6 Things to Consider Before Hiring Landscapers
Millions of people around the world love to garden and always try to create a beautiful space to enjoy all year long around their home. While most of them enjoy putting together a new garden each year, there are others who would like to invest into their land and create a functional and creative space that can last through the years. The latter can become very time consuming and cost a lot of money if done improperly, which is why many choose to hire professional landscapers to offer their own professional advice, take care of the work that needs to be done to achieve the job and design according to the customer’s specifications and needs.
Before looking through a list of all of the landscapers in your area, there are a few things that you should consider in order to choose the best company for the job. It’s certainly not a quick cheap job that you want, but an important investment done by professionals.
Reputation
First and foremost ask around to see if anyone knows of a good landscaping company or individual contractor. Word of mouth advertising and a good reputation is usually a very good start for a great landscaper. If you find a few companies who advertise in the area, always check their reviews from previous clients by doing a quick search online or with others that may have ties in the business.
License and Credentials
Always check their license and credentials to make sure they really know what they’re talking about. This is especially important to give you the peace of mind knowing professionally trained staff is taking care of your investment and not ripping you off.
Since many people have big landscaping jobs done for their homes, there will be a lot of work that could potentially go wrong or cause a disaster with power and sewage lines if left in inexperienced hands.
Professionalism
When you take the time to talk with some potential landscapers, make a note about their professionalism. Do they take the time to explain everything or try to hurry through with a contract?
Ask a lot of questions and voice any concerns that you may have to see how they respond to them. If they are courteous and informative, rather than pushy or defensive, it will give you a good idea with how their business is run.
Portfolio
Ask landscapers for their portfolio. Every professional landscaping company will have a portfolio of previously done work to show prospective clients what they are capable of doing. This is always a great way to find out if they have the design sense and style that you would like for your property. Even if you don’t have any ideas about the style you would like, looking through their work and asking for their professional advice can certainly help a lot.
If they are new in the business or do not have samples of their work, it’s better to keep looking for someone else who will be able to take care of your investment.
Insurance
One of the most important things to look for when you’re in the final deciding stages of choosing someone from your list of landscapers, is to look out for companies that are not under something like a business liability insurance or have staff who are not under a worker’s compensation insurance policy.
Insurance is very important for your protection to make sure you are not liable if the company damages something or a worker is injured on your property.
Cost
Finally, ask for an estimate on the work that you would like done on your property. Research the type of work you would like along with a list of other landscaping companies and their prices. This is the best way to get the most competitive price and more for your investment.