Start with the extent: the issued Section 32 05 33 has no note listing what the drawings must show, and its Extent of Work applies to every newly installed or renovated landscape area unless indicated otherwise, so confirm that the landscape plans show which areas, and which existing plants, are maintained and which are excluded, with turf, native grass, wildflower, and planter bed areas told apart. Then check that the three establishment periods, the irrigation and water source, the fertilizer, mulch, and pest management choices, the dead plant rules, and the acceptance records agree with the planting, turf, transplanting, and irrigation sections and their guarantees.
Assemble the review package
Gather the landscape and planting plans with the plant schedule and legend, the turf, native grass, and wildflower area plans, the planting, edging, mulch, and staking details, the irrigation plan with zones, controllers, the water source, and backflow prevention, the grading, storm drainage, and erosion control plans with swales, inlets, yard drains, culverts, berms, and blankets, the limits of construction, staging, and phasing plans, the soil test results, the construction schedule with the substantial completion and acceptance dates, and the issued Section 32 05 33 with Sections 01 50 00, 32 93 00, 32 96 00, the turf sections (32 92 19, 32 92 23, 32 92 26), and the irrigation section the project issues (32 84 24 or 32 84 23). Follow one planter bed with its trees and one turf or meadow area from installation through final acceptance before assuming the others match.
WBDG publishes UFGS 32 05 33: Landscape Establishment as a public guide-specification reference (accessed November 10, 2026). Use your project’s issued specification and amendments for the actual comparison; the guide specification does not automatically govern your project. The checklist below is an original suggested review workflow, not a reproduction of the UFGS requirements.
Eight checks to run against the issued set
Use one record per location or system. The CSV contains the same eight prompts plus fields for source revisions, observed evidence, the review owner, the decision, and closure references.
| Check | Sources to compare | Question to resolve |
|---|---|---|
| Maintained areas, existing plants, and exclusions | Extent of Work bracket (maintenance tasks for newly installed or renovated landscape areas and existing plant material, unless indicated otherwise, and every area inside or outside the limits of construction disturbed by the Contractor) + no designer drawing note + Policing bracket (both sides of fencing or walls) + landscape plan, limits of construction, staging, and phasing plans | Since the section has no note listing what the drawings must show and maintains every new or renovated landscape area unless indicated otherwise, do the landscape plans show which areas are excluded, for example areas maintained by others or by an existing grounds contract, is the existing plant material bracket kept only where existing plants to be maintained are identified, and do the staging plans show the areas outside the limits of construction that the Contractor will disturb and then maintain? |
| Turf, native grass, wildflower, and planter bed types | Definitions (Stand of Turf; Planter Beds: shrubs, vines, wildflowers, annuals, perennials, ground cover, and trees, excluding turf) + Mowing articles for turf, native grasses, and wildflowers + Turf Edging and Trimming + Turf Clearance Area bracket + Planter Bed Maintenance (a definite break between turf and beds) + legend and edging details | Does the legend give turf, native grass, and wildflower areas separate hatches, since each has its own mowing article, are the planter bed outlines and the turf edges drawn so the definite break the section requires can be built and kept, and since the section calls the turf, native grass, and wildflower period the groundcover establishment period while its Planter Beds definition places ground cover plants in beds, has the specifier said which period governs ground cover plantings? |
| Irrigation establishment, controllers, and water | Irrigation Establishment Period bracket (new or repaired equipment) + Maintenance During the Irrigation Establishment Period (rain shut-off, winterization, heads directed away from buildings and paving) + Water Restrictions + Fire Hydrants note and article (01 50 00; backflow preventer) + Final Acceptance bracket (irrigation equipment removed, or an operation and coverage test) + Controller Charts + Water article and note (Government-furnished source located; storm water or graywater) + Maintenance article (ASTM D5851 water monitoring program) + irrigation plan | Is the irrigation permanent or temporary, with the Final Acceptance bracket kept to match, since one option removes the equipment and the other tests it, does the Related Requirements article name the irrigation section the project actually issues, 32 84 24 or 32 84 23, is the water source located on the drawings where the Government furnishes it, are hydrant connections and their backflow preventers coordinated with Section 01 50 00, and since neither the controller charts nor the water monitoring program has a submittal item, has the specifier added them? |
