How to Write a Commercial Landscape Installation RFP

Most commercial landscape RFPs are not written from scratch. They are stitched together from the last project's package, an outdated landscape architect template, and a few paragraphs the property manager Googled. The result reads coherent on the bid table and falls apart at substantial completion. A vague plant schedule produces substitution disputes. A missing warranty trigger produces eight months of arguments about whose calendar starts when. A reference to "ANSI Z60.1" in a 2026 document quietly tells everyone reading that no one has updated the specifications package since the standard was renumbered to Z60.2 in April 2025.

This guide is for facility managers, property directors, and general contractors who own or evaluate commercial landscape bid documents. It walks through what each section of the RFP should actually say, which standards to reference by name, and where the most-litigated ambiguities live. It assumes a project size between $25,000 and $500,000 in landscape value — the range where commercial RFPs are common and over-engineering the package is wasteful. It is opinionated about the Ohio Valley because that is where Radcliff Site Works delivers; many of the underlying standards apply nationally.

Specifying plant material

The American Standard for Nursery Stock, published by AmericanHort and accredited by ANSI, is the document every commercial plant schedule should reference. The current edition is ANSI Z60.2-2025, approved in April 2025, which renumbers the previous ANSI Z60.1-2014. Specifications written in 2026 should cite "ANSI Z60.2-2025 (formerly Z60.1)" or simply "the current edition of the American Standard for Nursery Stock." This single reference governs how trees are sized, how root balls are measured, and what container classes mean.

Three things in your plant schedule will cause arguments at delivery if they are not explicit.

Caliper measurement. ANSI Z60.2 measures tree caliper at six inches above the ground line for trees up to and including a four-inch caliper, and at twelve inches above the ground line for anything larger. This is not the same as DBH (diameter at breast height) used in arboriculture under ANSI A300. If your spec says "3-inch caliper" without referencing ANSI Z60.2, expect a delivered tree measured at the wrong height.

Container size. ANSI Z60.2 designates containers by class — #1, #3, #5, #7, #15, #25 — each with a published cubic-inch volume range. A "trade gallon" is not a true U.S. liquid gallon, and specifying "5-gallon shrubs" without the class designation is non-compliant with the standard. Use "#5 container" instead.

Root condition. The schedule should state whether each plant is balled-and-burlapped, container-grown, or bare-root. This affects season, handling, and substitution rights. B&B is conventional for shade trees one-and-a-half-inch caliper and larger; container is conventional for smaller trees, most shrubs, and all perennials.

Specifying topsoil and soil preparation

Bad topsoil is the single most expensive defect on a new commercial landscape. The plant material is on the schedule, the sod is visible, and both will be replaced under warranty. Topsoil failure shows up two summers later as a bed full of stunted shrubs and yellow turf — and by then the warranty has expired.

Reference ASTM D5268, Standard Specification for Topsoil Used for Landscaping and Construction Purposes, published by ASTM International. The standard requires testing for organic matter, moisture content, inorganic matter (sand/silt/clay), pH, salt content, cation exchange capacity, and deleterious materials. Note that ASTM D5268 explicitly does not address nutrient content (N, P, K) — those need to be added in your spec separately if your soil scientist or landscape architect wants them.

Commercial topsoil specifications written in the Ohio Valley typically call for a pH range of 6.0 to 7.5, organic matter content of 3 to 10 percent by weight, and a USDA texture in the loam to sandy-loam range. Heavy metal limits, if specified, should reference U.S. EPA 40 CFR Part 503 Class A pollutant ceiling concentrations, not ASTM D5268, which is not a heavy-metals standard.

Topsoil depth conventions: 4 to 6 inches for turf areas, 12 inches minimum for shrub beds, and tree pits sized two to three times root-ball diameter at a depth equal to or slightly less than root-ball depth so the root flare sits at or just above finished grade. These are durable industry conventions, not codified national standards, but every commercial landscape architect in the region recognizes them.

Specifying sod for the Ohio Valley transition zone

Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, and Dayton sit at the upper edge of the U.S. turfgrass transition zone. Ohio State University Extension's published guidance for Ohio commercial lawns is direct: use only improved turf-type tall fescue (TTTF) varieties; do not use Kentucky 31. K-31 is a forage tall fescue bred in 1942 for cattle pasture — coarse blade, light green, bunch-type — and it has no business on a corporate campus or any other visible commercial landscape. The University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension publication AGR-52 reaches the same conclusion for Kentucky.

The dominant commercial sod-quality blend in the region is 90 percent turf-type tall fescue and 10 percent Kentucky bluegrass. The TTTF carries the heat and drought tolerance through Ohio Valley summers; the rhizomatous KBG fills voids and gives the sod tensile strength so it ships without falling apart on the truck.

Specify sod thickness per UFGS 32 92 23 — the federal Unified Facilities Guide Specification for sodding, which references the Turfgrass Producers International Guideline Specifications: machine-cut at three-quarter-inch thickness with a quarter-inch tolerance, excluding top growth and thatch. Specify a maximum 24- to 36-hour window from harvest to install, with summer installations tightened to 24 hours. Specify continuous moisture maintenance for the first 30 days, four-inch root depth at the end of two to three weeks, and full establishment at four to six weeks before normal mowing or use.

