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Must Have Maintenance: Neglected Gardens Are Costing Melbourne Vendors More Than the Maintenance Would Have

Must Have Maintenance

Key Facts:

• Melbourne garden maintenance company Must Have Maintenance reports that properties left unmaintained during rental periods or owner absence consistently require significantly more work and expense to restore before sale than ongoing maintenance would have cost.
• Research supports the financial case for well-presented gardens: a 2025 report found homes with established gardens sell for 17% more nationally, whilst neglected gardens can result in sale prices 5–10% below comparable properties — a potential $46,000 discount on Melbourne's current median house price.
• Gardens neglected for six to twelve months typically require three to five professional visits to become sale-ready, covering weed removal, lawn treatment or replacement, irrigation adjustment, and replanting, with pre-sale programmes often costing $3,000 to $5,000 or more.
• Founder Lukas James warns that vendors who leave garden preparation until two weeks before listing risk presenting a property that appears rushed rather than cared for, which is noticeable to buyers and negatively affects auction outcomes.
• Must Have Maintenance services residential and commercial properties across Melbourne's eastern and south-eastern suburbs, offering scheduled maintenance, pre-sale programmes, and services under NDIS and aged care guidelines.

MELBOURNE, Australia — 16 September 2026 — Must Have Maintenance, a Melbourne garden and lawn maintenance company completing more than 15,000 jobs per year, says a consistent pattern is visible in the properties it services ahead of sale: gardens that have been left unmaintained through a rental period or owner absence require more work, more time, and more money to restore than ongoing maintenance would have cost.

The financial case for a presentable garden at sale is well documented. 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. Australian real estate agents consistently report that homes with tired or unkempt gardens sell 5 to 10% below well-presented comparable properties, even when the interior is identical. On Melbourne's current standalone house median of $920,000, a 5% presentation discount represents $46,000.

Must Have Maintenance founder Lukas James says vendors typically underestimate what a neglected garden actually requires before it is sale-ready. A garden that has gone without regular maintenance for six to twelve months is not a garden that needs a mow. It needs progressive intervention: weed removal and bed clearing, lawn assessment and treatment or replacement where the turf has failed, irrigation checking and adjustment where systems have been left running incorrectly, and mulching and replanting where garden beds have deteriorated. That work runs across three to five professional visits before the garden is in a condition that photographs well and holds up at open inspections. Scheduled pre-sale visits typically cost $3,000 to $5,000 or more depending on the property's size and current condition.

"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. The properties that present best at auction are the ones where the garden looks like it has always been looked after, because it has. That is a different outcome to a rushed restoration, and the cost difference between the two approaches is usually in favour of the one that is maintained consistently," said Lukas James, founder of Must Have Maintenance.

Must Have Maintenance provides scheduled garden maintenance across Melbourne's eastern and south-eastern suburbs for residential and commercial properties, including pre-sale programs for vendors preparing for spring and summer listings. The company also provides services under the NDIS and aged care guidelines.

About us:

About Must Have Maintenance

Founded in 2018, Must Have Maintenance provides garden and lawn maintenance services to homes and businesses across Melbourne. The company completes more than 15,000 jobs per year and holds a 4.8-star Google rating from 109 reviews, servicing clients across residential, commercial, NDIS, and government portfolios.

Contact details:

Media Enquiries

Must Have Maintenance

1300 687 846

[email protected]