| Drainage and slope erosion maintenance | Drainage System Maintenance bracket (swales, gutters, catch basins, storm drain curb inlets, yard drains; channel edges kept clear) + Slope Erosion Control Maintenance bracket (newly landscaped and natural growth areas, culverts, berms, terraces, netting or blankets reinstalled) + grading, storm drainage, and erosion control plans + Section 32 93 00 Erosion Control Materials | Do the drainage elements the bracket keeps actually appear on the storm drainage and grading plans, with the bracket edited to them, is the boundary drawn between the landscape contractor’s drain maintenance and the civil work, do the erosion control plans show the slopes, berms, terraces, and blankets the slope maintenance bracket refers to, and are the natural growth areas it maintains identified on the plans? |
| Fertilizer, soil analysis, and synthetic products | Post-Plant Fertilizer note and article (no fertilizer for groundcover, wildflowers, and grasses; trees, plants, and shrubs as the supplier recommends; no synthetic chemical fertilizers) + Granular Fertilizer blanks + Promotion of Growth (fertilize turf) + Post-Fertilizer Application note and article (turf fertilizer by laboratory soil analysis; synthetic fertilizer bracket with Contracting Officer approval) + Planter Bed and Tree Maintenance + soil test results | Since Post-Plant Fertilizer forbids fertilizer for groundcover, wildflowers, and grasses while Promotion of Growth and Post-Fertilizer Application fertilize turf, and Planter Bed Maintenance fertilizes beds that contain ground cover, has the specifier said which plantings are fertilized, since PART 2 bans synthetic chemical fertilizers while the PART 3 bracket allows one with approval, which governs, and does the project have the laboratory soil analysis the turf fertilizer is to be based on? |
| Mulch, pest management, and pruning | Mulch notes (one mulch type for the project; inert mulch only where organic is unavailable or the climate is dry) + Inert, Organic, and Recycled Organic Mulch articles (hydraulic mulch and dyed wood cellulose fiber wording) + Pesticides note and article (pesticides and herbicides not permitted; black polyethylene sheet bracket; integrated pest management plan) + Shrub Selective Maintenance + Tree Maintenance (ISA-certified pruning, TCIA Z133) + planting details + Sections 32 93 00 and 32 96 00 | Is one mulch kept, matching the mulch on the planting details and in Sections 32 93 00 and 32 96 00, has the hydraulic mulch and dyed wood cellulose fiber wording carried over from the seeding sections been removed for planter beds, is the polyethylene sheet bracket in the Pesticides article deleted or given a stated use and a detail, does the planting plan keep shrubs clear of windows, entrances, walks, sight lines, and security views that the pruning article will otherwise cut back, and since tree pruning cites only TCIA Z133, a safety standard, while Section 32 96 00 prunes to ANSI A300 Part 1, which standard governs? |
| Periods, guarantees, and dead plant replacement | Irrigation, Groundcover, and Exterior Plant Establishment Period articles (start on the Contracting Officer’s inspection; bracketed durations) + Exterior Plant Establishment note (coordinate with the Guarantee Period) + Removal of Dying or Dead Plants (added period beyond “the original warranty period”; dying and dead definitions) + Tracking of Unhealthy Plants + Section 32 93 00 and 32 96 00 Guarantee articles + phasing plan and schedule | Are the bracketed durations of the three periods chosen together and coordinated with the guarantee periods of Sections 32 93 00 and 32 96 00, as the note advises, since this section refers to an original warranty period it does not define, does the phasing plan show where areas installed at different times start their periods on different dates, and since this section defines a dying plant by crown or plant die-back while the guarantee articles replace plants by the share of dead branches, at different values, which definition governs replacement? |
| Final inspection, acceptance, and closeout records | Final Inspection and Acceptance (written request; turf on a satisfactory stand; wildflower and grass areas on a set stand) + Stand of Turf definition bracket + Replanting (turf sections, planting dates) + Exterior Plant Final Inspection (total plants, mulching and weeding, Tree Supports bracket, remedial work) + Maintenance Inspection Report + Plant Quantities bracket (plant count, hardscape and turf areas) + Tree Staking and Guying Removal certificate + Maintenance (O&M manual) + plant schedule | Since the wildflower and grass acceptance stand is a set value rather than the bracketed Stand of Turf definition, has the specifier confirmed it for the native and wildflower areas, has the Tree Supports paragraph, which reads “[Stakes] [guys] guys and turnbuckles”, been edited to the supports the staking details show, do the plan counts agree with the plant schedule totals the Plant Quantities submittal will report, and is stake and guy removal at the end of the period reflected in the staking details and the planting section? |