Schedule, milestones, and seasonal windows

Cincinnati and Dayton are USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 6b under the 2023 USDA map (released November 2023, based on 1991–2020 data). Northern Kentucky is the same zone. Commercial planting calendars in this zone follow well-established Extension service guidance.

Spring window. Trees and shrubs go in from mid-March, when ground is workable and before bud break, through mid-June. Cool-season seeding is best in the early part of this window and not later than mid-April, per UK Extension AGR-52.

Fall window. Mid-September through mid-November is the best plant-establishment window in the region. Soil moisture has rebuilt, foliage has dropped or is dropping, and root growth continues into early winter. Cool-season seeded turf in southern Ohio cuts off around October 30; northern Ohio around October 15.

Summer. Container-grown stock can be installed in summer with intensive irrigation. B&B installation in July and August is risky and should be scheduled only with explicit owner acceptance of replacement risk.

Winter. Dormant planting of B&B trees and shrubs is acceptable when ground is workable and not frozen — UK Extension's framing is that "if you can dig the hole, you can plant the tree." Sod cannot be installed on frozen ground.

The schedule section of your RFP should identify four dates: notice to proceed, substantial completion (per AIA A201-2017 §9.8.1), final acceptance of landscape work, and the warranty start date. These often differ for landscape work even when the building is at substantial completion in November and planting cannot occur until April. The cleanest contract language ties the plant warranty to the date of final acceptance of landscape work, with extension if delays push planting into a second growing season.

Plant material lead times deserve a paragraph in the schedule section too. Container shrubs and perennials are typically available with short lead times. Field-grown B&B trees in commercial calipers — particularly specimens above four-inch caliper — often require pre-tagging at the grower six to twelve months in advance, especially after the 2024–2025 Ohio Valley drought constrained nursery production.

Warranty language

Plant material on commercial work is conventionally warranted for one year or one full growing season from the date of final acceptance of landscape work, with one replacement per failed plant. This convention is reflected in nearly every institutional master spec — UFGS 32 93 00, MasterSpec-derived university spec libraries, federal Section 32 90 00 model specifications. The AIA baseline at A201-2017 §3.5.1 sets a one-year contractor warranty across all trades; the landscape spec extends this to a full growing season because plants are seasonal.

Three points are routinely missed.

Replacements do not extend the warranty. AIA A201-2017 §12.2.2.3 is explicit: corrective work performed during the warranty period does not extend the original warranty period. If a tree dies in month nine, the replacement runs only through month twelve, not for a fresh year. Owners who expect rolling one-year coverage on each replacement are misreading the standard form.

Warranty does not equal indemnification. The contractor's plant warranty does not cover damage by a separate maintenance contractor, vandalism, lack of irrigation, owner-caused damage, acts of God, or animal damage. These exclusions are baked into AIA A201-2017 §3.5.1 and reproduced in nearly every landscape spec. A maintenance contractor who applies the wrong herbicide in month four and kills a row of arborvitae has voided the installer's warranty on those plants — and the owner usually does not know it until month eleven.

Sod warranty is shorter. Commercial convention is a 60- to 90-day sod establishment warranty, contingent on owner watering compliance and not on frozen ground at install. UFGS does not embed a numeric sod warranty period; it cross-references a separate landscape establishment section. Be explicit in your RFP about the sod establishment period and the owner's watering responsibility — the most common cause of installer warranty disputes on sod is a clause neither side wrote down.

Hardscape and paver workmanship warranty is conventionally one to two years on installation defects, mirroring the FAR 52.246-21 federal warranty of construction baseline.

Insurance, bonding, prevailing wage, and DBE

Insurance baseline. Commercial general liability of $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate is the floor; $2 million / $4 million is increasingly common on projects above $250,000 in value. Add commercial auto, workers' compensation at statutory state limits, additional insured endorsement naming owner and GC, and waiver of subrogation. The certificate of insurance must show the project name and address.

Bonding. AIA A312-2010 standardizes both the performance bond (covering completion) and the payment bond (covering subs and suppliers). Each is conventionally written at 100 percent of the contract sum. Public work in Ohio under ORC §153.54 requires a bid guaranty bond at 100 percent of the bid amount, or a cashier's check or letter of credit equal to 10 percent. On private commercial work, bonding is owner-driven; the typical threshold for requiring bonds is $250,000 to $500,000 in landscape value. Your RFP should state whether bonding is required and at what percentage.

Prevailing wage. This is where Ohio and Kentucky diverge sharply, and reflexively writing "prevailing wage applies" creates compliance overhead the project may not need.

Ohio. Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4115 applies to public improvements with public funds when total project cost exceeds biennially-adjusted thresholds — currently $250,000 for new building construction and $75,000 for reconstruction or alteration. Schools were exempted in 1997. Private commercial work is not covered, regardless of project size.

Kentucky. The Kentucky state prevailing wage law was repealed effective January 7, 2017 by House Bill 3. Kentucky has no state prevailing wage requirement on state or local public works.

