Choose Your Garden and Landscape Advisor Carefully
As the season winds down and there is less to do, I am noticing an uptick in the qualified “professionals” out there advertising their services. It’s no surprise really. After the fall cleanups are completed and yards in the area are looking spiffy, we begin to slide into the doldrums of winter. This means there is less work to go around and landscape types are competing more heavily. If installation projects have been planned ahead of time, landscapers will often have steady work right through the winter, but frequently this is not the case.
In this area, landscaping can continue through the winter because our ground rarely freezes. Plants can be planted, irrigation can be installed, and rockwork can be completed. Honestly, it is usually the homeowner who puts the kybosh on winter work because they either don’t understand the work can be done or they are too overwhelmed with the holiday stress to be able to facilitate it. Either way, the landscape contractor is the one struggling to make ends meet and trying to pay his devoted employees through the slow time. It’s sad because these contractors will sometimes offer a discounted rate during the slow times to maintain some level of income.
All of this brings us to the point of this blog: Garden Advisors. During this slow time, landscape contractors often get creative and offer design and consulting services to offset continuing costs. There are a few of us who primarily offer this service as well, leading to a bit of market saturation. Now is the time to select carefully! Keep in mind that there are more and more landscape contractors added to the area each year, mostly from out of town, or even out of state. Perhaps they worked for the summer with a large national company and when the project was completed they decided to stay and make a go of it on their own. Some are just ambitious young workers who have decided to launch their own company thinking landscaping seems easy and all they need are a few tools and a truck.
Please be cautious! Just because a person identifies with the industry and claims to have a certain level of knowledge, does not mean they are qualified to give the best information and advice. It goes beyond education and a familiarity with things green. Experience should speak volumes, just like it does on a résumé. Diversity of experience is just as important. Did this person work for only one company and now they’re an expert? Has this person owned their own company for a grand total of three years and now they’re an expert? Did this person move here from another completely different climate and even though they have more years of experience, they are somehow an expert already?
Be attentive to the direction they lead you with your landscape and design. If they focus too heavily on plants, plants, plants, it’s possible that’s where their expertise is and they may not be as experienced in irrigation or hardscape. The opposite is also true. There are great hardscapers out there who are weak in plant knowledge and irrigation. Some just want to build water features. A slope covered in the best, well-adapted plants may not survive the first heavy rain. Keep in mind, the overwhelming majority of all landscape work in this area is erosion control. That’s right. It may not rain often, but when it does . . .
These are difficult times. On both sides of this issue. People need work and consumers need deals. The cheapest solution isn’t always the best. Quite often the cheapest solution is just that, cheap. Vet your advisors. Ask for references. If they won’t give you any, it can only mean one of two things; either they don’t have any, or they are afraid of what they might say. Check their credentials. Do they have the experience? Are they willing to let you contact a previous employer?
If you are a do-it-yourself type, hire a coach you can work with. If you’re more the type to have others do the work for you, hire a coach you can dream with and who can translate for you with your contractor to get the best final result. There are only a few of us out here who do this. Hire carefully.
I hope to see you in your yard soon!
The HortiCoach