Worked example: an irrigation system to be removed, a fertilizer ban, and two definitions of a dead tree
Illustrative example: a new barracks complex has sodded lawn around the buildings, a native grass meadow on the slopes of a stormwater basin, a wildflower strip along the entry road, and planter beds of shrubs, ground cover, and shade trees. The lawn and beds are on a permanent drip and spray system under Section 32 84 24, and the meadow is on temporary irrigation. The issued Section 32 05 33 keeps the Final Acceptance option that removes the irrigation equipment, with no note limiting it to the temporary system, and keeps the Post-Plant Fertilizer article that forbids fertilizer for grasses together with the turf fertilizer paragraphs. The legend uses one hatch for the meadow and the wildflower strip, the Drainage System Maintenance bracket lists yard drains and curb inlets the storm plan does not have, the Exterior Plant Establishment Period is longer than the plant guarantee in Section 32 93 00, and the plant schedule totals do not match the counts on the planting plan.
Ask the landscape architect to limit equipment removal to the temporary meadow irrigation and to keep the operation and coverage test for the permanent system, to give the meadow and the wildflower strip separate hatches so their mowing articles can be applied, and to reconcile the plant schedule with the plan counts before the Plant Quantities submittal relies on them. Ask the specifier to say which plantings are fertilized and whether a synthetic fertilizer may be used, since PART 2 and PART 3 disagree, to edit the drainage bracket to the swales and catch basins on the civil plans, and to align the establishment period with the guarantee in Section 32 93 00 and with one definition of a dying plant.
Avoid a false conflict
Section 32 05 33 covers the care of new, renovated, and transplanted plants, turf, and irrigation from installation to final acceptance; installation follows the sections it names. Trees, shrubs, ground covers, and vines follow Section 32 93 00 and the planting guide, moved plants follow Section 32 96 00 and the transplanting guide, turf follows Sections 32 92 19, 32 92 23, and 32 92 26 and the turf guide, irrigation equipment follows Section 32 84 24, or 32 84 23 Underground Sprinklers where the project issues it, and hydrant use and temporary water follow Section 01 50 00, so check those before calling a requirement missing. The section has no designer note listing what the drawings must show, no gypsum, lime, or antidesiccant article although its delivery and storage paragraphs name them, and no submittal for the controller charts or the water monitoring program. Its Post-Plant Fertilizer article forbids fertilizer for grasses and ground cover and synthetic fertilizers, while its PART 3 fertilizes turf and planter beds and brackets a synthetic option, and its dead plant replacement refers to a warranty period that the planting and transplanting sections define with a different test. Mowing heights, fertilizer types and rates, and mulch are local decisions the notes leave to the agricultural extension service. The current guide section cites ASTM D2103, D5851, and D6155 and TCIA Z133; confirm the editions your project invokes.
When requirements disagree, follow the project’s document-control and clarification process. Do not assume that drawings always override specifications, or the reverse. Identify the exact sources and request an authorized decision.
Close the issue across the affected documents
Record the location or tag, drawing and specification references, issue dates, observed difference, and the decision needed. Assign an owner and keep the item open until the response identifies the governing requirement. Check the revised drawings and specification references together; a response email alone may leave the issued package inconsistent.
For the overall process, use the guide to drawing and specification conflicts. Mark an inapplicable checklist row with a reason, and distinguish a verified correction from a question that still needs design information.
Where Groundbook fits
Groundbook’s drawing and specification review helps investigate potential disagreements in the documents you supply. Include the relevant specification sections and drawing references, then verify the cited evidence with the responsible reviewers before acting on a finding.