[Terre]

I have sort of fallen into this, and let me say first off, that I don't consider myself a landscaper, but a gardener, with a talent for design. That's how it started. I'm still amazed that people will actually pay me to dig in their dirt and spend their money on flowers!

One issue I'm having, is when I submit an estimate, the client looks at the breakdown, and doesn't want to pay me MY labor rate for removal of brush, juniper, etc. But that is partly where I cover the hidden costs, like time spent doing research on what plants will be best for his soil composition, color combinations, etc, and time spent tracking down those plants, etc.

How could this be better handled? It has been suggested to me that I should give someone a total price and not break anything down at all, but I've not had a lot of luck with that approach, the first thing they ask is how much I'm spending on plants.

Help?