Your Geelong garden sorted, without chasing landscapers

When a permit applies

Check these before work starts, and agree in writing who applies for each permit and who pays.

• Retaining walls. A wall less than 1 metre high is generally exempt from a building permit, unless it is part of other building work or protects the neighbouring property. Taller walls need a building permit and often an engineer (VBA practice note BP-01, City of Greater Geelong).
• Fences. Most residential fences need no building permit if they are no more than 2 metres high, no more than 1.5 metres within 3 metres of a street (1.2 metres for masonry or concrete) and no more than 1 metre near a corner. Pool fences always need a permit, and some overlays, such as those in the Highton Village and Ocean Grove's Goandra Estate, need a planning permit for a fence (BP-01).
• Decks. A deck attached to the house or a pool needs a building permit whatever its size (BP-01).
• Trees. In most residential zones in Greater Geelong, removing or lopping a canopy tree at least 5 metres high with a canopy at least 4 metres across needs a permit, with some exemptions (planning scheme clause 52.37). Overlays in parts of Ocean Grove, Newtown, Waurn Ponds and Torquay protect smaller trees, and only the council may remove street trees (City of Greater Geelong).
• A registered builder. Domestic building work worth more than $10,000 needs a registered builder, and over $16,000 domestic building insurance is required too. Walls, decks, attached pergolas and fences generally count as building work; planting, garden beds and paving on their own generally do not (Victorian building regulator).

What landscaping costs in Geelong

Prices depend on the size of the area, access for machines, the soil and how much earth has to move. As a guide, a published cost guide's Geelong estimates (October 2026, GST inclusive) put a basic backyard makeover at $4,650 to $13,950 and a full landscape for a new home at $13,950 to $55,800. Your quote depends on your site, so treat these as ranges, not prices.

Built for Geelong conditions

Gardens around Geelong deal with less rain than most of Victoria. The Bureau of Meteorology's Avalon Airport station, the region's longest current record, averages 453.4 mm a year, with October and November the wettest months and March the driest (BoM climate statistics, Avalon Airport 087113). Hot days and strong spring winds dry soil out quickly.

Soils change across short distances. The City of Greater Geelong's indigenous plant guides describe limestone loams around Geelong, Grovedale and Waurn Ponds, mixed clays, sands and gravels on the Bellarine hills and sandy, salt-exposed ground along the coast. Heavy clays crack in summer and drain slowly in winter, which is why drainage behind walls and under paving matters so much here.

Water rules apply all year. Under Barwon Water's permanent water saving rules, sprinklers, drippers and other watering systems may only run between 6pm and 10am, and hoses need a trigger nozzle. A landscaper should plan plants and irrigation around those rules from the start.

When to plan a landscaping job in Geelong

Planting and new lawns do best when the soil is warm and moist and the hottest weeks are still ahead or just past: autumn and spring suit most planting around Geelong, and spring rain, the wettest part of the year at Avalon, helps new turf root. Hard landscaping such as walls, paving and decks can be built most of the year, but heavy clay is hard to work when it is waterlogged in winter or baked hard in late summer. Good landscapers book out in spring, so ask early if you want work done before summer.

About this site

Geelong Landscaper is an independent referral service for landscaping in the Geelong region. We are not a landscaping business and we do not employ landscapers. We write plain guides to the local rules and conditions, cite our sources and pass each quote request to one local landscaping business, with your agreement. More about us.