Steve Snedeker’s Landscaping and Gardening Blog

On almost all my projects, I ask for 50% of the overall price first, 25% at the halfway mark, and the remaining 25% on a satisfactory completion.  Many projects, however, are not that long or large and the 50% up front stays that way until the end.  This would be anything taking less than, say two weeks. Some projects are heavily front-loaded with materials prices.  And, in truth, landscaping itself is just that: heavily front-loaded in the contractor’s costs. 

    Take your typical $15,000 project consisting of a waterfall, a sod lawn with concrete edging, plants, boulders and a small creek bed to act as a draingae aid.  The costs amount to a bit less than 40% of the project, yet almost everything comes early.  $800 for a truckload of boulders, $600 irrigation supplies, up to $1,500 for parts for the water feature, $600 for any machine rentals, perhaps $2,000 for plants, $600 for sod, the cement edging $400.  As you can see, it mounts up, especially when labor is factored in.  Landscaping requires the single most materials-driven advances of any trade I know of. 

    Larger and more complex problems present another scale and formula.  On projects which will last more than a month, anything, say, from $60,000 and up, I will still ask for the 50% up front.  I may also ask for something prorated later, say, 3 payments of $10,000.  Other projects even larger and usually commercial are not as tidy.  One usually goes on an estimate of percentage of progress.

    This small item was actually designed by someone else.  She was looking for the effect we achieved, a circular path and garden, into which we planted some perennials, including quite a few herbs.  Inasmuch as it is just outside the kitchen, the homeowners were delighted with the fresh herbs, directly from the outside garden. They used them alot in their cooking.  The smells were pungent and pleasant, wafting up into their house in Summer.  It was a cute project.

Pre-emergent herbicides represent a huge step towards weed control.  Quick and easily-applied, pre-emergents act on seeds and seedlings.  They basicly contain enough noxious chemicals to kill the fledgling weeds and plants without hurting exisiting ones. Pre-emergent herbicides are becoming hugely popular and have been developed more and more user and plant friendly.  The original pre-emergents were fairly loaded and somewhat toxic to existing plants. However, more research in this field has resulted in pleasing results to the end of chemical weed control.  Inasmuch as most are also hosed into the ground, thereby forming a gasous vapor for such small plantlings, pre-emergents disappear into the ground are are non toxic to animals. 

    I use them at the completion of almost every project.  After completing these fairly impeccable scenes, the last thing one needs is an invasion of noxious weeds and plants.   We spray at the completion, then offer the service in ensuing years as well.  Most herbicides are good for 6 months, preventing any weed growth in places not desired.  I usually spray in Spring and midsummer. Preen, Surflan, Ronstar are among the names many are familiar with.  New products are always coming online as well. 

Here is another perfect example of newer products and designs. As manufacturers and designers put their heads together, they yield astounding results. As gorgeous as these are, one is also reminded of the incredible mosaics produced from ancient times, which very nearly match these in beauty and simple eye-catching effects. The public park designed by Antonio Gaudi, in Barcelona, Spain, deserves a “Google” by one and all, for the effects which inspired artists like Salvador Dali, among many others.

