Nuggets of Enhancement Wisdom

Published May 14, 2003

The business of selling enhancements can be quite profitable, but a few contractors with experience in that venue have some tips to offer their fellow enhancement installers.

Know your costs. “Enhancements are usually going to involve ripping out the old landscape and then putting in the new design, whereas with new construction, you’re just putting in the new landscape,” explained Jeffrey Johns, president, Coastal Greenery, Brunswick, Ga. “Enhancements can be a lot more labor-intensive than new construction. Knowing your labor costs and controlling your labor to be efficient in that way is something you really need to stay on top of to be successful in enhancements. Labor will eat you up if you don’t know your costs.”

Qualify your customers. “You have to be careful about qualifying so you’re not putting your own time or manpower into a job that isn’t profitable,” commented Ed Mason, landscape manager, Aspen Corp., Daniels, W.Va. “I will oftentimes get an idea of where the customer lives, give them some enhancement ideas based on what they tell me and maybe give them some approximate numbers for an installation or a certain project. That can qualify something right there. A lot of people don’t realize sometimes how much it costs for a new installation or enhancement.”

Set pricing properly. “One of the things you have to watch with enhancements is pricing, especially for budgeting reasons,” noted Chris Randall, commercial grounds management department manager, Bland Landscaping Co., Apex, N.C. “Sometimes you’ll propose an enhancement in June that will be installed the following June. You have to know your what your budget season is, and propose projects prior to the end of that season so the money is in the budget for the following year. You have to watch your pricing when you do that, too, because you can price a job at $1,000, but you can’t go back and say, ‘Now it’s $1,500 because nursery costs went up.’ That won’t fly with most customers.

Communicate with your clients. “Some customers I’m on a first name basis with and they feel more comfortable with a phone call, while other customers would prefer to have a proposal written out and have me send that to them,” Mason observed. “I like to make people aware of things and bring up the fact that as landscapes get older, they tend to have insect and disease problems. I try to educate people on natural consequences of an aging landscape and the advantages of putting in some additional color and other things. Customers occasionally approach us with ideas or requests, but a lot of times they don’t’ know what to ask. It’s better if we bring things to their attention because we can see needs in certain areas.

The author is Assistant Editor of Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at lspiers@lawnandlandscape.com.

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