Best landscapers in the Perth Hills (2026)
Table of Contents
These are the ten best-rated landscapers working the Perth Hills, from the scarp-face suburbs at Kalamunda, Lesmurdie, Gooseberry Hill, Roleystone, Bickley and Pickering Brook, across the Mundaring side at Glen Forrest, Darlington, Parkerville, Stoneville, Sawyers Valley and Chidlow, down through the foothills at Forrestfield, High Wycombe, Maida Vale and Wattle Grove, and out to the semi-rural blocks around Gidgegannup. They’re ranked on real Google reviews, not on who paid us. Below the list you’ll find what a retaining wall, a terraced garden, turf, reticulation, rock excavation, paving or a full garden rebuild actually costs up in the hills 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 steep, gravelly, jarrah-country block.
Featured landscapers
These spots are for Perth Hills 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 Kalamunda, Mundaring, Roleystone or Glen Forrest? 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 Kalamunda, Mundaring, Roleystone, Lesmurdie, Glen Forrest, Forrestfield and the surrounding hills 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.
- One clear leader, then a close pack. The hills is a smaller market than the flats, served mostly by compact, owner-run crews. One operator stands well clear of the rest on the depth of its review base, a couple sit just behind on solid numbers, and the rest are a tight bunch of smaller local landscapers separated by fractions of a point on modest review counts. We’ve listed the leaders as full profiles and the rest as a ranked pack, and we’ve been upfront about how close they are so you can read the list for what it is.
- We checked what each one actually is. Before ranking a business we confirmed its Google category is landscaper or landscape designer, not a lawn-mowing round, a gardener, a supply yard, a digger-hire outfit or a tree service. That’s why some well-reviewed names further down the page are named separately rather than ranked here.
- Our number one is a retic-and-landscaping specialist. Hills Irrigation WA is best known for reticulation, but Google lists it under the landscaper category and it does full landscaping work across the hills. It also carries by far the deepest review base on this page, so the volume weighting puts it first. Given how central a well-built retic system is to keeping a hills garden alive through summer, we think that’s fair, and we’ve flagged it plainly so you know exactly what you’re calling.
- 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, and up here on the steep blocks that comes up on almost every job. Garden lighting and pump wiring must be done by a licensed electrician, and anything plumbed into mains, bore or rainwater needs the right backflow and a licensed plumber. A good landscaper organises all of that. We show you how to check in the checklist.
- Maintenance and mowing crews sit in their own lane. The hills carries plenty of good garden-maintenance, mowing and gardening outfits (CMC Lawns and Maintenance, All Round Gardening Services, Perth Gardening Solutions, Hills Gardening Perth and others). They do real, useful work, especially on the bigger blocks, but this page ranks the crews who design and build gardens, so mow-and-go rounds and pure gardeners are named here rather than ranked against the builders.
- Supply yards, diggers and tree crews left out. Landscape supply stores (Soil Yourself, Hills Landscaping Supplies, Midland Sand & Soil), digger and soil-delivery outfits (Diggermate, the Little Loads crews), an earthworks contractor and a tree service all show up under these searches. They’re real businesses and you may well need one, but they’re not the contractor you book to design and build a garden, 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.
Hills Irrigation WA
A 4.9 held across 75 reviews is by far the deepest body of proof on this page, and the volume weighting puts them clearly in front. They’re best known for reticulation, which up here is half the battle, a hills garden lives or dies on a properly zoned retic system through the long dry summer, but Google lists them under the landscaper category and they take on full landscaping work across Kalamunda and the surrounding suburbs. If you want a proven crew with the biggest track record on this list and retic done right as part of the job, this is a strong first call. We’ve flagged the retic focus plainly so you know exactly what you’re getting.
View listing & contact ▸Tranquil Gardens Landscaping
A perfect 5.0 across 36 reviews is the strongest clean record on the page, and it’s a genuinely solid base for a hills crew. Three dozen jobs without a single review dragging the average down says they handle the mix the hills throws at a landscaper, sloping blocks, gravel and rock, retaining and terracing, without slip-ups. If you want a proven crew with an unblemished record for a design-and-build job, they’re an excellent second call.
