[Terre]

Ok, I may be way off base here, and if I am please feel free to tell me to shut up.

I went to the Parade of Homes this weekend.

http://www.paradeofhomesdenver.com/index.htm

We are not talking cheap homes here. The price on one was 2.3 million. Expected attendance was over 100,000 people.

I went to see what the top landscapers in the area were doing, maybe get some ideas.

Do the landscapers who do these homes have to do them for free just to get the advertising? I mean, these homes are sold after (or sometimes before) the parade, so the job shouldn't have been a charity thing.

In any case, the landscapes overall were disappointing. Yeah, the hardscape was showy, but...

On one home, the grass slabs were laid with over an inch gap between each, and mostly dead. On another, the patio was already cracked. A pondless waterfall was installed so poorly that the water wasn't draining, it was overflowing onto the grass at the corner. The plants were ho hum, same old stuff. Rows of cotoneasters, euronymus, grasses, and salvias. A lot of which were dead or dying.

Maybe it's me, but if I had the opportunity for 100,000 people to see what I can do, I'd put my best efforts into it. And if I had to park an employee there daily to check on every single leaf of every plant, I'd be damn sure my landscape shone. Each and every day. I'd have replaced the slabs of grass, dead plants, etc. Yes, I realize these homes were completed for the July 28 opening and it's 5 weeks later, but landscapes are supposed to last longer than that! The dead grass wasn't in high traffic areas, it was all over.

Earlier this summer, I landscaped a golf course home in this general neighborhood. Not a 2 mil home, but about half that. I didn't put in $4.95 plants from the wholesaler.

Am I missing something and looking at this all wrong? If I were Mrs. Gotrocks and shopping for a landscaper, I sure wouldn't call any of these guys.

[Stonehenge]

Often those projects are done at a big discount, the trade for the alleged exposure and business the company building it will get.

In my market, often times the builders themselves will install the landscape at what has to be a princely sum of at least three or four hundred dollars. The ones you saw may have been built by the builders.

Or they may have been built by companies that know the work they'll get from the discounted work at that home is not worth it, so they cut corners to make it profitable.

Not endorsing the practice, just ferreting out the possible causes.

As for the rolls of sod and plants - two decades ago the company I worked for did a big project for a show like this (it was across the street from the home Madonna would later by for her father - namedropper, I know ). The responsibility was laced on me to keep the sod and plants watered up to and during the show. Turned out that was no small task, as the hired security wouldn't let me pass, called police and my employer. The next day, once everyone realized I wasn't planning on stealing 6" trees in my 1983 Pontiac Bonneville, they let me and my hoses through. So don't go too hard on the landscapers for the dead sod and plants - it may not have been their fault.

For me personally, I've done two homes in this scenario, and found the payback to just not be worth it, so we've stopped doing them. Budgets are too low to do something really cool (at least around here they are), and if the work is going to represent you, it better be cool.

[NCSULandscaper]

we had a house on the local parade here this year, builders personal house and we put in a nice landscape, about 30 pallets of sod etc, looked great put my signs in the front and got a good amount of work from it. its real hit or miss though, make sure the place looks spotless otherwise i wouldnt put my name on it.

[trees]

Way too many homes in neighborhoods like that have sub-par landscapes... and not just at Parade of Homes time. It's almost as if a lot of those homeowners / builders think that you should just GIVE them the work for the sheer honor of working on such a grand project. There are several neighborhoods around here that, quite frankly, I have given up on because of this (of course, I'll talk if they call, but just the fact that they live there is red flag #1).

I'll never cease to be amazed that people willing to spend multiples of hundreds of thousands on a home are so often convinced that the landscaping should come in at less than $10k...

Around here, it's the old money neighborhoods or newer "infill" projects, where architects, developers and homeowners are all thinking well outside the suburban hell box, where all the fun work is to be found... and the landscapes reflect that.

[Terre]

Why in the world should these places get discount landscaping? At one of these a couple years ago, the builder proudly showed off his $40,000 hand carved front door! $40K?? But they won't budget money for decent landscaping?

I did the math. If you are buying a 2.3 million dollar home, the difference in 100K worth of landscaping is $600 a month. When you are making a $14K house payment, $600 more or less is nothing.

Every one of these homes proudly displayed the builders name, architect, interior designer, and landscape company. I took my digital camera to take pictures so I'd have ideas to copy, and haven't even bothered downloading it.

[Cochran]

When I design/bid a potential Parade Home, I do not offer discounts. The builders do not promote your company and work well enough to warrant a discount (in my opinion, in my area). Plus all the PITA time they spend wanting to haggle and fuss is worth the non-discounted price.

Not sure how other Parade Homes operate, but here it's somewhat advertised, but could be advertised better and the big builders put 20-30 houses in the Parade all in one area/subdivision so it makes it hard for the potential homebuyer to cover our region because the houses that are put up by builders with only 1-2 homes are typically geographically inconvenient for travel (our Parade of Homes is made up of three cities, probably 80 miles from end to end, not sure on square miles total). From what I understand, our Parade of Homes has been somewhat poor recently as far as turnout.

Also from what I gather around here, builders pour money into their interiors, going way over budget, and then do not have money to spend on landscaping so they have really pitiful landscapes installed hoping the potential homebuyer is so wowed by the inside they don't care about the outside.

I worked a design for a Parade Home this past year where the builder had an initial budget for irrigation, sod, landscape, lighting and then cut it by $3000 because he went over on the inside. Then he cut another $1500 just because he wanted to make more money on the house! I worked up a gorgeous design for his budget, but he decided to go with a guy who really planted a horrendous landscape! From what I saw, this guy had to be at least $3000 cheaper than I was or the builder got ripped-off!

I have decided not to waste time chasing Parade Home builders, but rather concentrate on the builders that appreciate landscape and it's value. If they do a Parade Home, great, a little exposure, if not, no sweat off my back. I have a developer right now that is singing my praises to everybody, insists I need more signs on his properties, uses my logo in some of his advertising......that's what I'm looking for!