Landscaping Marketplace

Landscaping Marketplace

Buying & selling safely

We put buyers and sellers in touch. We do not inspect a product, watch a wall being built or certify anyone's work. A retaining wall or a loaded pallet is among the heaviest things most people move on their own property, so the checks below are worth doing before money changes hands or a shovel comes out.

Retaining walls and buried services are not a DIY guess

  • •A retaining wall holds back the full weight of the soil, and often a driveway or a neighbour's yard, behind it. Most states require council approval or an engineer once a wall passes around 600mm-1m in height, or if it carries a surcharge load such as a driveway, pool or building above it. Check before you build, not after it leans.
  • •Call Dial Before You Dig (1100) before any excavation, trenching or post hole - for a retaining wall footing, irrigation line, tree planting or a fence. Gas, power, water and telecoms services are often shallower than people expect, and a struck line is not a small job.
  • •A wall without drainage behind it is a wall with a use-by date. Agricultural pipe, gravel backfill and weep holes carry water away from the blocks; skipping them is the most common reason a wall bulges or fails after heavy rain.
  • •Treated pine and CCA (copper chrome arsenate) sleepers are common and safe when handled properly, but should never be burned, used for raised vegetable beds without a liner, or cut without a mask and gloves. Older hardwood railway sleepers can carry creosote for the same reasons.
  • •Bulk product is heavier than it looks: a cubic metre of soil or sand is roughly 1.5-1.8 tonnes, and a loaded builder's bag can exceed what a hand trolley or a person alone should lift. Match the load to the vehicle, the equipment and the number of people collecting it.

Inspect the item before you commit

  • •For plants and turf, ask for a current photo, not a stock image - root health, colour and any dieback or weed contamination matter more than the listing description.
  • •For second-hand machinery (mowers, mini excavators, compactors, chippers), ask for a short video of it starting cold and running under load, including hydraulics cycling a mini excavator's boom or a mower's blades engaging.
  • •Check safety guards are present and intact: blade guards, PTO shields, ROPS on ride-ons and interlocks that cut the engine when a seat is vacated. A guard removed for storage should go back on before you buy it, not after.
  • •For pavers, blocks and sleepers, ask about batch and colour consistency - a part-used pallet from a different production run may not match on a visible surface.
  • •Treat a cracked hydraulic hose, a smoking engine, a wobbling blade or a wall block with a hairline crack as a reason to walk away, not negotiate down.

Check the fit, then check who is doing the work

  • •Confirm the product actually suits the job before you pay: sold-by unit (m3, tonne, m2, pallet), coverage or load size, and delivery access - a truck cannot always reach where a wheelbarrow can.
  • •A structural retaining wall, a large tree removal near a building, or any electrical work for irrigation controllers and lighting is licensed or certified work in every state. A listing, invoice or seller statement is not a compliance certificate for any of it.
  • •For hired or bought earthmoving equipment, confirm who holds insurance while it is on your site, and get any promised training or induction in writing before it turns up.
  • •Ask your council what applies to your job before you start - retaining wall height limits, tree protection orders and driveway crossover rules vary significantly between local government areas.
  • •A verified business badge on this site means an ABN was matched at signup. It is not a licence check, an insurance check or a guarantee of workmanship - do that separately for anything structural.

Pay, meet and collect carefully

  • •Inspect before paying where you can. Meet somewhere public in daylight, or at the property with someone else there if the load has to be walked through a house or side access.
  • •For a bulk delivery, a pallet or anything palletised, agree in writing what is included and who tips, lifts and transports it. A pallet of pavers or blocks is a machine-handled load and it damages driveways and backs alike.
  • •No deposit because a stranger has invented a deadline. Avoid gift cards, cryptocurrency and international transfers, and be wary of an overpayment that comes with a request to refund the difference.
  • •Keep the listing, the messages and the receipt or delivery docket. A business seller may owe consumer guarantees that a one-off private sale does not.
  • •If a listing is stolen plant, an unlicensed structural job being offered as DIY-safe, or plainly unsafe, report it rather than quietly walking away and leaving it up for the next person.

Get structural work quoted, not attempted

If the job involves a retaining wall over roughly 600mm-1m, excavation near a boundary or a building, or anything that needs council or engineering sign-off, that is contractor work. It is the one line on this page we would rather you took as a rule than a suggestion.

Use the directory to find a landscaper or retaining wall builder near you, check they carry insurance for the work, and get the quote in writing before anyone starts. Buying the supply here and having it built properly is still cheaper than the alternative.

Something look wrong? Read the listing rules or use the report link on the listing.