HMI and Cool Springs Press launch ‘Landscape Valuation Guide’ for U.S. homeowners

CARY, N.C. - Doug Cowles, president and CEO of HMI, announced today that his company, in partnership with Cool Springs Press, is launching a customized "Landscape Valuation Guide" for U.S. homeowners. This full-color guide allows homeowners to document the average replacement cost for each tree and shrub in their landscape. It also provides custom care instructions on each plant targeted to the state in which the homeowner lives. This guide is made possible by combining HMI's plant replacement cost calculator and print-on-demand publishing technology with Cool Springs Press' plant care information and publishing capabilities.
 
The unique element of this customized guide is the average replacement cost calculation provided for each plant. The replacement costs enable a homeowner to establish a value for their landscaping to support a wide range of applications including home re-sale and insurance claims. In addition to the replacement costs, each personalized guide will include detailed descriptions, hi-resolution color photographs, and customized care instructions.
 
Homeowners can purchase their guides online at GardenBookstore.net through a custom user interface designed to help homeowners enter their specific plants and plant sizes. The price for the guide starts at $29.95 and initially will be available for properties in the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Other states will be added throughout the year. A sample Landscape Valuation Guide is available online at www.gardenbookstore.net/hmi.
 
"HMI has been working with Cool Springs Press for the past several months to create the perfect product for homeowners who wish to document their valuable trees and shrubs," says Cowles. "The product we have developed is not only beautiful, but it's packed with valuable information about only those plants that a property owner is concerned with - their own. In addition, the technology we are using to construct and print the guides makes them very affordable.”