Free guide for school business managers, nursery owners and managing agents
Grounds Maintenance for Schools, Nurseries and Communal Gardens: a buyer's checklist
Choosing a grounds contractor is not only about the price per visit. This free checklist helps bursars, nursery owners and managing agents write a clear specification, check safeguarding and paperwork, and compare quotes like for like.
What is inside
- What a good grounds specification includes, season by season
- Safeguarding: DBS checks, term time working and signing in
- The documents to request: insurance, risk assessments, COSHH, waste
- Bird nesting season and the law on hedge cutting
- How to compare quotes like for like, and sensible contract terms
- A printable checklist for your next tender or renewal
Written by Karol Antolak
Owner of A.K. Gardening Specialist, Northolt. London gardens since 2006.
A preview
Before you start
Whether you look after a primary school, a day nursery or the communal gardens of a block of flats, the grounds are the first thing parents, residents and visitors see. They are also a place where safety, safeguarding and legal duties meet everyday gardening.
We have looked after gardens and grounds in West and North West London since 2006, including communal gardens for managing agents and outdoor spaces for schools and nurseries. In twenty years of London gardens, the most common reason Karol is asked to take over a site is not poor grass cutting. It is that nobody was quite sure what the last contractor was supposed to do, or who was coming through the gate.
Chapters
- 1. Start with a clear specification
- 2. Visit frequency through the year
- 3. Mowing heights and lawn care
- 4. Hedges and the bird nesting season
- 5. Leaves, weeds and what is not included
- 6. Safeguarding on school and nursery sites
- 7. Insurance documents to request
- 8. Risk assessments, RAMS and COSHH
- 9. Waste: carrier registration and duty of care
- 10. Same team, reporting and photos
- 11. Comparing quotes like for like
- 12. Contract length and notice
Rather talk it through? Call Karol on 07703 040203 or see communal gardens.
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