Melbourne sellers can face $3,000 to $5,000 bills
Melbourne vendors can face $3,000 to $5,000 or more in pre-sale garden restoration after six to 12 months without regular upkeep, according to Must Have Maintenance.
The Melbourne lawn and garden business reported a regular pattern in homes prepared for sale. Gardens left unattended during rental periods or while owners were away took more time, more labour and more money to restore than ongoing maintenance would have cost.
National research also points to a price gap. The 2025 Plant Value Report by Greener Spaces Better Places, in partnership with Domain, found homes with established gardens sell for 17% more nationally based on real transaction data.
Meanwhile, Australian real estate agents have consistently reported that homes with tired or unkempt gardens sell for 5% to 10% less than comparable properties with tidy outdoor spaces, even when the interior is identical.
On Melbourne’s standalone house median of $920,000, a 5% presentation discount equals $46,000.
Three to five visits before sale
A garden left without maintenance for six to 12 months usually needs three to five professional visits before it is ready for sale.
Those visits can include weed removal and bed clearing, lawn assessment and treatment, full turf replacement where grass has failed, irrigation checks and adjustments, plus mulching and replanting where beds have deteriorated.
Founder Lukas James said many vendors misjudge what a neglected garden needs before listing. “The vendors who get caught are almost always the ones who leave it until two weeks before listing. By then, the lawn might be green again but it is not established, the edges are not clean, and the garden beds look like they have just been worked on rather than cared for. Buyers notice that.”
James described neglected gardens as needing progressive intervention rather than a simple mow. Buyers and auction attendees could usually tell the difference between a rushed clean-up and a garden that had been maintained over time, he said.
Must Have Maintenance completes more than 15,000 jobs each year. The company offers pre-sale garden programs in Melbourne’s eastern and south-eastern suburbs and also provides services linked to NDIS and aged care clients.
