Best Landscapers in Fremantle & Melville (South of the River) (2026)
Table of Contents
These are the ten best-rated landscapers working Fremantle, East Fremantle and Melville’s south-of-river suburbs, from the coastal strip at Coogee, Beaconsfield and the Bicton foreshore, through Fremantle and Palmyra, and inland across Melville, Attadale, Applecross, Mount Pleasant, Booragoon, Bull Creek, Willagee, Ardross, Myaree and Kardinya. They’re ranked on real Google reviews, not on who paid us. Below the list you’ll find what turf, a courtyard makeover, a verge garden, reticulation, paving or a full garden rebuild actually costs around Freo and Melville in 2026, the red flags that tell you to keep your deposit in your pocket, and a quick checklist to run before anyone starts digging on a tight coastal block or a heavy river-flat yard.
Featured landscapers
These spots are for Fremantle and Melville landscapers who want to stand out on this page. None are taken yet, so the full review-ranked top 10 is right below. That ranking is earned off Google reviews and never for sale. Are you a local landscaper around Fremantle, Melville, Applecross or Mount Pleasant? Featured spots start at $50 a year.
Get a Featured spot ▸How we ranked these
- Google reviews do the ranking. We start with every landscaper’s live Google star rating and the number of reviews behind it, pulled fresh from Google Maps across Fremantle, Melville, Applecross, Mount Pleasant and the surrounding suburbs.
- Rating, weighted by volume. A 5.0 from a handful of jobs isn’t proof yet, so we weight the score by review count. A proven rating from dozens of customers isn’t beaten by a perfect score from a few. It also means a very strong 4.9 backed by a big review base can sit ahead of some perfect scores with thinner bases.
- Some landscaping work needs a licensed trade. Landscaping itself isn’t a licensed trade in WA, but the bits attached to it are. A retaining wall over 500mm generally needs a building permit and engineering, garden lighting and pump wiring must be done by a licensed electrician, and anything plumbed into mains or bore water needs the right backflow and a licensed plumber. A good landscaper organises all of that. We show you how to check in the checklist.
- Earthworks and site-prep count too. Jim’s Diggers (Coogee) shows up here as a digger and earthworks operator, not a garden designer, but excavation, levelling and site clearing is the essential first step on plenty of landscaping jobs in this area, so it’s included on its merits.
- Designers and maintenance crews sit in their own lane. This patch carries plenty of good garden-maintenance and mowing outfits and a design-only studio. They do real, useful work, but this page ranks the crews who design and build gardens, so pure design studios and mow-and-go maintenance rounds are named here rather than ranked against the builders.
- A strong name lives on our neighbouring page. The Greenscape Collective scores well and reaches into this area, but it’s the headline crew on our Morley and Midland list. To keep each page distinct and useful we’ve named it below rather than list the same crew twice.
- Supply yards and other trades left out. Landscape supply stores, soil yards and turf suppliers (Coast Road Palms, Creation Landscape Supplies, Fremantle Landscape Supplies, Perth Sand and Soil, Superior Artificial Turf Supplies) show up under these searches. They’re real businesses, but they’re not the contractor you book to do the work, so we’ve kept them off this list along with any listing carrying only a review or two.
- Paid spots are labelled, and never jump the queue. When a business pays for a “Featured” spot it’s marked as such. The review-based order below does not change to favour a payer. Right now, no spots are sold.
Blue Vikings Landscaping and Construction
A perfect 5.0 held across 46 reviews is the strongest combination of score and proof on this page, and the volume weighting puts them clearly in front. Forty-six jobs behind an unblemished record says they can handle the mix of ground this patch throws at a crew, coastal sand near Applecross and Attadale, heavier clay closer to the river, without a single review dragging the average down. If you want a proven crew with the deepest book of work on this list, this is a strong first call.
View listing & contact ▸Looking Good Landscaping
A 4.9 across 61 reviews is the single largest body of proof on this list, and the weighting rewards that depth. Sixty-one jobs behind a rating that close to perfect points to a crew that consistently delivers, not a lucky run of five-star reviews from a handful of early customers. If you want proven quality backed by real volume, this is a solid second call.