View listing & contact ▸Landscapes For Life
A 4.9 across 35 reviews sits right alongside the crew above it, a big enough base to prove consistency rather than a lucky run. That depth of proof, so close to a perfect score, points to a landscaper who delivers job after job across the hills suburbs. A strong third call if the top two are booked out, and worth a quote in their own right for a garden build on a sloping block.
View listing & contact ▸5.0 (21)
4.8 (25)
5.0 (11)
5.0 (6)
5.0 (5)
5.0 (3)
A note on the ranking: Hills Irrigation WA leads on a 4.9 across the deepest base on the page, 75 reviews, a retic-and-landscaping specialist whose track record clearly outweighs the rest on proven volume. Tranquil Gardens Landscaping (5.0 over 36) and Landscapes For Life (4.9 over 35) sit just behind on solid, genuinely comparable bases. From four down the scores stay high but the review counts drop off: Dig Deep Lawn & Landscaping and Valley Design Co both hold a perfect 5.0 across the low twenties, Mitch’s Gardening & Softscapes carries a strong 4.8 across 25, and the rest sit within a fraction of a point of each other on single-digit review counts. Treat positions four to ten as a close, evenly matched group of smaller hills crews rather than a firm pecking order, and read the individual reviews before you choose. We list only real, review-bearing landscapers whose Google category is landscaper or landscape designer, and we never pad the list. The hills is a smaller market than the flats, so this is a genuine picture of who’s up here doing the work.
What landscaping actually costs in the Perth Hills (2026)
Nobody likes ringing a landscaper blind on price. These are honest ballpark ranges for the common jobs around Kalamunda, Mundaring, Roleystone and the surrounding hills, GST and standard labour included. They’re a guide to keep you from being overcharged, not a quote. Pricing up here swings a fair bit on how steep and rocky the block is, how much retaining and terracing the slope needs, whether you strike laterite or granite when you dig, and how tight the access is, so always get the job priced in writing before work starts. As a rule, hills jobs run a touch higher than the same work on a flat suburban block, because slope, rock and access all add labour.
| Job | Typical range | What pushes it up |
|---|---|---|
| Retaining wall, limestone, block or sleeper (per m² face) | $350-$800 | Height, engineering & permit over 500mm, drainage, steep sloping blocks, machine access up the hill |
| Terraced garden build (multi-level, standard slope) | $6,000-$30,000 | Number of levels, retaining and steps combined, drainage, how steep the fall is |
| Rock / laterite excavation & site clearing | $1,500-$8,000+ | Rock breaking, granite outcrops, stump and tree removal, steep or tight access for the machine |
| Reticulation, new system (per station/zone) | $180-$400 | Scheme vs bore, rainwater or dam feed, number of zones, controller, trenching through gravel and rock |
| Lay natural turf (rolled lawn, supply & lay) | $12-$24 / m² | Soil prep on gravel, levelling sloping ground, premium buffalo varieties, tight access |
| Artificial turf (supply & install) | $70-$120 / m² | Pile quality, base build-up on a slope, cuts around beds and paths, poolside access |
| Paving (supply & lay, per m²) | $80-$180 | Paver type, patterns, cuts, base and compaction, getting materials up a sloping driveway |
| Firewise / bushfire-zone garden (defendable space) | $3,000-$15,000 | Fuel-load reduction, non-flammable mulch and materials near the house, low-flammability planting, BAL considerations |
| Garden bed prep, soil improvement & planting (per m²) | $45-$95 | Plant size and choice, native and firewise species, improving gravelly clay ground |
| Garden design / landscape plan | $500-$2,500 | Concept vs full documented plan, site survey on a slope, 3D render |
| Ongoing garden maintenance (visit) | $55-$120 | Block size, frequency, green-waste removal, fire fuel-load reduction, hedging |
| Full garden makeover (hills block) | $20,000-$60,000+ | Retaining, terracing, rock, paving, turf, retic and planting combined, plus excavation and access premiums |
