Things Your Landscaper Wants to Tell You But Doesn't

Appointment secured.  Marketing collateral in hand.  There's a little dirt on his pants but that's okay...he's a landscaper for goodness sake.  I can hear the thrill of meeting with a new client every time he says "I'm headed out."  It's always there.

Fast forward a couple hours later and the "how'd it go" convo ensues.  While ninety nine percent of our clients fall in to the BEST CLIENTS IN THE WORLD (sending y'all a virtual hug), on occasion Carson tells me about encounters where he'd love to tell some people what he's really thinking...so, I asked him to give y'all a fun look inside the mind of a landscaper when he wants to tell ya what he's thinking but doesn't.

So kick back and get ready to laugh at us or with us...and enjoy!

Sometimes clients have amazing ideas for their landscape, other times not so much!

We have the ability to design and install just about anything a client can imagine, but sometimes we just have to say…..you don’t want to do that.

This one is for the hardcore DIY client that has decided to call in a professional.   Sometimes they just want to pick your brain or to show off the work they did to their landscape.  Other times they have a project too big for them to tackle on their own.  These clients are a hoot!

Shrubs that grow 20 feet tall planted next to the front door, sod installed in the deep shade, railroad tie garden boxes (don’t you know those things are toxic)!

Even if you want to do it yourself, sometimes consulting with a professional before you go all DIY expert is a great idea.  It will prevent 'why did you do that' from coming into our brains.

I encounter this one a lot.  Most of the time it’s a repair or replacement of a hardscape such as a patio, walkway or retaining wall that is failing due to improper installation techniques.  Pavers and retaining walls are some of the most beautiful enhancements and valuable additions to a home…..BUT if they are improperly installed they can be a disastrous eyesore!

I see this mostly created by landscapers that are not certified hardscape installers or have very little experience with hardscapes.  Installing a landscape and installing a hardscape are two very different things, requiring two different skill sets.  If you’re going to invest in hardscapes, make sure you choose a certified installer so you don’t have to pay for a project twice and we don’t have to say 'we’ll fix it.'

You know who you are!  You stand outside and watch every move we make (and adding your 2 cents to every task).  You hired us because we are professionals, who had creative ideas and permanent solutions to your problems….so let us do our job.  I know your cousin and uncle and brother all own landscape companies, and heck you probably did too since you are the landscape know it all (which is totally legit - even if they cut grass thirty years ago they still feel the need to tell me how to price stuff, I kid you not).

We have provided you with a detailed, written proposal with project specifications, probably a design too.  Not to mention we’ve spent 3 hours reviewing the proposal with you and learning how you would approach this project.  We got this, I promise!  Even though we would never say that “you don’t know as much as you think you do”, you can bet there have been a time or two when we certainly thought it!

If you are a landscape contractor reading this, you know exactly what I’m talking about!  If you are a homeowner reading this, has your landscaper ever looked at you with a sideways blank stare?  If so you can bet one of these lines was going through his/her brain!!!

Since we specialize in custom residential design and build services, we have the ability to meet with hundreds of clients each year.  Each client is different, each plan is different and no situation is the exact same as the last one.  We are grateful for all our clients, we are passionate about landscapes and hardscapes and it is a daily honor, joy and privilege to meet with new and existing clients.  We love building trust with clients as much as we love building patios and plant packages.  You are part of our family and who better to laugh with than your family!

We hope these gave ya a little chuckle to start your week and until next time...plan, identify, budget, prioritize and execute your landscape projects for 2018.  Spring is almost here!!!

Speaking of spring if you missed our THINGS YOU MUST DO FOR YOUR LANDSCAPE IN 2018 blog post you can catch Part I HERE and Part II HERE.  There's only six of them so check those out right now before ya forget and, as always, we throw in a little humor in all of our posts so you might find a laugh or two in those as well.