FAQs

How do pot plants help sell my home?
In today's competitive market, visual presentation of the exterior of your property, including initial street appeal, is paramount. You must make buyers want to come in and see your home. Plants provide instant greenery and shape to bare areas such as empty garden beds, fences and front verandahs, and softness to harsh lines of key assets such as courtyards and pool areas. Fragrance is an added bonus in Spring time, especially for female buyers. A small investment can much such a huge difference in creating more buyer appeal for your property, and hence more inspections. More buyers makes for a higher selling price, and sometimes faster, pre-auction sale.

Why use Rent-A-Garden?
We are exterior stylists, with over 12 years experience in transforming gardens, courtyards, terraces and entrances to make them more attractive for selling. We know what works! We are the only company in Sydney to
offer this complete exterior makeover service to property vendors. Sometimes you need a fresh set of eyes to look at your property and to provide honest advice, to save you time and money. Our Terry Hills nursery has a wide range of shrubs, hedges, palms and annual colour, to help make your property look its best!

How long will the rental period be? 
Our minimum rental period is 5 weeks. This is to accomodate the recommended 4-week pre-auction and allow for photographers to film the home and garden at its best BEFORE the first inspection.

Do we have to accept the plants after installation?
Certainly not. Our installed plants are suggestions and demonstrations only. You decide if you wish to keep them at that point and only pay for plants you accept. Read more about how it works.

What can we expect to pay for your services?
Every home is different...but as a general guide installations range from between $500 to $1200 for a 5 week rental period. The cost for larger and more expensive homes sometimes needs upwards of $1200.00. This may include a combination of plant, outdoor furniture and garden clean-up services. All items are separated in our quotes so you can tailor to your budget.

What are the costs for delivery and installation?
We deliver Monday to Friday, generally between 10am and 2pm. Our quotes show an itemised cost for delivery and installation. This cost varies depending on your location in Sydney and the level of ease/difficulty with which we can install. If you have your own suitable transport you can arrange to collect the plants yourself and return them when finished.

I am not a gardener, how often do I need to water the plants?
Our plants have different requirements but general guidelines are:

Indoor plants - 1/2 litre once a week or as directed.
Outdoor plants - A good soak every two days.  Note:  This is especially important in hot or windy weather.  Some plants have special requirements. Please feel free to ask us if you are in doubt. Click here to see our watering instructions

We are not living in the house.  Can you arrange to have the plants watered?
Yes. We provide a watering service for absent owners but we must have access to keys either from you or your real estate agents. There is a small fee for this service.

Can we extend the rental period if the house fails to sell at auction?
Of course. The normal contract period is 5 weeks. Extensions thereafter are charged by the week at 20% of the rental cost only (pick-up is already paid).

What if some of the plants are stolen?
The plants are our responsibility between delivery and pick up (we take our own insurance).  To date we have had only two small incidents in over 2,000 contracts (the painter took them!).

Can we buy any of the plants at the end of our contract period?
By all means...our plants are for sale at below retail prices.

Can we add more plants after the contract period has commenced?
Certainly. Many clients find extra plants will enhance certain areas after viewing the initial installation.

What if the agent for any reason puts the auction date forward or backward by one or two weeks?
No problem. Just let us know as soon as possible and we will reschedule the installation date.

Will the new owner expect the plants to stay with the house?
No, normal sale contracts state the seller will remove the furniture and pot plants after settlement. However, the planted annuals or any planted shrubs would remain.

What should we do with our existing pot plants?
We generally recommend you remove them to a non-visual area unless they are in exceptional condition.

Do you move our pots to our new home?
No. Removalists will be moving your furniture and effects. It is more cost-effective to include pots in that contract.

Do you have additional services to help improve the presentation of our house?
Yes.  We can:

• hi-pressure clean your patio, paving, stone surfaces, pool area
• rejeuvenate your gardens by pruning and shaping, weeding, mulching, and laying new lawn
• provide you with outdoor garden furniture

Wouldn't it be cheaper to buy the plants in pots from a garden centre?
You may find some types of plants we quote in commercial nurseries...but these are inevitably much smaller versions of the established mature shrubs and hedges that we offer, hence a lot less effective! Then there is the extra cost of pots or troughs, soil and delivery/installation. Also, cost of moving them once more to your new property. A couple of larger shrubs or hedges makes more impact, than lots of small baby ones dotted around. Items such as our mature Conifer hedges are just not available to buy elsewhere. These have been grown on specially by us for the purpose of creating effective 1mL x  1.5—2mH screens. 

Does an attractive garden or patio really make a difference to the sale?
Ask your agent. Many of our past clients have sold their homes pre-acution. In today's market real estate agents say " first impressions, position and presentation". Remember it is very much a buyer's market.

What if we change our mind and withdraw the house from sale after we have agreed to your contract?
Providing you give us 24 hours notice before the installation date, no charges will apply. After that the labour charges for loading and preparation will be charged at normal hourly labour rates.

We don't want to sell our house but we do want to dress up our patio/deck/entrance/pool area.  Can you help?
Yes we can. We provide rental service for functions, parties, exhibitions, film shoots and weddings.  Or visit www.balconyplants.com.au for permanent planting service for balconies, verandahs and small gardens.

What can we expect to pay for your services?
Every home is different...but as a general guide installations range from between $500 to $1200 for a 5 week rental period. The cost for larger and more expensive homes sometimes needs upwards of $1200.00. Either way it represents a small investment to increase the likelihood of selling your house at the price you want - or more.