A customer in Quebec asks for planting, excavation, drainage and a built feature under one contract. Before you price it, run a Quebec landscaper RBQ licence check against each part of the work.
The licence question follows what you offer and perform. Not the trade name on your truck. If the Régie du bâtiment du Québec treats a work package as licensed construction work, settle the required licence and subclass before you promise the job.
Quebec landscaper RBQ licence: decide from the work you sell
Start with the exact task, the property and the finished result. Generic words such as landscaping, yard work or outdoor improvements are too loose for a licence decision.
Write the scope with clear verbs:
- maintain the lawn and planting beds
- plant trees and shrubs
- excavate soil
- install drainage
- build a landscape feature
- connect electrical, plumbing or another specialist system
- repair or demolish an existing structure
Check the RBQ licence categories and subclasses (opens in a new tab). Ask whether your business needs a contractor’s licence to offer and perform that exact package. If it does, ask which current subclass covers it.
Do not guess from a similar trade name. Do not copy a subclass from an old quote. Give the RBQ the actual work you intend to contract, including who will perform it and what the customer receives at completion.
Record the answer in the job file. Keep the date, the scope you described, the licence holder and the subclass you plan to rely on. That record gives the estimator a clean yes, no or unresolved status before the price goes out.
Separate maintenance from installation and construction
Recurring garden maintenance and landscape installation are different scopes. Do not bury both under one line called landscaping services.
A maintenance contract might describe mowing, pruning, bed care and seasonal cleanup. An installation proposal could add soil work, excavation, drainage, built features or specialist connections. Split those activities before asking any licensing question.
Never assume recurring work is exempt. Describe the exact maintenance tasks and ask the RBQ whether that package requires a licence.
Use separate scope lines for:
- Routine maintenance.
- Planting and soil work.
- Excavation and grading work.
- Drainage or water-related work.
- Built landscape features.
- Electrical, plumbing or other specialist work.
- Removal or demolition.
This split does not decide which package needs a licence. It gives the RBQ enough detail to make that decision.
It also fixes the quote. Your crew can see what belongs to maintenance, what belongs to installation and what cannot start until a licence holder or subcontractor is confirmed. For recurring work, build the visit scope with a landscaping maintenance schedule. For installation, use the landscaping installation quote guide to separate labour, materials, equipment and exclusions.
Match each work package to an RBQ subclass
There is no useful answer for landscaping as one broad scope.
Write one plain-language description for each package before checking a subclass. Include:
- the work being offered
- the existing site condition
- the finished result
- who supplies the materials
- who performs the work
- whether another contractor controls part of the scope
Ask the RBQ to confirm the licence question and subclass against that description. A subclass name that sounds close may not cover the exact work you have sold.
If your scope changes, repeat the check. A maintenance visit can turn into a different job when the customer asks the crew to excavate, alter drainage or add a built feature while already on site. Convenience does not settle the licence question.
Save the current licence record with the quote. Record the business name shown on the record, the licence details, the covered subclass and the date checked. Check again before awarding regulated work if the quote has been sitting for a while or the package has changed.
Check your role before using a subcontractor
A licensed subcontractor does not automatically settle your own position. You still need to ask what your landscaping business may offer, contract and manage.
Give the RBQ the full arrangement:
- your business signs the customer contract
- your business carries the complete exterior scope
- a subcontractor performs one work package
- your business schedules or supervises that package
- your business invoices the customer for it
Ask which licence each party needs for that arrangement. Do this before including the package in your price. Do not wait until the subcontract agreement is ready to sign.
Check the subcontractor’s current RBQ record before award. Match its covered subclass to the work package rather than accepting a licence number by itself.
State the division of work in the quote and subcontract. Name who supplies materials, performs the work, arranges inspections, fixes deficiencies and gives the customer any required closeout records. If the customer asks who stands behind the package, the answer should already be written down.
Add the subcontractor’s quote, permit costs and your own management labour to the job budget. Track them against the package that caused them. The landscaper job-costing guide shows how to keep cost tracking tied to installation phases instead of losing it in one yard-wide total.
Verify or apply before accepting the job
Search the official RBQ licence register (opens in a new tab) for your business or a proposed subcontractor. Match the name, licence record and covered subclasses to the work package, then save the record and the date checked in the job file.
If you need a new licence or a change to your existing licence, follow the current Quebec construction contractor licence process (opens in a new tab). Check the live instructions rather than relying on an old application, fee or timeline.
The answer depends on the work and your contractual role. Keep the quote conditional while the classification is unresolved. As a business control, hold the deposit, material order and start date for that package until you know who will contract and perform it.
Price only after the gate is clear. Build the amount from labour, materials, equipment, disposal, subcontractors, permits, overhead recovery and markup. If one package must be removed or assigned directly to another contractor, revise the scope before the customer accepts it.
Check the municipal permit separately
An RBQ contractor’s licence and a municipal permit answer different questions. One does not replace the other.
Contact the municipality for the job address. Give it the actual scope, property address and proposed site changes. Ask which permits or approvals are needed for that property and who may apply.
Write the permit responsibility into the quote:
- who prepares the application
- who supplies plans or site details
- who pays the permit cost
- who waits for approval
- what work cannot start before approval
Do not hide this in general terms. A line that says permits by others is weak if nobody knows which permit, which person or which work package it controls.
After the licence and permit decisions are settled, match invoices to completed work. Use the landscaping progress-billing guide when the job has clear installation stages.
Ask the CNESST about worker coverage
Describe who will work at the site, whether they are workers or subcontractors, and what role your business has. Ask the Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (opens in a new tab) whether the business must register, how the named workers or subcontractors are treated, and what coverage or reporting applies to that arrangement.
Worker coverage does not decide which construction contractor licence or subclass covers the work. Resolve that question with the RBQ.
Stop added work until you check it
The crew is on a seasonal maintenance visit. The customer asks for excavation, drainage or a built feature. Stop before anybody starts digging.
Write the added scope. Identify the affected work package. Check whether your business or a subcontractor holds the required licence subclass. Check the municipal permit position if the site work has changed. Then price the change and get the customer’s approval.
The house example is electrical work, not landscaping, but the control sequence is the same. At 14 Oak Street, R. Chen accepted quote Q-1847 for a bathroom exhaust fan and four LED downlights at 1,105 sample currency units. The ceiling was lined, and chasing was excluded.
Extra cable and chasing became a 160 change order approved on site. Invoice INV-1847 was 1,265. The figures are sample currency units, not Quebec rates. The useful part is the sequence: stop, write the change, check it, get approval, then perform it.
A customer’s verbal yes does not answer a licence question. Neither does an approved price. If the added package changes who may contract or perform the work, settle that point first.
The Quebec landscaper RBQ licence decision belongs beside the written scope so the estimator and crew lead can see it before the job starts.
Take the next uncertain work package from your current quote. Write the task and finished result in one sentence, then send that exact description to the RBQ before you issue the price.