The hills runs a few things differently to the flats, and the ground and the slope are the main reasons why. Most blocks up here sit on gravel over clay, with bands of laterite and the odd granite outcrop, so digging is harder and slower than the free-draining sand down on the coastal plain, and striking rock mid-job is a real cost you want allowed for up front. Almost every sloping block needs some retaining or terracing to make a garden usable, and a wall over 500mm generally needs a building permit and an engineer’s design, so that’s often the biggest single line in a hills quote. Steep driveways and tight bush blocks make access another price driver, sometimes the machine can’t get where it needs to be and the work slows right down. Then there’s fire: most of the hills sits in a bushfire-prone area, so a good landscaper thinks about defendable space, keeps flammable planting and mulch away from the house, and chooses lower-flammability species, especially out at Roleystone, Gidgegannup, Pickering Brook and the bushier Mundaring suburbs. Water is different too, plenty of hills properties run off bore, rainwater tanks or a dam rather than scheme water, which changes how retic is set up. Councils here are the Shire of Kalamunda, the Shire of Mundaring and, for Roleystone and Bickley, the City of Armadale, and all three have their own rules on retaining, clearing and protected trees. A good operator should give you a fixed price or a not-to-exceed figure, in writing, before starting, with rock and access allowed for. 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 retaining wall over knee height with no permit or engineering. Up here almost every sloping block needs retaining, and in WA a wall over 500mm generally needs a building permit and an engineer’s design, more so on the steep hills blocks and anything holding up a driveway or a neighbour’s land. “We’ll just stack the blocks” on a serious wall gets you something that bulges, cracks or slides down the slope, and a fight over who pays to fix it.
- No allowance for rock or hard ground. The hills is gravel, laterite and granite, not soft sand. A quote that assumes easy digging and then hits you with a big “we found rock” variation once the machine is on site is either inexperienced or setting you up. Ask how they price rock and hard ground before they start.
- No drainage or erosion control on a slope. Skip the drainage and the water runs straight down the hill, washing out beds, undermining walls and pooling where you don’t want it. An operator who treats a sloping bush block like a flat suburban lawn hasn’t looked at your ground.
- Flammable planting hard against the house in a fire zone. Most of the hills is bushfire-prone. A landscaper who packs oily, high-flammability shrubs and bark mulch right up against the walls, with no thought for defendable space, is making your place harder to defend. A good one plans planting and materials with fire in mind.
- Reticulation, bore or lighting done without the right trade. Anything wired for garden lights or a pump needs a licensed electrician, and anything plumbed into mains, bore or rainwater 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.
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, bore or rainwater connection and backflow. For a retaining wall over 500mm, ask about the building permit and engineering with your council (Shire of Kalamunda, Shire of Mundaring, or City of Armadale for Roleystone and Bickley).
- Rock and access priced in. On a hills block, get the quote to state how rock and hard ground are handled and how the machine gets in, so a “we found laterite” variation or an access problem doesn’t blow the job out halfway through.
- Slope, drainage and retaining spelled out. Confirm how they’ll retain and drain the fall on your block. On a slope this is the single biggest thing that separates a garden that lasts from one that washes out or slides in the first big winter.
- Fire in mind on a bush block. If you’re in a bushfire-prone suburb, ask how they plan planting and materials for defendable space, and keep the high-flammability stuff away from the house.
- Insurance. Ask for current public liability cover. Landscaping moves a lot of soil, machinery and heavy materials around your and your neighbour’s property, and on a slope that matters even more.
- Written quote with a scope. Itemised and in writing, including materials, quantities (m² of turf or paving, wall height and length), rock and access allowances, what’s excluded, and a stage-based payment schedule, before work starts.
