BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES Conducting a Site Assessment

Every landscape is the same, right – same soil, wind, sun exposure, slope, neighboring trees, utilities and existing plants? Of course not.

Help your clients make the most of their landscapes by inspecting their properties. These site assessments double as great ways to uncover landscape problems that you can fix and get paid for.

WALKING AND TALKING. A site assessment is not a service that requires lots of expensive equipment. For the most part, a clipboard, a survey/plan of the property, a screwdriver and a pocketknife are all that’s required. Armed with these tools, you can document local conditions, diagnose problems and communicate the specifics to your customers.
 
Conduct the assessment in one of two ways: 1. Walk the property with the client, asking questions, taking notes and beginning to suggest solutions to problems. 2. Walk the property alone, taking notes and preparing a set of suggestions to discuss with the client at a second walk-through.
 
There are advantages and disadvantages to each method. The first allows for lots of input that can really help you design a landscape or reduce pest problems that you wouldn’t have otherwise. It’s pretty hard to know and understand 50 years of history and occurrences in a landscape without the client’s help. The second approach may take more of your time, but in the long run could be helpful because it makes it easier to think of more thorough solutions than if the client is hounding you as you inspect the sod for bugs. Naturally, each client will have their preferences and their own communication styles, as will you as a landscaper. The key to success with an assessment is knowing which approach is best for each client.
 
When it comes to documenting items, try to list as many landscape features as is feasible. Consider buried utilities, sun exposure, soil types, drainage patterns, wind patterns, sick and overgrown plants, suffering turf, and improperly located plants that could thrive in another part of the landscape. As you walk the property, simply jot down a phrase or two about each area or plant. Typical notations are phrases such as “severe slope,” “soggy soil,” “heavy shade” and “diseased turf.” Once the specifics of the property are documented, they can be used to sell new landscape jobs, to better understand the current problems and to evaluate previous landscape installations.

MANY PROBLEMS, MANY CAUSES. As you’re probably quite aware, a landscape is a pretty complex ecosystem. When you encounter a problem, such as a sick tree, thin turf or standing water, ask yourself, “What could be causing this?” In most cases, the answer is several things. Sure, it’s easy to look at a tree trunk, see small round holes and assume that the tree is suffering from insect feeding. However, the insect feeding may be only a secondary development. The tree could be under stress from compacted soil, which makes it more attractive to borers. Realizing the soil is compacted is helpful, but why is it compacted? Does the site receive lots of foot traffic? Is the soil type heavy clay? Getting answers to those questions will provide more information, which will result in a better site assessment.
 
Lots of causal agents can be responsible for landscape problems. Recently, a landscape contractor told me about a situation where a customer was having trouble getting plants to grow near a black walnut tree. He recommended that several plant species, including daylilies, primrose and Russian sage, be moved. As they were about to expire, the plants were relocated to another part of the landscape, away from the walnut, and within a couple of weeks started producing new growth and blooming. What’s even more telling is that the Russian sage plants were transplanted in the heat of summer under considerable heat/moisture stress. His site assessment saved the plants, but more importantly helped the client learn more about the landscape.
 
As you consider each of the possibilities, all are important, yet sun exposure is probably the most important. There’s just no substitute for adequate sunshine or a good way to reduce damage from a shade plant installed on a sunny slope.
 
Another important landscape item to evaluate is the irrigation system. Assume it’s broken. The only real unknown is just how badly broken. The possibilities are almost endless – the heads could be leaking, causing too much water to be retained in the soil near the roots of a shrub bed; vigorous tree roots may have grown around and started choking a supply line; ornamental plants may have grown larger than expected and are blocking the water pattern of a spray head, etc. The best way to determine what may be broken is to simply run the system through all its zones and take notes on the system’s performance. Small collection devices, such as empty tuna cans, can be helpful to measure the lack of distribution uniformity.
 
Next, check out the soil. Most grass species grow best in moderately well-drained, slightly acid soil. A soil test is a good, inexpensive way to show the client that you care about their property. The test will provide an analysis of several nutrients and readings of other conditions, but the ones to focus on first are pH, bulk density, soluble salts and NPK.
 
Site assessments can be challenging to sell. It’s great to think that all of your customers will be anxious to jump right in and start “assessing.” In a practical sense, it’s not likely that all of them will understand the concept. That’s your job – to convince them of the merits of the procedure. Remember, it’s practical and important for you to receive payment for your investment of time, talent and energy on assessments. Charge for your expertise. Once the assessment is finished, get paid a second time by pitching proposals for landscape improvements.

The author is a horticulturist and certified arborist at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Neb., and he can be reached at jfech@unlnotes.unl.edu.