Federal. The Davis-Bacon Act (40 U.S.C. §3141 et seq.) still applies in both states on federally-assisted construction projects above $2,000 — federal courthouse roofing replacement, VA hospital exterior renovation, federally-assisted housing.

DBE goals. Federal U.S. DOT-funded projects under 49 CFR Part 26 require DBE participation goals (typically 8 to 15 percent by project, set by the recipient agency). The size cap for DBE eligibility is $32.82 million in average annual gross receipts effective April 1, 2026, with a personal net worth cap of $1.32 million. Ohio MBE / EDGE / WBE programs, administered by Ohio DAS under ORC §§123.151–123.154, apply to state-funded work; Kentucky's state-level certification is more limited and most KY-side participation flows through federal DBE on USDOT-funded projects.

If your project does not have public funding and is not federally assisted, none of the prevailing wage or DBE rules apply. Stating "prevailing wage applies" by reflex in a private RFP creates compliance overhead the project does not need.

ADA-driven planting decisions

Two ADA rules drive landscape installation decisions. Both come from the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design (DOJ, 28 CFR Part 36 Appendix B; U.S. Access Board guidelines).

Section 307.4 — Vertical Clearance. Required vertical clearance over any circulation path is 80 inches minimum. This applies to tree branches over walkways. The landscape installer must prune low limbs at install to maintain 80-inch clearance, and the owner's maintenance contractor must keep it that way. Selecting a weeping cherry adjacent to a primary entry walk and locating it where its drip line crosses the walk is a design failure that an installer cannot fix by pruning. Better to flag it during design review than at substantial completion.

Section 403.5.1 — Walking Surface Clear Width. The minimum clear width on a walking surface is 36 inches, with a 32-inch reduction permitted only for short segments. Shrubs planted at the walkway edge cannot have a mature spread that pushes the clear width below 36 inches. Specify mature dimensions on the planting plan, not just installation size, and locate plant centers far enough off the walk edge to accommodate growth.

Section 303.2–303.4 — Changes in Level. Mulch piled higher than the adjacent walking surface creates a change in level. Up to 1/4 inch is permitted unbeveled; 1/4 to 1/2 inch must be beveled at no steeper than 1:2; over 1/2 inch triggers ramp requirements. Specify mulch finished flush or below the walk surface and require defined steel, aluminum, or composite edging.

Section 307.2 — Protruding Objects. Anything between 27 and 80 inches above the ground may protrude no more than four inches into the circulation path. Branches in this zone, signage in beds, irrigation backflow housings — all governed by this rule.

For deeper coverage of ADA walkway requirements as they intersect with hardscape and paver work, see our ADA Walkways pillar.

Procurement structure and the right CSI sections to cite

Landscape installation work falls under CSI MasterFormat Division 32 — Exterior Improvements. Reference the following sections explicitly in your RFP rather than describing the work in narrative:

• 32 14 00 Unit Paving (with 32 14 13 Precast Concrete Unit Paving for pavers)
• 32 84 00 Planting Irrigation (when in scope)
• 32 91 13 Soil Preparation
• 32 91 19 Landscape Grading (with 32 91 19.13 Topsoil Placement and Grading)
• 32 92 00 Turf and Grasses (with 32 92 23 Sodding)
• 32 93 00 Plants (with subsections .13 Ground Covers, .23 Plants and Bulbs, .33 Shrubs, .43 Trees)
• 32 94 00 Planting Accessories

Each section is written in CSI's three-part SectionFormat — Part 1 General, Part 2 Products, Part 3 Execution. Bidders read these in this order, every time. Reference standards (ANSI Z60.2, ASTM D5268, UFGS 32 92 23, ANSI A300) live in Part 1 References. Plant schedules and product specifications live in Part 2. Installation procedures, tolerances, and warranty triggers live in Part 3.

Use AIA A701-2018 Instructions to Bidders as the procurement-form backbone. Use AIA G704 Certificate of Substantial Completion as the closeout trigger.

Key takeaways

• Cite the current edition of the American Standard for Nursery Stock — ANSI Z60.2-2025, formerly Z60.1.
• Cite ASTM D5268 for topsoil; remember it does not address heavy metals (use EPA 40 CFR Part 503).
• Specify TTTF — never KY-31 — and a 90/10 TTTF/KBG sod-quality blend for commercial work in the Ohio Valley.
• Tie warranty to final acceptance of landscape work, not building substantial completion. Replacements do not extend the warranty (AIA A201-2017 §12.2.2.3).
• Default insurance: $1M / $2M GL minimum; AIA A312-2010 bonds at 100% if bonding is required.
• Ohio prevailing wage applies above ORC 4115 thresholds on public funds only. Kentucky state prevailing wage was repealed in 2017. Federal Davis-Bacon still applies on federally-assisted work.
• ADA §307.4 mandates 80-inch overhead clearance over circulation paths; §403.5.1 mandates 36-inch walkway clear width. Both drive plant species and location decisions before they ever reach the installer.

Related Site Works pages