[johnkeegan]

What do you do if a client says they only have $10K to spend not $12K? If it's itemized they can take out what they want and it's very easy to delete things. It's their yard and their money.I try to repect that.
I will give advice if I think their decision will greatly affect the design and I will explain that doing the rest of the work later will incur an additional charge.
...And I absolutely refuse to enter into discussions with customers about how much I make off a job. But that's an issue that's totally separate from itemizing.

[Raj Venugopal]

I've found that asking for people's absolute, drop-dead maximum budget that we need to stay within works best. The old saying about having champagne taste on a beer budget rings true. When you know the budget parameters, you can tell them that within that budget, you will give them the maximum bang for their buck, make fair wages and not cut corners. I like to tell my clients roughly what percentage goes in to materials/overhead and labour. Works really well for us.

[Squizzy Taylor]

Originally posted by johnkeegan
What do you do if a client says they only have $10K to spend not $12K?

Discuss with them what they can do without or save some money on. My stuff is mostly hardscaping....they get quotes detailing earthworks, waste disposal and then the install. I generally discuss with them at quote time where the budget can be varied...ie type of materials etc.

I just did a difficult quote for a beachside house....it came at $42K for the walls and $22K for the earthworks......he said that was great because my quote was within $1K of the other guy...and could I breakdown my costing for him to scrutinise......I said No for two reasons:

1) he's spending $66K...if he is really looking to compare the quotes to save a grand then I'm not sure I want to work for him. There is more than adequate information in my quote for him to see what he is getting and the quality.

2) He has asked for a fixed price quote when the way to go on this job is hourly hire for the earthworks. His house backs up to a very steep sparsely vegetated sandhill.....if things go good I could do the earthworks for around $12-$14K. If it goes bad I will need every dime of those $22K to save my butt. My cost breakdown is made up of daily/hourly rates for machines, trucks, labour etc...if the homeowner saw cost for two trucks at $95/hr/each, Loader at $1000/day etc they would be out screwin me around trying to save a few cents when I need to relax, stay focused and concentrate on the getting the job done safely and efficiently. If I need to park up the loader for a few hours while I do something else I don't want an argument at the end of the job about 2 hours loader hire.

I think the point to be aware of is those clients who suddenly decide to scrutinise the bill when the job has already been accepted.

[Mark Oomkes]

I realize this isn't a 100% accurate analogy, but when shopping for a car, do you ask the sales rep for a breakdown of the steering wheel costs, engine oil costs (would dyno oil be cheaper than synthetic, air filter type, number of interior light bulbs, etc?

You might shop options, which correlates to smaller plant sizes or removing an option entirely, i.e. heated leather seats, but you get the idea. A car sales rep would think you were nuts if you started asking questions like this.

[johnkeegan]

...on the car analogy. If the salesman showed you one loaded car that cost $30,000 and another dealer showed you a "plain Jane" that cost $25,000 are you telling me you wouldn't want to know the what the the cost of the option packages are? If the one car has a GPS/moon roof/leather seat package that add's $4K and a hybrid engine option that cost $5K, I would realize that comparing apples-to-apples that if I got the "plain Jane" in the first car it would actually only cost $21K (instead of $30K).

It seems that most "landscapers" offer "plain Jane" designs. I like to think we offer more high end option packages. I believe that, if people can be shown they're getting more for their money, they will pay more.
For instance, I generally try to use larger size plants or more unusual plants. These specimans cost more. I trust that if the customer sees this, they will understand why my estimate is higher.I'm not afraid to let them see the cost of those options. And I feel that having an "open" pricing system lends to a feeling of trust between the customer and I.
I switched to this system 6-7 years ago and have not had any real problems. Many people say it helps them to understand all the material and labor cost involved... which also makes it easier to write a bigger check than they originally planned.