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It is always interesting to hear various ways that things get done. I often forget that not everyone is dealing with pricing out the same plan, but are pricing their own custom landscape against others doing the same. That can easily scatter prices all over the place without anyone charging more or less for what they do.
Heck, if you kick 2-gal. plants up to 3-gal. or a 24"-30" up to a 30"-36" it blows the price way up. I see guys do wet laid fieldstone walls on a gravel base while others will put them on a 6" concrete footing, and yet others put them on a footing 48" deep to the frost line. Some homeowners are not going to be looking for or asking about these details. You could have the same plan without plant sizes or construction details and have two companies come up with radically different prices simply for the reasons above.
Then you throw in the idea that each has his own design and it is a free for all as to where prices will land.
There is not a serious landscaper out there who does not describe himself as "high quality". It is really about expectation and delivery. If you go to a "middle class" neighborhood and spec' large stock, handcrafted stonework, and lots of higher end bells and whistles, you will price yourself out of work and the word will get around that you are expensive although you may be charging short money for what you are planning to deliver.
Then there is the flip side to that coin. You work the middle class and meet their expectations well and price well for what you provide. You get called into a more upscale market (could be location or could just be the individual client) and the expectation is that you are going to be providing an instant landscape with the craftsmanship and ammenities that would need to be watered down for your usual customer.
Would you (generic you, not any particular poster) truly be able to go to that higher level prospect with your portfolio and be showing them things that are equal to their expectations? You are showing quality, good craftsmanship, and excellent design. Are they identifying what they see in your portfolio as equal to their own lifestyle? If they see another portfolio that is full of nothing but houses of similar and higher value as their own with newly installed bigger plants, stone walls instead of block work, and totally uncompromised ammenities it changes everything.
You and I know that the layout is great, the craftsmanship is great, and that it easily translates using bigger plants and installing better and more ammenities. The prospect sees each photo as an item on a shelf rather than potential. If he sees a portfolio full of landscapes in it that he wants to grab and put into his site, you are in. If he sees a few of those scattered with other landscapes that don't meet that standard, you are out no matter how good they are.
Finally, if you have a great portfolio that meets all of their standards, but there is one other person out there that has a portfolio that is perceived as being just a bit more of what the prospect is identifying with, you are in second place and go home with nothing.
Of course portfolio is not everything, but if all else is relatively equal this is the result.
I honestly believe that the further up you climb in the market, the less pricing affects whether you get the job or not. It is only an issue if it is way out of line. No one buys The Lexus because it is $5,000 less than the Benz. If the guy wants the Lexus, he won't buy the Benz if they dropped the price to match the Lexus. It is simply because that individual wants the Lexus more than the Benz. It is no different with landscapes.
.... and nobody really wants a Kia, but they do get sold.
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