- Recent, specific reviews. Look for recent reviews that mention the actual work (retaining, terracing, retic, turf, rock), not just a big number. Up here a lot of crews are small, so a steady stream of detailed recent 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 Kalamunda, Mundaring, Roleystone, Lesmurdie, Glen Forrest, Forrestfield and the surrounding hills 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 Hills Irrigation WA (4.9 over 75) leads on the deepest base on the page, with Tranquil Gardens Landscaping (5.0 over 36) and Landscapes For Life (4.9 over 35) close behind. Those three are clearly ahead; positions four to ten are a close pack of smaller hills crews. All ten do real design-and-build landscaping work; pure garden maintenance, mowing rounds, supply yards, digger hire and tree services 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 does an irrigation business top a landscaping list?
Because Google lists Hills Irrigation WA under the landscaper category, it does full landscaping work across the hills, and it carries by far the deepest review base on the page, so the volume weighting puts it first. Reticulation and landscaping go hand in hand up here anyway, a hills garden lives or dies on a properly zoned retic system through the long dry summer, so a retic-and-landscaping specialist with 75 reviews behind it is a fair number one. We’ve flagged the retic focus plainly so you know exactly what you’re calling. If you want a pure design-and-build crew, Tranquil Gardens and Landscapes For Life at two and three are right there.
Why do some of the businesses have fairly few reviews?
Because that’s the honest picture of the hills. It’s a smaller market than the coastal suburbs, served mostly by compact, owner-run landscaping crews, so outside the top few most operators have modest review counts. Rather than pad the list with mowing rounds or gardeners to make the numbers look bigger, we’ve listed only the real design-and-build landscapers who clear our quality threshold, and been upfront that positions four to ten are close and based on small review bases. Read the individual reviews and get a couple of quotes.
Do I need council approval for a retaining wall up here?
Often, yes, and it comes up on most hills jobs. 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. On the steep sloping blocks around Kalamunda, Lesmurdie, Roleystone and Mundaring that’s a common part of the job. Your council is the Shire of Kalamunda, the Shire of Mundaring, or the City of Armadale for Roleystone and Bickley. A good landscaper will tell you when a permit is needed and organise the engineering rather than just stacking blocks on a slope and hoping. Low decorative walls under half a metre usually don’t need approval, but check before you commit.
What about bushfire, can I still have the garden I want?
Yes, you just plan it with fire in mind. Most of the hills sits in a bushfire-prone area, so the sensible approach is defendable space around the house: keep high-flammability shrubs, long grass and bark mulch back from the walls, use lower-flammability species and non-flammable materials close in, and keep the garden maintained so fuel loads stay down. A landscaper who works the hills regularly will design around this without turning your block into a car park, and it’s worth asking how they handle it, especially out at Roleystone, Gidgegannup, Pickering Brook and the bushier Mundaring suburbs.
The ground is all rock and gravel, what does that mean for the job?
It means digging is slower and dearer than on the coastal sand, and it’s the thing most likely to surprise you mid-job. Across the hills you’re on gravel over clay with bands of laterite and the odd granite outcrop, so trenching for retic, footings for a wall or a pool excavation can all hit rock that needs breaking out. A good local operator prices rock and hard ground in from the start, or at least tells you clearly how a rock variation would be charged, rather than quoting soft-ground rates and hitting you with a big extra once the machine is on site. Always get that spelled out before work starts.
Bore, rainwater or scheme water for the garden?
It depends where you are. Plenty of hills properties, especially the bigger blocks out at Gidgegannup, Chidlow, Stoneville and the semi-rural fringes, run off a bore, rainwater tanks or a dam rather than scheme water, which changes how the reticulation is set up and how much you can water. In-town blocks on scheme water follow the usual sprinkler roster. Either way a properly zoned, efficient retic system is worth every dollar up here because the summers are long and dry, which is exactly why a retic-strong crew tops this page. Ask your landscaper to design the system around whatever water source you’ve got.
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.
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Get featured ▸ Claim your free listingRankings based on Google review data collected 24 July 2026. Ratings change, we re-check monthly. Blue Collar Business · Western Australia’s Trades & Home Services Directory.