[wvbrian]

Hi everybody-I was curious who all here warranties their plant material installations and for how long-in my area, it seems that 1 year at least is a standard. I warranty all my materials for a year from install date, but how do you guys cope with the hot, dry weather and clients that do not water then want you to replace material? Do you have a cluase in your contract for watering or what? It has been such a hot, dry summer around here I am constantly having to remind my clients to water and I get disheartened when I drive by a job a month after I install plant material and it is brown and dead. How do all of you handle this with your business? Thanks to all in advance

[greenxander]

The contractor who does most of the installs for my clients provides a 6 month replacement warranty that's contingent on proper watering & maintenance and does not cover damage resulting from "acts of god" and vandalism.

On a similar note, I'm curious: how do those of you who install planting plans designed by others feel about providing a warranty for plants spec'd by someone else?

[Stonehenge]

That's a good question - I think if I had an issue with any choices, I'd make note of them and void them from the warranty.

As for the original question, here's our terms:

Stonehenge will offer one-time only replacement of any tree, shrub, evergreen or woody vine that has died within one (1) year from the date of installation, provided the plant has been cared for as instructed, and not misused. Stonehenge will not replace plants killed by animals, rodents, insects, mechanical damage, neglect, natural disasters or other reasons over which Stonehenge has no control. This warranty does not cover annuals, small perennials, ground covers, wildflowers, seeds, bulbs, roses and non-winter hardy plants. An additional labor charge for plant removal and reinstallation will apply. Any repairs/replacements made to any installation after expiration of the warranty will be made at Customer's expense. Any repairs made to any installation by any party other than Stonehenge voids any warranties offered by Stonehenge.

[Terre]

From a smaller perspective, I copied Stonehenge's contract almost verbatum on warranties, but changed it to include perennials IF AND ONLY IF (1.)the customer has watering systems in place or added by me that provided water per my specs, and (2) I got the maintenance contract.

Guaranteeing the plants seems to help me sell more jobs, sell drip irrigation to ensure what I plant gets proper water, and also sells more maintenance. Since most of what I do is small jobs, and only the occasional tree, I have found that the money generated by the added sales easily covers the cost of replacing a few perennials.

I do exclude things that the customer requests that go against my better judgement, i.e. poor choice for location or soil type. Occasionally if it is a totally stupid request I refuse to do it at all, but more often, my refusal to guarantee is enough to convince them to go with my recommendation.

[mrusk]

I keep on changing my contract. But as of today i will no longer warranty plant material unless it is irrigated by my irrigation sub.

I might loose a job or two since not everyone can afford irrigation. But alot of the time people can not afford it since it is not brought in to the budget until the last minute.

[FungusMudGrub]

I only warrant for 45 days, with the list of caveats similar to Stonehenge's. In fact the list is so long that it hardly seems worth it:

"The following exceptions and conditions apply to the above warranty: Any existing plants , whether or not they have been moved, transplanted, or pruned by Jeremy, his employees, or subcontractors, are expressly excluded from this warranty.
Any plants provided by the client are expressly excluded from this warranty.
Annuals are expressly excluded from this warranty.
Any plant mortality or damage which occurs as a result of not following the plant care instructions provided below is expressly excluded from this warranty.
Any plant mortality or damage resulting from any animal, wild or domestic, is expressly excluded from this warranty"

All this is designed to do reassure the client that I have provided quality plants to begin with, and that the soil I planted them in was not terrible. Of course I am pretty forgiving if it's obvious a plant has started to decline badly but is not totally dead at the end of the 45 days. I always include the cost of replacing a small percentage of the plants into any quote, and if I do a late fall planting I will warrant them to come back in the spring.

I really like the extended warranty with a maintenance contract idea. I might just have to try that.