How fast should a landscaper reply to an enquiry?
The honest answer, the research behind it, and what it means when you're on the tools all day.
Inside five minutes, and ideally inside one. Lead response research consistently finds that the business which replies first wins a large majority of the work, and that the odds of qualifying a lead fall off sharply between five minutes and thirty. For landscaping and garden care specifically, most enquiries go to several businesses at once, so the reply window is effectively a race rather than a deadline.
What the research actually says
The most quoted figure in this area is that around 78% of customers buy from the business that responds to them first. The underlying study people point to is the Lead Response Management Study run by James Oldroyd at MIT with InsideSales, which found the odds of qualifying a lead drop roughly 21 times between a five minute reply and a thirty minute one.
A more recent benchmark from Chili Piper, across about four million form submissions in 2025, found an instant reply produced a 66.7% booking rate against roughly 30% for standard follow-up. Different industries, same shape of curve.
Treat these as directional rather than gospel. They are not landscaping studies. What they establish is the shape of the problem, which matches what any tradie already knows from the ones that got away.
Why it's worse in green trades than most
Two things stack up. First, nobody rings one landscaper. They open the map, and they contact three or four in the same sitting, which means you are not being judged against a deadline, you are being judged against the other people they messaged.
Second, the work physically prevents you from answering. You cannot take a call over a running mower, or from the bottom of a trench, or with gloves on in a garden bed. That is not a discipline problem and no amount of trying harder fixes it.
The evening problem nobody plans for
A large share of garden care and landscaping enquiries arrive after five, from people who have sat down after work and finally decided to do something about the backyard. Those are the highest-intent enquiries you get all week.
They are also the ones most likely to sit until the next morning, which is fourteen hours of the customer being free to hear back from somebody else.
What good actually looks like
If you want a practical standard rather than a research figure, this is what to aim at.
- Every enquiry acknowledged within a minute, whatever the channel
- The first reply asks what the job is and roughly where, not just 'thanks, we'll be in touch'
- After-hours enquiries answered after hours, not the following morning
- A booking or a next step offered in the first exchange, not the third
Common questions
Inside five minutes at the outside, and inside one if you can manage it. Research on lead response consistently shows the first business to reply wins the large majority of the work, and that qualification odds fall sharply after the five minute mark.
No. Customers who have just sent an enquiry are expecting an answer, and a fast reply reads as organised rather than desperate. What reads badly is a fast reply that is obviously generic, which is why the first message should ask something specific about their job.
Then something has to reply for you, because trying harder does not work when you physically cannot reach your phone. That can be an answering service, a staff member, or an automated first reply that captures the job and books the visit.
No, and for landscaping you usually should not. The first reply needs to establish what the work is, whereabouts it is and when they want it done, so you can decide whether it is worth a site visit.
Working out whether to fix this yourself? See how Cushy handles it, check what it costs, or read the BCW Garden Care write up.
Or we can just do it for you.
Every enquiry answered in under 60 seconds and booked in your calendar. $990 a month, no contract.