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How to Hire a Landscaper

How to hire a landscaper is a question that I often get asked.

While gardening and small yard landscaping projects are fun and satisfying …. ……there might be times when a landscape or garden professional is needed. Times when you need to bring in the big guns for your home garden ideas and dreams.

Where can I find qualified professional landscapers?

Websites like servicemagic.com or Angies List

Local Nurseries

References from friends

Ask any homeowner whose front yard landscaping you admire

Professional Landscaper or Garden Designer

If you’re new to gardening or not quite confident enough to create your own garden design or have few landscaping ideas for the front yard, then hiring a landscaper or garden designer to help you create the look you want may be the solution.

For larger projects like landscaping plans that include paver or brick patios, large boulders, retaining walls, or large trees and shrubs, then hiring a professional landscaper makes sense because of the equipment that is needed for the projects . These are advanced projects that most everyday gardeners leave to the professionals, unless you have the right tools, some experience or at the very least an experienced partner helping you.

Other projects that are most often done by professionals are major lawn overhaul including leveling, bringing in rock, sand and dirt, installing irrigation systems, and outdoor lighting. Often, there is a design fee that will be applied towards the total project costs when you work with a landscaper or garden designer. These professionals make a living not only with the design work – but more often from selling you the plants and the labor – but don’t be shy if you only want to get a great design and do the work yourself. Let them know up front and find someone to work with you, and that you feel comfortable working with.

Home and Garden Nursery or Garden Centers

Another option for how to hire a landscaper is to go to your local home and garden nursery or garden center and ask about their services. For a small fee some nurseries will come to your home and design a plan for you. The fee is usually applied towards the purchase of the plants, in some cases they may give you a plan for free. These folks might be professional landscapers or garden designers with a degree or some sort of schooling, or they may have the knowledge from experience of working in the field.

You can bring your garden journal sketches with the shape and the dimensions of your outdoor garden space to the garden centers. They can give recommendations for buying annuals that are appropriate for you. They can tell you how many plants you’ll need to buy and suggest different types of annuals that grow in the shade or sun, depending on your plan and garden design. You can either use them for installation or just buy the plants and hire someone else for the labor.

Don’t call a landscaper just yet.

Hold off and plan ahead. If springtime is 2 - 4 weeks away , chances are that the best landscapers and garden designers are booked . You don’t want to be in a position of desperation and take the only one available. Plan in late fall and winter and you’ll be able to get on the landscaping garden calendar for spring.

A little pre-work will save time and money. The pre-work includes taking a hard look at your yard and having nitty gritty discussions with yourself (or others in your household) about what your vision is for the yard and garden. You can have lots of creative home garden and landscape ideas, but if you don’t harness them and put them on paper, your yard and garden plan can end up haphazard and off balance. Do you have a theme? Is there a specific need or problem like a shady area that you can’t grow anything in?

Budgeting and prioritizing your dreams will determine the outcome of your project. Size of your lot, features and your choices in material will impact the final look. Most of us want the very best materials, but in order to get all of the features, sometimes it’s necessary to scale back in other areas.

Know what you want and how much you can afford before you figure out how hire a landscaper.

Follow these tips on

How to Hire a Landscaper

Front or backyard landscaping can be very expensive. You want to make sure that you get a professional that you can trust will do the job right for you. Ask plenty of questions before signing any agreement or contracts when hiring a professional landscaper or garden designer.

If you decide to use a professional service, have them come out to your property to look at the site, ask for references and check them out. Too often we look at the companies pretty portfolio of garden designs and front yards and we assume that they’ll do a as good or better a job for us. Please don’t assume anything.

How to Hire a Landscaper?-Do Your Homework

Invite prospective landscapers or designers to your house so that they can make appropriate suggestions and give an accurate quote.

Talk to people who have used their services and go out and see the project if you can. I can’t stress this point enough – do the research up front and save yourself possible headache and financial woes down the road.

Negotiate Payments

Never, never pay for a project up front before it’s complete. A standard practice is to pay 1/2 up front and then the balance on completion.

A better option is to try to negotiate the landscaping costs with 1/3 down payment, 1/3 of the cost midway through the project and the balance on finished projects – only if the work meets with your final approval.

Ask tons of questions when you are interviewing landscapers and designers for work on your home.

Yes- you should be conducting interviews. You are the customer ( i.e. Boss) and paying hard earned money to the landscaping company providing services to you.

Shop Around

Shop around for the best price and value. Remember….. time is money, qualified contractors are worth their weight in gold, cheaper is not always better, and you get what you pay for.

Do the work required and get at least 3 bids for the project taking care to compare apples to apples or brick to brick!

Get a contract

Get a written estimate from the candidates and then and binding contract before any work begins prepare the details in writing. This plan can include the design, plant material to be used, all costs, a time-table and the terms of payment. You have the right to amend the contract. Include warranties on the work itself, but also things like lights, plants, and other materials.

Working without a written agreement is not how to hire a landscaper.

How to hire a landscaper that is reliable?

Know Who You Hire. Use only licensed contractors with the appropriate background and experience for your particular job.

Find out is the contractor has adequate insurance. Don’t be shy to ask for proof of insurance and make sure that you understand your liability if something happens on your property.

Ask for references – and check them! Not checking the references provided is one of the most common mistakes made and the easiest thing to do . Take the 10 minutes to call the references and ask if you can look at the work done. Most homeowners are proud of their homes and would welcome the opportunity to show their newly landscaped yard off.

Make sure that they are available and can commit to your time-line.....and make it part of the contract.

For You - Landscaper Interview Questions Checklist How to hire a landscaper will ultimately be up to you .

Please use caution- Check references and ask a lot of questions before hiring anyone since it's a lot of money that you're investing in your property.

For a complete 7 page article in PDF format with an extensive checklist of questions to ask before you hire a landscaping contractor- use the form below and type in your first name and email address and I will send it to you right away via email at no charge.

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