [business contact]. They want to discuss [requested work] at [suburb or postcode]. I’ll leave you both to arrange the next step.
The office can then ask the new person for the property address, contact preference and job details.
Treat a neighbour’s approach as a direct enquiry
A neighbour may approach while the crew loads green waste. They started the conversation. Record it as a direct enquiry, not a customer-supplied introduction.
Take the details the neighbour supplies. Ask what work they want and where the property sits. Tell them the office will check the enquiry before arranging a site visit.
Do not quote across the fence. The neighbouring garden can have different access, grade, soil, services, quantities and disposal needs.
Keep reviews separate
A public review and a private introduction are different customer actions. Record them separately.
Do not ask for a review, referral and maintenance booking in one speech. Choose the request that fits the moment. Make it once.
Give the crew one prompt and one handoff route
Name the service you want. “Do you know anyone who needs landscaping?” is too broad.
Use a prompt such as:
> Thanks for confirming the planting and clean-up are complete. We’re taking on more planting work in this area. If you know someone who needs that work, would you ask whether they want an introduction?
Change the service, not the structure. The crew confirms acceptance, names the work and asks the customer to seek permission.
Give the crew one place to send the handoff. A note in a personal phone or a name written on a scrap of paper will disappear.
Assign every accepted handoff to one office owner. “Office to follow up” is not ownership. Record a person, next action and status.
Record enough detail for garden client follow-up
The office needs facts, not a story about a nice conversation. Connect the referral to the source job, but create a separate enquiry record for the new property.
Use this blank template:
Landscaper referral program handoff Intake route: [shared introduction / direct enquiry] Source customer: [name or not applicable] Source job: [job reference or not applicable] Service that earned the introduction: [completed work] Original job status: [accepted on date / blocked — issue open] Open defect, variation or invoice issue: [details / none] Permission status: [shared introduction received / direct enquiry received / pending] New customer name: [name after contact is agreed] Contact details: [details supplied through the agreed route] Preferred contact method: [phone / email / other] Requested work: [customer’s own words] Property address: [address] Suburb and postcode: [details] Quote approver: [owner / manager / other] Office owner: [name] Next action: [action] Due date: [date] Status: [received / contacted / qualified / site visit / quoted / accepted / declined / closed] Closure reason: [reason if closed] Reward approval: [approved terms / not offered / pending owner decision]
When permission is pending, record the source customer and the action they agreed to take. The office does not contact the referred person until the original job is accepted and permission is recorded.
Do not copy the original customer’s photos, scope or price into the new enquiry. Those records describe another property.
Set a satisfaction point for recurring garden maintenance
Recurring garden maintenance has no single final handover. Use a scheduled visit with a recorded acceptance instead.
Ask only after the scheduled work is complete, promised waste is removed, open issues are closed and the customer confirms the visit is accepted.
Record which visit earned the introduction and add the customer’s comment in plain words. This gives the landscaping client follow-up owner enough context without turning every visit into a sales pitch.
Do not ask after every service. Ask once after that acceptance.
Qualify landscaping referrals before sending a vehicle
Call or message through the contact route the new person chose. Tell them who made the introduction and what you need to check before arranging a visit.
Ask:
- What work do you want completed?
- Is it a one-off job or recurring garden maintenance?
- Where is the property?
- Who can approve the quote?
- Can the crew, vehicle, trailer and equipment reach the work area?
- Does the work include excavation, removal or disposal?
- Are there slopes, gates, existing services or irrigation lines?
- Is there a timing constraint?
- Can you supply photos showing the work area and access?
Photos help you decide whether a visit is worthwhile. They do not replace an inspection when measurements, levels, soil, drainage or hidden services affect the scope.
Close the enquiry when you cannot take it on. Record the reason.
Control referral rewards in the office
Do not let a crew member promise cash, account credit or free work at the gate. Write the reward terms before anyone mentions them.
State which introductions qualify, who approves the reward and what event triggers it. Keep the decision separate from the tradie who receives the name.
Record an approved reward against the referral record and source job. Check the Australian Taxation Office guidance on business deductions (opens in a new tab) before deciding how the reward is treated in the business records. Do not guess at the tax treatment while speaking with the customer.
The reward is optional. A controlled handoff is not. The process must still work when no reward is offered.
Inspect and quote the referred property as a new job
Walk the new property before pricing work affected by access, grade, soil, existing services, measurements or disposal. Record what is present there.
Build fresh labour, materials, equipment, subcontractor and exclusion lines. If the enquiry is for a full installation, use the garden makeover quoting process to write the new scope.
Never offer the first customer’s price as a shortcut. Their quote covers their quantities, access and site conditions. The next property needs its own inspection and quote.
If the referred job proceeds, close it out against its own costs. The landscaper job-costing process shows how to keep labour, materials, equipment and rework attached to the garden that incurred them.
Close the loop after the enquiry is worked
Move each referral through plain statuses: received, contacted, qualified, site visit, quoted, accepted, declined or closed. Every open status needs an owner and a next action.
Record why unsuitable enquiries stop. Use concrete reasons such as property outside the service area, work you cannot take on, no one available to approve the quote or access unsuitable for the required equipment.
Review the landscaper referral program by source job and requested service. Look for handoffs that became suitable quoted work, recurring garden maintenance or closed enquiries. Use your own records. Do not invent a conversion target.