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I have a $1,500 residential and a $2,000 portion of a cond redo in my own office right now. The condo job has been in phases. This is the fourth phase.
The condo plans are plan views with no elevations and no grading, but there is a huge amount of measuring time and assessment of what to keep and what must go. Measuring all of the locations and sizes of existing plants accurately is very important because I need to fit plants in between others with good results. It sounds like a gravy train, but I really do earn the money. That is obvious simply because this is the fourth time they have hired me.
Part of the challenge is designing to improve aesthetics and reduce maintenance costs at the same time. They have most likely already saved enough on maintenance expenses to pay my design fees. That is tangible value that they know they are getting from the investment on top of the plans that enhance the old tired landscape.
Another thing that I do is to get everyone on the board to follow my direction based on all of their input rather than to continue to argue amongst themselves or for me to try to just tell them what I think looks good. That has value and not every one out there drawing plans can do that.
I only mention this to illustrate the point that there has to be a client who sees at least equal value in what you are going to do for them as they are paying you to do it, just as Dale is trying to say. If I just went around winging in plants to fill the empty spaces the value would not be there and they would not be interested in paying my fee.
Joe Homeowner in a $400k house is not going to value a landscape plan at $2k very often. Even if he values the design, there are enough design/build guys out there that want that "in" on getting the built work, so there really is no reason for him to pay that much. I can't take the time to do that for $300 or $500 because I am not going to sell any product or labor, so I'd lose my backside on it. That means that I'm not even going to take the time to write up a proposal because that would also be a waste of my time. Its not because I think I'm too good or the homeowner is too cheap. It is because there is an alternative for that client which is a better value to him. It is that simple.
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