Key Facts:
- Must Have Maintenance, a Melbourne garden and lawn maintenance company, has reached 1,000 clients on its ongoing maintenance portfolio – its highest total since founding in 2018.
- Cost of living pressures are driving the shift, with households increasingly choosing scheduled, preventative garden care over one-off call-outs, as discretionary spending fell 0.8% month-on-month in April 2026.
- Around 60% of new recurring clients have switched from a previous provider, with the remaining 40% being first-time users of a maintenance company; the business reports a 98% client retention rate.
- The company’s recurring maintenance model covers mowing, edging, hedge trimming, weeding, mulching, and irrigation adjustments, with quarterly seasonal reviews to adapt the scope of work to changing conditions.
- Must Have Maintenance services residential and commercial properties across Melbourne’s eastern and south-eastern suburbs, and holds approvals as an NDIS Home Help Services Provider and a WorkSafe and TAC Services Provider.
MELBOURNE, Australia – 11 September 2026 – Must Have Maintenance, a Melbourne garden and lawn maintenance company completing more than 15,000 jobs a year, has reached 1,000 clients on its ongoing maintenance portfolio, its highest total since the company was founded in 2018. The company says cost of living pressure is reshaping how Melbourne households approach garden maintenance, with more clients choosing scheduled, preventative care over one-off call-outs.
The shift has a measurable backdrop. The ABS Monthly Household Spending Indicator for April 2026 showed discretionary spending fell 0.8% month-on-month in seasonally adjusted terms. For households scrutinising every recurring expense, the case for preventative maintenance is straightforward: a lawn maintained consistently does not need to be relaid, and an irrigation system that is serviced does not fail in January. Must Have Maintenance says around 60% of new clients joining the recurring portfolio have switched from a previous provider, while the remaining 40% are time-poor households engaging a maintenance company for the first time. The company reports a 98% retention rate across clients who have used the service at least once.
Lukas James, Founder of Must Have Maintenance, says the pattern is visible across the enquiries the company is receiving. “What we hear from new clients is not that they stopped caring about their garden. It is that they had a provider who was unreliable, or they tried to manage it themselves, and the cost of fixing the damage was more than consistent maintenance would have been. A lawn that goes unmaintained through summer does not just look bad. It needs to be relaid. An irrigation system that is not serviced does not fail at a convenient time.”
Must Have Maintenance’s recurring model covers mowing, edging, hedge trimming, weeding, mulching, and seasonal irrigation adjustments on a regular visit cadence. The company carries out a seasonal review at the start of each quarter to adjust scope to conditions, increasing mulching and irrigation attention heading into summer and shifting to pruning, bed preparation, and system checks through winter. For clients with older or poorly configured irrigation setups, the company’s garden maintenance team reviews scheduling and, where needed, upgrades systems to configurations that perform within Victoria’s permanent water-saving rules.
Must Have Maintenance services residential and commercial properties across Melbourne’s eastern and south-eastern suburbs and holds approvals as an NDIS Home Help Services Provider and a WorkSafe and TAC Services Provider.
About us:
Founded in 2018, Must Have Maintenance provides garden and lawn maintenance services to homes and businesses across Melbourne. The company completes more than 15,000 jobs per year, holds a 4.8-star Google rating from 109 reviews, and services clients across residential, commercial, NDIS, and government portfolios.
