Landscapes bring out the aesthetic value of your property and it can attract potential visitors to your property or business. It adds convenience, comfort, and value to your home. To fully benefit from having a great landscape, it’s important to hire a professional landscaping company. However, the process of hiring a landscaping company can be challenging especially since there’s a whole lot to choose from. There are specific things to look out for when searching for a landscaping company to install a new landscape or care for an existing landscape on your property. This blog post will consider 5 costly mistakes that you must avoid when choosing a landscape company to manage your property.
1. NOT CONSIDERING YOUR LONG-TERM LANDSCAPING GOALS
When it comes to the landscaping of your properties, it’s important for you to think about your long-term landscaping plan. This will make it easier to care for your landscape in the present and help you avoid major issues in the future. So before deciding to hire a landscaping company, discuss your future landscaping goals with the company and make sure they will be willing to follow through. For instance, a landscaping company that provides only basic lawn care will be unable to help you achieve your long-term goal of having a magnificently landscaped property with features like:
Inviting patios and terraces
Stone Fountains
Outdoor Kitchens
Fireplaces.
Although you may not think about all these features at the moment, still it’s vital that you consider your long-term landscaping goals and hire a landscaping company that you can build a long-term relationship with to achieve your future landscaping goals.
2. CHOOSING A LANDSCAPER WHO ISN’T RESPONSIVE
A good landscaping company should be professional, reachable via phone and flexible when it comes to scheduling meetings. Take notice of how timely they return your phone calls. If you are having communication issues with a company right before you hire them, then think about what will happen once you hire them eventually. A professional has a neat appearance, arrives on time for meetings, listens attentively to your needs and asks questions. Do they listen to your needs, draw sketches of your property and/or take notes? Do they feel comfortable working with these individuals? Do they offer constructive criticism of your ideas and provide solutions to your problems? Of course, there are several other things you should be wary of, however, responsiveness is one of the important criteria you should take cognizant of, it will go a long way towards ensuring you have a satisfying experience.
3. CHOOSING A LANDSCAPER WITHOUT GETTING REFERENCES OR READING REVIEWS
Once you hire a commercial landscaping company, you are trusting them with the look, and safety of your property. So before you make a final decision ensure that the company is trustworthy. There’s no better way to learn about a company than from considering the experience of previous users. You can go online to read customer’s review on Facebook, Yelp or Google. You will learn about how satisfied the previous customers were and learn about their reputation as well as their work quality. You can also learn about the company’s reputation by asking for references. Speaking directly with one of the customers is an effective way of vetting a company. You can also get to know about a company through referrals from friends, relatives, and neighbors who might have had one or two dealings with such contractor.
4. OPTING FOR CHEAP SERVICES
This is a common mistake, which often proves costly in the long run. There’s a saying “you get what you pay for” which is especially true in this case. Most homeowners wrongly assume that they are saving money by going with the lowest bid. However, the fact is that you are getting exactly what you opt for. Therefore, you should not expect high quality or exceptional services if you hire cheap service providers. Moreover, you may end up spending more as there may be a need to hire another landscaping expert to fix the issues created. A higher bid may be the best in terms of topnotch services, standard materials, reliability, and workmanship. Everyone loves a great deal and that’s why homeowners are often swayed to hire a landscaping company based on a low bid, only to find out that they’ve hired an inept contractor. A cheap proposal can mean that the contractor is cutting corners somewhere in their service. It could be that the proposal does not include all the needed materials, or the materials are substandard. Generally, price is often equivalent to quality. So, if you want topnotch services and excellent results, you may need to consider increasing your monthly budget. It takes considerable effort, skill and time to create a landscape design that is aesthetically pleasing.
5. CHOOSING A LANDSCAPER WITHOUT SEEING PREVIOUS PROJECTS
You must see previous portfolios of the projects that the contractors have completed and a list of properties that they maintain. This is a great way to see if you like their work. Some companies are especially busy and they may struggle to keep up with demand, thereby causing unnecessary delay. An experienced landscaping contractor will show evidence of previous projects and even recommend talking to previous clients.
TopNotch is pleased to offer commercial and residential property owners exceptional landscape services, performed by skilled professionals that undergo background checks to ensure the safety of lives and property. In addition, you will get a full list of references for both commercial and residential projects to authenticate the safety, quality, reliability, and efficiency of our work. TopNotch Landscaping is committed to making it easier for their clients to manage and maintain the properties they own and make them a source of pride for the tenants that reside there.