Contractors are infamous for many things which, sadly, become typical and almost, (in their defense) unavoidable. Time issues and constraints are the primary worries they have. Notifying people that they might be late to an appointment, or maybe not coming at all is one of the primary sources of exasperation for potential clients. Time, for the contractor is everything and some handle it better than others.
Here are a few “for what it’s worth” rules, some etched in stone, some not, when you consider hiring a guy to come in, make a huge mess and completely take over the land around you:
1. Make sure he has a contractor’s license, first and foremost. Does he/she have references? From clients?
2. Does he or she work with you? If a homeowner has ideas of their own, I always treat that as half the battle in terms of design. It makes my job easier, not harder when someone has a notion and a concept of what they want. Plus, you can feel more involved, as a client, literally designing your own place.
3. Do you have a budget? This matters hugely. It does not pay to set a budget then try and work underneath it. What works best, ultimately, is to design a wished-for scenario/environment, have the guy work on it at home, then get back about what he thinks it might cost, ballpark. At least, that’s my normal modus operandi. If indeed, it appears your budget will work, and if, by some lucky stroke of nature or your own brainpower, your original budgetting leaves you extra money, Great!
4. Typical pay schedules: I do the following: 50% up front, 25% at the midway point on larger projects, then the final 25% at the conclusion of the job………when satisfied! A landscaper’s references will depend, in the end, on how happy or upset he left his client when all was said and done. At times, the gnarly litte details can derail everyone’s satisfaction. Landscapers should meet this reality head-on. It’s why they ask for more than just what the gig costs, after all. Pleasing a finnicky client is not a problem for the best at what they do. As a client, do not be afraid to mention small things. They are also a part of the job. The music to a landscaper’s ear, and, yes, I have heard this, is the following: “We knew it would be pretty, but we had no idea it would be this beautiful!” Much of this comes from your simple but thorough ending clean up.
5. I have mixed some stuff together, but hope it becomes clear that professionalism is not an option in this trade. It is an absolute must. It is an expensive trade, often following the rules of anywhere from 5% to 15% of the value of a house. This is serious money. If you have a bad feeling about someone related to his professionalism or lack thereof, then do NOT use him. A person can be casual without being sloppy.
6 Sign a contract. No if’s and’s or but’s. Make sure the language is crystal clear and you should have zero problems.
7. Check progress. There is nothing worse than a landscape contractor realizing 90% into a project that the client is not happy with something. If there is an item missing, a troubled client needs to make it known. We expect, as contractors, to hear these things from clients. Alas, we are not perfect either. I wish I had a buck for every client who saved me by mentioning a problem he was having and, ahem, thought maybe I had forgotten about, say, the garden sculpture. Or the, um, grass, heh heh. Conversely, when a client realizes that perhaps the design they both agreed to does somehow just plain not work, a few words with the contractor right away might just rescue things. Landscaping can be very fluid, so do not hesitate to ask questions or offer opinions. The only dumb question is the one not asked.
8. Remember this: (I tell every single client I have the following words:) “Landscaping is 80% preparation and 20% finishing. ” There will be an unholy mess, with machines moving dirt all over and mud and seeming chaos. Beirut of the 70’s. Fear not. We know what’s up. Longer projects can be exasperatingly dusty or dirty. Just remember how the final result will make one feel. A bit of patience here is called for and very much appreciated.

This is what is below the illustrated Infinity Edge pool in the post below. The water going over that Infinity Edge needs to go somewhere! We collected the flowing water in a catchment below the falls and directed the water to cascade over this, more naturalistic falls, down below and completely out of sight. It is an utterly separate environment and provides privacy and the gurgling and soothing sound of water for the cool couple who lives there. Sandy loves this as a retreat, opting to take a book down by the “babbling brook” for a read and some sunshine. Notice the rockery stair system for the entrance to below.

One of my favorite speculations is in what is next in design and artistic work in my chosen trade. I will include various examples, not necessarily all by me, as this one is not, which illustrate what CAN be done in the wacky world of landscape design. This one is remarkable and enchanting, just amazingly eye catching. So hard to imagine some bricks yielding an effect like this, is it not? I have some products of futuristic sorts of things and, as I get them scanned, will produce some of this.

Among effects possible in watrefalls, the more formal types of constructions can allow the water to fall in a sheet, falling over a perfectly level course into a pond catchment. What occurs is fairly amazing, a continual, yet moving “sheet” of water which is in motion yet seemingly perfect. The hottest part about these are what lights do to them. This one pictured is one of two in the same back yard.

This is a really cool item. The homeowners asked me to provide an “Infinity (also “Disappearing”) Edge Waterfall”, in their backyard, which would appear, from their living room, to fall into the large pond about a quarter mile down below. The old “water into water” routine. Fortunately, it worked! It is composed of concrete, for the most part, and has a cantilevered edge at the house side. These constructions are challenging as heck but very satisying, in the end. This one worked out well. I will post the downside of this in another blog, later, but I can tell you it is collected and focused into yet another, naturalistic waterfall which runs by a patio and is below the grade at the top, making yet another and more private seating and picnic area. The lady of the house loves reading by the creek! A very bright light inside the upper blue pond makes for a surrealistic nighttime effect. Very fun.

Creeks, in almost all of my landscapes involve connecting functional parts of the water feature itself. In the picture above, we went for a long, slowmoving and quite deep one, owing to a wide landscape which was not particularly deep, in terms of room. The falls is to the left and rear and the water courses down to a catch basin pond, where it meets the pump and gets recirculated. There is a series of falls which are not apparent in this photo, and, while they are not high, they do aerate the water and make for some nice sound and motion. Lights make this shine at night, as well, as we employed numerous underwater lights to give a practially phosphorescent look.