View listing & contact ▸Jim’s Diggers (Coogee)
A 4.9 across 53 reviews earns them third spot, and they’re a different kind of business to most of this list: a digger and earthworks outfit rather than a design-and-plant crew. On a lot of south-of-river jobs, especially retaining walls, pool surrounds and full backyard rebuilds, the first call is a machine to clear, cut and level the site before any planting starts, and that’s exactly what they’re rated for. Worth knowing about even if you’ve already got a landscaper lined up for the finishing work.
View listing & contact ▸5.0 (29)
5.0 (29)
5.0 (21)
4.8 (21)
5.0 (11)
5.0 (11)
5.0 (10)
A note on the ranking: Blue Vikings Landscaping and Construction leads on a perfect 5.0 across the deepest base on the page, 46 reviews, with Looking Good Landscaping close behind on a 4.9 across the single biggest base here, 61 reviews. Jim’s Diggers (Coogee) sits third off a 4.9 across 53, an unusual inclusion since it’s an earthworks and digger-hire operator rather than a design-and-plant crew, but the site-prep work it does underpins plenty of the bigger jobs in this area. From four down the scores tighten to a whisker: One Leaf Landscaping and Perth Landscape Guys are a genuine tie on 5.0 across 29, and Springgreen Landscapes and Ecclestone Designs are a genuine tie on 5.0 across 11, so treat positions four to ten as a strong, closely matched pack rather than a firm pecking order. We list only real, review-bearing landscapers and never pad the list. Just outside the weighted top 10: AR Landscapes and Reticulation & Landscaping by SMC (both 5.0 across 5), Lux Landscaping (5.0 across 4) and GUR Landscapes (5.0 across 3) are all thin on review volume so far. Tim Davies Landscaping carries the biggest base of any business we found in this search, 4.3 across 95, but that rating sits right at our baseline so the weighting gives it no lift over the pack. The Greenscape Collective (4.9 across 57) scores well enough to feature and does reach this area, but it’s the headline crew on our Morley and Midland page, so we’ve named it here rather than list it twice.
What landscaping actually costs around Fremantle & Melville (2026)
Nobody likes ringing a landscaper blind on price. These are honest ballpark ranges for the common jobs around Fremantle, Melville and the south-of-river suburbs, GST and standard labour included. They’re a guide to keep you from being overcharged, not a quote. Pricing here swings a fair bit on ground conditions (sandy coastal limestone versus heavier river-flat clay), site access on Freo’s tighter character blocks, and council heritage or verge rules, so always get the job priced in writing before work starts.
| Job | Typical range | What pushes it up |
|---|---|---|
| Lay natural turf (rolled lawn, supply & lay) | $12-$22 / m² | Soil prep, levelling, premium buffalo varieties, small courtyards, barrow-only access on tight Freo blocks |
| Artificial turf (supply & install) | $70-$120 / m² | Pile quality, base build-up, cuts around beds and paths, courtyard or poolside access |
| Reticulation, new system (per station/zone) | $180-$350 | Mains vs bore, number of zones, controller, trenching through limestone or river-flat clay |
| Retaining wall, limestone block (per m² face) | $300-$650 | Height, engineering & permit over 500mm, drainage, sloping blocks near the river or the coastal ridge |
| Paving (supply & lay, per m²) | $80-$180 | Paver type, patterns, cuts, base and compaction, heritage crossovers and verges in Fremantle and East Fremantle |
| Verge garden / Waterwise verge conversion | $1,500-$6,000 | Size, council verge rules, native or salt-hardy planting, mulch, retic, removing old lawn |
| Garden bed prep, soil improvement & planting (per m²) | $45-$95 | Plant size and choice, garden mix and wetting agent, clay-breaking on the river flats |
| Courtyard / small-space makeover | $8,000-$25,000 | Screening, paving, planter boxes, feature wall, lighting, access difficulty on a tight Freo block |
| Garden design / landscape plan | $500-$2,500 | Concept vs full documented plan, heritage constraints, site survey, 3D render |
| Ongoing garden maintenance (visit) | $60-$120 | Yard size, frequency, green-waste removal, hedging |
| Full garden makeover (standard block) | $15,000-$45,000+ | Retaining, paving, turf, retic, planting, lighting combined, plus access or excavation premium |
This patch runs two very different jobs side by side, and the ground is the main reason why. Along the coast at Coogee, Beaconsfield, South Beach and the Bicton and Point Walter foreshore you’re on free-draining Spearwood and Karrakatta limestone sand carrying real salt off Cockburn Sound and the river mouth, so salt-hardy planting and galvanised or stainless fittings on retic and hardware earn their keep, and garden mix plus a wetting agent stop beds cooking off over summer. Move inland to Melville, Attadale, Applecross, Mount Pleasant and the Canning and Swan river flats and the soil turns heavier, alluvial with pockets of reactive clay, where drainage and clay-breaking matter more than watering, and a landscaper who skips that step ends up with waterlogged beds and pooling paving. Fremantle and East Fremantle add another layer: heritage streetscapes, protected street trees and tight character blocks where access is half the job, much like inner Perth. Perth’s long dry summers and the two-day sprinkler roster make a well-designed reticulation system worth every dollar, and the City of Fremantle, City of Melville and Town of East Fremantle all run Waterwise verge programs worth asking your landscaper about. A good operator should give you a fixed price or a not-to-exceed figure, in writing, before starting. If they can’t, that’s a red flag (see below).
