Gardening Tips >Choosing a Landscape Contractor

    ● “Would You Cover My Yard in Daylilies?”
                     by Mike Dooley

A vortex of gravel chased the moving van as it sped down the road leaving me in the driveway with a huge pile of boxes and memories of the home I left behind. In front of me is my new home with all its excitement and a few apprehensions over the upcoming projects that make a house a home.

My husband and I have made a pact; I would accept this less than perfect house if we could do something about the desolate landscape as soon as we moved in. It was a deal that I took very seriously. My husband even went so far as to say that I could pick the landscaper. Control where it belongs; in the hands of someone who cares about beauty. I am women hear me roar!

Before night fell on the lions of the Kalahari my roar became a sad little whimper. Actually I had a big problem. I didn’t know much about landscaping and I didn’t know a landscape designer. Not to worry I thought, I will kill two birds with one stone. I will meet a neighbor and simultaneously get the name of a great landscape designer. Off I went into the new streets of my neighborhood looking for the proud owner of the snazziest yard on the block. The first problem was there weren’t any. Undeterred I pick the best one and march up to the door. A lovely lady answered the door and was very welcoming. We introduced ourselves and after some small talk about the wind and blowing sand, I popped the question: Could she recommend a good landscape designer?

Her face turned ashen and I stood with my mouth agape as she went on and on about the negative experience she had with hers and that she would not recommend him to anyone. Furthermore he reminded her of her ex-husband. Well, I guess I wasn’t going to get a referral from her.

My hands were sweating as I paged slowly through the book of yellow pages. Do I call the guys with the big ads because they must know what they are doing or they couldn’t pay for that huge ad? Or did they make that money because of their high prices? So should I call the guys with the little ads? They must not have much money- wait that doesn’t sound right either. So I did what any savvy wife would do, I called my husband at work and announced “Honey, I’ve been thinking and this landscape project is really important to us and I think it would be unfair for me to exclude you from the decision making process.” He fell for it. Now we are no closer to solving the problem, but misery loves company.

Sound familiar? Hundreds of local families are going through the same thing right now. Let a pro show you the garden path to landscape bliss. Here we go:

The first question is important: 1) Do you want to have an independent designer produce the design for you to put out for bids? 2) Do you want all the landscape designers bidding the installation to come up with separate designs to look at? Or 3) you could get a killer referral and let that company produce a plan and let them install it.

The first option is the most expensive way to go but then all of the bidders are bidding on the same design. The second option lets you look at several designs and pick one. But what if you like one company’s design and another company’s price? The third option is the way to go if and I mean only if, you get a great referral. First make sure they do the kind of landscape work that you want done. By that I mean if you need mostly walls, patios or sidewalks then you want a referral that specializes in that type of work. But if you want most of your project to be a plant design then you need to seek out a person who really knows plants.

This is the toughest part of the process: Who will you let bid? We will assume that you are going to have two bidders. Let’s go back to the stressed out lady looking for a referral. Start networking. You say you’re new in town and you don’t know anyone? Yes, you do. Have the working members of the household ask everyone at work who they used to landscape their yard and if they liked the experience. Ask the neighbors and people at church. You’re trying to make two lists: A “good guy” list and a “bad guy” list.

So now you have a list of possible designers and bidders. Keep your “bad guy” list handy. Now relax and look up everyone’s web site. Does their work lean more toward masonry and concrete work with beautiful patios, retaining walls and outdoor kitchens or does the website show mostly knock-out planting design? So pick your bidders and let’s get them out to the house. But before that let’s make an inquiry to the Better Business Bureau just in case we missed something.

Now, do they return your phone call within the next business day? Do they show up on time? When they do show up do you feel that you are in the hands of a pro or do you have a person that has few ideas of their own? Professional designers should be opinionated. Test them by asking a question like “What do you think about covering the yard with daylilies?” If they don’t try to talk you out of a yard with nothing but daylilies then they are not much of a designer and are just trying to get the job by being agreeable; let’s look elsewhere. Pick a couple of companies that you trust and let them do their thing.

Now let’s look at the design phase. Here is what to look for. Unless it is a very small job it should be drawn “to scale”. The bid itself should be itemized with all plants, sizes and quantities.

If you are looking at two different plans and bids at this point you should pick the plan you like and sign a contract. But if you want to squeeze the nickel then compare bids based on unit prices. The plans will have different sizes and amounts of plants so just compare the planted price on the 5 gallon plants, 1 gallon plants and so on. Then ask how deep the gravel will be (21/2 in.-3 in. is standard) and compare that price. If they bid grey gravel they are trying to be low bidder by designing in a much cheaper product.

You have now done you home work. Now make a decision on your gut feeling. Who do you like? Sign the contract and expect to put a down payment of 50%. Do not pay the balance until you are totally satisfied.
Hope all goes well with your project. The confused lady at the start of the story now has the yard of the month and her husband had the joy of being involved.

Mike Dooley is the owner of High Desert Gardens Inc. in the greater Albuquerque area. He has been a landscape designer and installer for 28 years and has installed over 3000 designs in Texas and New Mexico. Mike can be reached at (505) 400-0257.