[Bill Schwab]

I'm seeing a unilatteral problem in our industry and it has come to recent light to me through this thread.

Let me list the components of a landscape installation and the professionals who make them happen.

You have the designer/Architect not to lump them as the same but basically, they draw the plans for the installer, whoever that may be.
To varying degrees of detail and expertise, these folks make plans to be bid on by landscape contractors and in some cases design-build firms. They are also and should be paid to be responsible to manage the landscape company doing the install but often this is where the owner drops the ball and lets fate take over..


Then you have landscape contractors, listed as installers.

As listed, these firms look at plans, estimate them, submit a bid hoping to gain acceptance. The degree of their accuracy depends entirely on how detailed the work scope is when given to them for review, and closely they follow that plan.

Then you have installers who draw.

Good at installation, iffy at best on design. Thier gig is installation and they draw at give away pricing to get work. The homeonwer thinks they get a great deal because they saved $2,000.00 plus over having a dedicated firm do the drawing.

Then you have design-build firms.

A Design-Build firm is essentially a company who is hired for a given budget to draw and install as per what the client wants. In the correct way they come ointo fruition, they are paid from the get go to drawn, gain acceptance, and install what was approved by the owner/general contractor/agent.


The problem as I see most of it, is in the process all work is propagated. None would go to the architect and have them get to the board without signing a contract. The landscape firm that draws and anyone who draws needs to make it clear, this is a paid for service, unless they can manage to turn the sale into a design-build situation where they are on board getting paid from the first meeting on.

I write this with strong hopes that everyone, no matter what your competiton charges or chooses to be so stupid as to give away, would charge for drawings. The more it gets around that what we do is for profit not charity, the faster people will see value in those who are serious about this profession.

Now back to werk.....