Don’t get ripped off: red flags
- A big deposit up front, then they vanish. Landscaping is the classic trade for a dodgy operator to take a fat deposit for “materials” and never come back, or drift off mid-job. Keep the deposit modest, tie payments to stages you can see finished, and never pay the lot before the work is done.
- A vague answer on access. On a tight Fremantle or East Fremantle character block with no side gate, how they get materials in and rubble out is half the job. An operator who hasn’t looked at the access or where the skip and barrow will go, and has just pulled a number out of the air, is likely to hit “unforeseen” costs the moment they start hand-balling soil through your house.
- A retaining wall over knee height with no permit or engineering. In WA a retaining wall over 500mm generally needs a building permit and an engineer’s design, especially on the sloping ground near the coastal ridge or the river. “We’ll just stack the blocks” on a serious wall gets you something that bulges, cracks or fails, and a fight over who pays to fix it.
- No plan, no measurements, just a number. A good landscaper measures the site, checks levels and drainage and gives you a scope you can hold them to. A vague verbal “about ten grand should do it” with nothing on paper is how jobs blow out and turn into arguments, and heritage or verge constraints in Freo are exactly where that bites.
- Reticulation or lighting done without the right trade. Anything wired for garden lights or a pump needs a licensed electrician, and anything plumbed into mains water needs the right backflow prevention and a licensed plumber. A cheap quote that quietly skips this leaves you to sort it, or leaves it done wrong.
- No soil prep and no drainage on our mixed ground. On the sandy coastal side, laying turf or garden straight onto builder’s sand with no mix or wetting agent looks fine for a month then dies off. On the heavier Melville and Applecross river flats it’s the opposite problem: skip the drainage and clay-breaking and the water sits, drowning roots and pooling on paving. Ask exactly what goes in under the green stuff and how they’re handling drainage for your block.
Before you hire: quick checklist
- Right trades for the attached work. Confirm a licensed electrician does any garden lighting or pump wiring and a licensed plumber handles any mains-water connection and backflow. For a retaining wall over 500mm, ask about the building permit and engineering with your council (City of Fremantle, City of Melville or Town of East Fremantle).
- Access sorted before day one. On a tight Freo character block, agree how materials come in and rubble goes out, where the skip sits, and whether an on-street parking permit is needed, so it’s priced in rather than sprung on you.
- Insurance. Ask for current public liability cover. Landscaping moves a lot of soil, machinery and heavy materials around your and your neighbour’s property, so it matters.
- Written quote with a scope. Itemised and in writing, including materials, quantities (m² of turf or paving, wall height and length), what’s excluded, and a stage-based payment schedule, before work starts.
- Soil, drainage and planting spelled out. On the coastal side confirm the garden mix, wetting agent and salt-hardy species; on the river flats confirm the drainage and clay-breaking. Make sure the planting suits your block and the sprinkler roster.
- Recent, specific reviews. Look for recent reviews that mention the actual work (retaining, paving, retic, turf, verge gardens), not just a big number. A steady stream of detailed jobs beats one old burst.
Frequently asked
How did you rank these landscapers?
