Hiring a landscaper means trusting someone to improve the aesthetic appearance of a piece of land by changing its contours, adding ornamental features, creating lakes, planting trees and shrubs, and so on. Deciding to hire a landscaper is a more complex matter than calling in a garden service. This is because you commit to greater expense, and a failed job can cost even more to put right. Fortunately, this is avoidable when you ask the right questions and insist on answers. Oh, and we can help you find the best landscapers!
1. Who is Going to Do the Work?
Despite best efforts by professional groups, there are still cowboy landscapers around who are charming and promise the earth before going round the corner and hiring labourers off the street. Ask to meet the team before you reach a decision.
2. Do You Subcontract Anything?
Many of the better professional landscapers hire in earthmoving plant and operators because they are gardeners at heart and not builders. Before hiring a landscaper, ask who they will use and why, and who will supervise them. You are the customer and you are paying them to manage.
3. How Professional Are You?
Before you hire a landscaper, check their bona-fides carefully. What business insurance coverage do they have and with who? Are they associated with a professional organisation such as Landscaping Australia Incorporated? It is safer to work with skilled professionals.
4. Do You Have Contactable References?
Any true professional has a string of successful projects behind them and contented clients. These will not object to them showing you how much they benefited from hiring that particular landscaper. Don’t take a chance with a start-up. Go for quality.
5. How Much Disruption Can I Expect?
Questions like ‘will I be able to park my car in the garage and walk to the front door’ seem almost embarrassing to ask but they are important. Landscaping your garden while in residence will be disruptive. However, this will be less when you put your foot down before hiring a landscaper.
6. Do You Have a Detailed Plan?
As a property owner, you have a right to know exactly what the landscaper is going to do, and in which order and on what dates. Never hire a landscaper who operates ‘on a wing and a prayer’. You worked hard for your money and performed well. Insist on a well-formulated plan.
7. Can You Guarantee my Security?
There are opportunistic thieves in most neighbourhoods who will take advantage of an open gate, garage, or a fence taken down. Talk about this with the landscapers, ensuring they keep the property secure closing gates and garages if the leave the site. You may even need temporary fencing set up before a new fence is built. The last thing you want is your family pet running down the street.
When you ask these questions before hiring a landscaper who is professional, they should not object to them because the answers are part of the way that they should do business. Hire a landscaper that ticks all seven boxes and you stand a good chance of a successfully landscaped garden. You could be on your own if you avoid the awkward questions.
