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That makes sense. The only problem I have is that for an average sized garden $150 seems like a reasonable amount. This guy had a ton of property (as potential new clients may) and wanted 3 sides of his property line totally landscaped. I had done 2 sections just to feel him out, then he asked for the third. It sounded good so I went for it. With perennials for us here in CT it's pretty easy to price. You have x amount of perennials, regardless of what they are, for $x. My problem arose with shrubs. Since he had some troublesome/difficult areas, I really had to do a fair amount of research as to shrubs, and the prices for shrubs really run the gammut. I'm just not sure how to be fair to all potential clients as well as myself. It's a lot of time to invest if someone doesn't go for it. I totally agree that having the client value the job done as much as we value getting the job is the most important. We've done work for people before who just don't care. That being said, I wouldn't be too upset if we didn't get the job as I can obviously see he doesn't value us. The thing that bites me is the amount of time I spent in it. I feel like the potential client can't really see what we're capable of unless we provide them with an accurate quote. That being said...we were thinking if a design was real complex we might put a higher price tag on it. If someone goes for a job, we always put the design fee as a deposit toward the job. So, that being the case, we were thinking that if someone were serious, they wouldn't mind paying say $300 or whatever for a design as if they go for it, that $300 goes toward the job, design fee essentially waived.
Does this make sense or is it totally outrageous? I just want to be fair to the clients as well as us. The only time we really get a design fee is when we don't get the job.
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