By their live Google star rating and the number of reviews behind it, pulled from Google Maps across Fremantle, Melville, Applecross, Mount Pleasant and the surrounding suburbs. We weight the rating by review volume so a proven score from dozens of customers isn’t leapfrogged by a perfect score from a handful. That weighting is why Blue Vikings Landscaping and Construction (5.0 over 46) leads on the deepest base on the page, and why Looking Good Landscaping’s 4.9 across 61, the biggest base of the lot, sits close behind at second. All ten do real design-and-build landscaping work; pure garden maintenance, mowing rounds, design-only studios and supply yards are named separately.
Are these paid placements?
No. This list is ordered on Google review data. Businesses can pay for a “Featured” spot at the top, which is clearly labelled, but paying never changes the review-based order below. As of this update, no spots are sold.
Why is a digger and earthworks business on a landscaping list?
Jim’s Diggers (Coogee) ranks third on a genuine 4.9 across 53 reviews. It’s not a design-and-plant crew, it’s excavation and site-prep, but that groundwork, clearing, levelling and cutting for retaining walls, pools and drainage, is often the first and most important step on a bigger landscaping job in this area. We’ve included it because it scores well and does real work homeowners in this area book, and flagged clearly what it actually does so you know what you’re calling.
Do I need council approval for a retaining wall?
Often, yes. As a rule of thumb in WA a retaining wall over 500mm high, or any wall that holds up a neighbour’s land or a driveway, needs a building permit and an engineer’s design, and here that’s the City of Fremantle, City of Melville or Town of East Fremantle depending on your suburb. A good landscaper will tell you when a permit is needed and organise the engineering rather than just stacking blocks and hoping. Low decorative walls under half a metre usually don’t need approval, but check before you commit.
What plants cope with the Fremantle coastal salt?
Coogee, Beaconsfield, South Beach and the stretch along the Bicton and Point Walter foreshore all cop real salt off the ocean and the river mouth, so look for tough coastal natives (coastal rosemary, saltbush, dune moses, coastal banksia) over anything soft and inland-bred. Pair that with galvanised or stainless retic fittings and hardware, since ordinary steel corrodes fast this close to salt water. A local landscaper who works this strip regularly will already have a planting palette sorted for it.
Can I plant out my verge, and who looks after it?
In most councils here, yes, and a Waterwise verge garden is popular because it cuts water use and looks a lot better than tired buffalo. The City of Fremantle, City of Melville and Town of East Fremantle each run their own verge rules on plant height near driveways and corners, keeping a footpath clear, and sometimes a rebate or free-plant scheme, so it’s worth a quick check or asking a landscaper who does verges regularly. Salt-hardy or native planting with mulch is the usual approach near the coast; just keep sightlines clear and avoid anything that’ll lift the footpath.
Artificial turf or natural lawn?
Both work, they just suit different people. Natural buffalo lawn is cheaper to lay and handles our sandy coastal soil well once it’s prepped, but it needs reticulation, mowing and fertiliser and drinks water on the sprinkler roster. Artificial turf costs more up front and gets hot in full summer sun, but there’s no watering, mowing or roster to worry about, which suits the small courtyards and townhouses around Fremantle and East Fremantle, poolside and rentals. On a shaded or high-traffic strip where nothing grows, artificial often wins; on a big open backyard in Melville or Kardinya, natural usually makes more sense.
How much does a full garden makeover cost?
It depends heavily on what’s involved, but a small-to-medium garden combining retaining, paving, turf, reticulation and planting typically lands somewhere from $15,000 to $45,000 and up, with lighting, a courtyard rebuild, a pool surround or a lot of retaining pushing it higher. The two biggest swings are how much retaining and levelling the block needs and whether it’s a tight Freo character block with limited access or an open Melville or Kardinya block, which is why access can add as much to the price as the garden itself. Get the job scoped and priced in stages so you can see where the money goes.
How often is this page updated?
Monthly. Ratings and review counts move, new landscapers earn their spot, and we re-pull the data so the list stays honest and current.
Are you a landscaper in Fremantle or Melville?
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Get featured ▸ Claim your free listingRankings based on Google review data collected 25 July 2026. Ratings change, we re-check monthly. Blue Collar Business · Western Australia’s Trades & Home Services Directory.