Choosing a Landscaper

Let me start by saying that I have over 13 years experience in the landscaping and nursery industry. I have first hand experience dealing with many types of landscapers and garden center personnel. Choosing a landscaper should not be done lightly. There are many things you need to consider before making your final choice. First would be what kind of landscaper you are looking for. Not all landscapers are alike. Some landscapers only cut and trim your lawn, referred to in the industry as chew and screw landscapers. Then there are landscapers who do lawn maintenance. These landscapers do more than just cut your grass. They will weed and cultivate your beds, fertilize your lawn and trim your shrubs. Lastly there are full service landscapers. These landscapers not only perform lawn maintenance, they also do landscape construction. While there may be a few exceptions all of these landscapers will do Spring and Fall clean ups.

Before contacting a landscaper, ask your friends and family if any of them use a landscaping service and if they would recommend who they use. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising a landscaper can use. Be sure to ask what services their landscaper provides and how much they charge.

Once you decide on what kind of service you would like to have your landscaper provide, call a landscaper to set up an appointment for them to come and see your property and to speak with you. Don't be afraid to ask lots of questions, this is how you weed out the so called hackers. Hackers are landscapers who think they know what they are doing, but in reality just fake their way through. I have personally dealt with landscapers who had to ask which fertilizers they needed to be using and how to apply it. Some questions to ask ware, What services do they provide? Do they cultivate the beds? Do they fertilize, and how often? Do they trim the shrubs? How often do they come to cut the lawn? Do they provide landscape construction services? Also be sure to ask them for customer references, and be sure to contact them and ask how they feel about the landscaper and the services they provide. You might also ask if you can come to see the property to see what the landscapers work looks like.

I know that your budget is a consideration but remember you get what you pay for. Don't pick the lowest priced landscaper unless his references are excellent. A landscaper with too low a price probably will be unreliable and not do too good a job. Remember, landscapers are like all other businessmen, they are in business to make money. Very few are in business to take advantage of their clients. Landscapers have many expenses they need to recover before they make any money. Gas is probably the most unpredictable expense as gas prices can change at any time. Most of a landscapers equipment runs on gas. Lawn mowers, blowers, trimmers and the truck are what the most gas is used for. On average a landscaper will use 10 to 20 gallons of gas per day. There are also the expenses of his crew, maintenance of the equipment, dumping fees for the removal of lawn debris as well as office costs for billing and payroll. Please remember when you think about what they quote you as a price is not all profit for the business owner.

One last tip for you before I finish. Once you have chosen who will be your landscaper, a good way to ensure they do a good job is to simply, on occasion offer the crew a drink of ice water or other refreshing beverage. I remember when I was a landscaper if a customer brought out some ice water, ice tea or lemonade (especially during summer). We would go that little extra to make sure we did an especially good job. On the other hand we once pulled up to a customers house. It was August, 90+ degrees and very humid. We unloaded the trailer and before we got started we got a quick drink from the hose. After we finished we went to get another drink and the customer had shut off the water to the hose. Needless to say we weren't very happy about that. The next week when we arrived we got another quick drink from the hose, only this time one of the guys who wasn't feeling well because the heat, went to get a drink before we finished and found the customer again turned off the water. This time we showed our displeasure by doing the worst job we could possibly do. We burned the edges around the planter beds, skipped areas of the lawn, we didn't do any of the trimming and left clippings all over the walks and patio. The customer called the boss to complain and to drop us as their landscaper. The boss was furious at us until we explained why we did the job we did, and agreed we didn't need a client who was that cheap as to turn off the water.