Landscape Designer, Landscape Contractor, Garden Services

Q. Describe the most common types of jobs you do for your clients.

A. The most common plantings for us are foundation plantings. Once the foundation planting is complete most clients ask us to continue around the house or out into the lawn with more plantings.

We also design and install woodland plantings, screening plantings, garden renovations, and backyard retreats. If you have a goal of what you would like to accomplish, there is no limit to what we can do for you.

Our second most common job is garden care. We have a four step program that keeps your gardens looking great all year long. We also perform spring edging and mulching and summer pruning.

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. Landscape jobs can vary in price from the equivalent dinner out with your family to the cost of a new car. For that kind of investment, you want to make sure you hire the right contractor.

Take the time to get to know the person and company who will be doing your work. What are their qualifications? What impression do you get when they arrive at your house? Do they pay attention to your needs or are they only focused on getting the next job?

A red flag is if a contractor does not have time to explain how he or she will do the job. If they don't have time to talk to you about the job in the sales stage how will they treat you later in the relationship.

You must kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince. Please take your time making the decision on something as important as your landscape.

Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?

A. Just because someone calls themselves a professional landscaping company does not make them a horticulturist or landscape designer. It takes knowledge and experience to make your residential landscaping shine.

A landscape maintenance business that mows lawns and does spring and fall cleanups should stick to that type of work. Masonry companies should stick to masonry. Landscape design and installation companies should stick with landscaping and design
I was shocked when I saw a company that advertised power washing and landscaping work in the same ad. How related are those two services? If the crew is qualified to do power washing what makes them so good at landscaping homes in Fairfield County.

Do you want a jack of all trades and master of none or true professional working on your landscape?

Q. What important information should buyers have thought through before seeking you out?

A. Have a specific project in mind. We often meet with people who want to landscape thier entire yard. Only a fortunate few of us have the financial means to landscape the entire yard at once.

It is easier to design a project if we focus on one aspect of it at a time, while keeping the overall goal in mind. Discuss the overall plan for your property when we meet, and focus on a area you would like to start with when it comes time to hammer out the details.

Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?

A. Your landscaping will be designed with an open and airy feel. We place garden plants in groupings to soften your home, not rows plants that look like rigid soldiers.

Gardens have flowing curves that meander around your yard. Plants are selected to provide interest in different seasons - perhaps a flower, bark, foliage color, texture, or habit. Plants are chosen which require minimal garden maintenance.

Q. What do you like most about your job?

A. A combination of a love of people and a love of gardens led me to my career in residential landscape design and garden services. I enjoy listening and talking to people like you about making your home and garden landscaping more beautiful. It is a thrill to take your residential landscape design project from the garden design phase to landscape installation.

Q. What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A. I am sometimes asked, "Why do your landscape services cost so much, I can get the kid down the street to do the same landscaping work for less?"

The short answer is you get what you pay for. Nothing good is ever cheap and nothing cheap is ever good.

Anyone can go to a big box store and buy a carload of landscaping flowers with a one year guarantee, provided you show the original receipt when making your return. There may not be much variety, the landscape plants may be small, and your garden landscaping may overgrow your home in five years. However, there is nothing wrong with a box store landscape installation if you are happy.

If you want premier landscape services and a residential landscape design tailored to your needs, the architecture of your home, and the conditions of your site it takes more time to plan and implement.

Q. Do you have a favorite story from your work?

A. I was recently thinking back to my first years of landscaping, in the mid 1990's, and remember the people who welcomed me. I walked up to gorgeous houses as a wet behind the ears college grad and people smiled and werehappy to have me work on their home.

Coventry Lane in Trumbull is where I began landscaping after college. I put green fliers with a picturesque tree and my inspired ad copy inside mailboxes and anxiously waited for the phone to ring. I think it is illegal to put fliers in mailboxes now.

Because I was new to the landscaping field I feared the people on Coventry might not want to hire me. However, I learned the lesson that in many neighborhoods working at one house gets you the chance to work at others. The six families I worked for on the street were glad to have someone so passionate about landscaping working in their yard. I was greeted with genuine smiles and remember many great conversations with people on Coventry.

My time on the street taught me a lesson that I have carried with since, and hope I can teach my children. People are all the same and should be treated the same no matter where they come from or what they do to earn a living. Almost all the people on the street treated me like I was a next door neighbor. I never felt talked down to or disrespected.

These days I work for all different types of self made people, such as doctors, lawyers, and business executives. When I am working in their yard they smile because they are happy to see my work. People invite me into their kitchen to discuss landscaping projects as their children watch TV in the next room. People who have very little spare time ask how my children are doing and let me go on forever about them

I once read that one of best motivators of the human spirit is appreciation. When a client glows with excitement when they return from work I am elated. I am living the dream. I am doing a job that I love and getting paid for it.

When I drive down Coventry today I just graduated college. The world is at my feet and I am about to build an empire. I am driving my first pickup truck loaded with brand new tools in the back. I am going to make it, and do it my way, and nothing is going to stop me.

Q. What do you wish customers knew about you or your profession?

A. There are three tiers to the local landscape trade that you should know about. The company you seek to work on your landscape depends on the job you want completed.

MOW AND GO COMPANIES - Companies who mow lawns, do spring cleanups, fall cleanups, prune, and mulch. These are often smaller companies with an owner operator. These companies are best if you are looking for someone to maintain your lawn.

Customer service and follow through is sometimes lacking because the focus is to get from one job to the next as quickly as possible.

DESIGN, INSTALL, AND MAINTENANCE SMALL COMPANIES (OUR COMPANY) - Companies who design and install landscapes and maintain (also referred to garden maintenance, garden care, or garden detailing) gardens.

The owner operator often has a formal training in landscape design or horticulture. The owner operator takes your project from the design phase to completion. The owner operator is onsite for most of the job.

The benefit of working with us is that designs and plant selections are more creative because of our broader plant knowledge and experience. You are appreciated and listened to because our livelihood depends on your satisfaction.

DESIGN INSTALL LARGE COMPANIES or LANDSCAPE NURSERIES - Large companies with a landscape designer or architect as a staff memeber. These companies have crews to implement their designs. These companies often focus on larger jobs.

With a designer or landscape architect the planning part of the project is often the smoothest. However, when the time comes to install your job a different crew does the work and the designer or architect is offsite selling the next job. This can lead to your landscape not being installed the way envisioned by the designer or architect.

Q. How did you decide to get in your line of work?

A. When I was in Trumbull High School I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I participated in classes in the Future Farmers of America and traveled to Kansas City for the National Future Farmers Convention. After high school I earned a bachelors degree in Ornamental Horticulture from the University of Connecticut.

While attending high school and college I mowed lawns. Clients would ask me to do a little more and I did work pruning, planting, and a little of everything. My career in Horticulture goes back to those days. Everything I have done until now builds upon that early expereince.

Q. Tell us about a recent job you did that you are particularly proud of.

A. This spring I mulched a landscape that we installed five years ago. It is the first picture in the gallery, the brown house with the genltly curving sidewalk.

I remember the effort it took to come up with a great design and then the work it took to make the project look just right. While you and I see a beautiul landscape, I also see the many small decisions along the way that led to it.

I am very pleased with the how the landscape has grown in since it was installed.

Q. Do you do any sort of continuing education to stay up on the latest developments in your field?

A. Our staff attends educational functions every year. We have participated in the Perennial Plant Conference in Storrs, CT; the New England Grows Trade Show in Boston, Ma; and the Connecticut Nursery and Landscape winter symposium in Stamford, CT.

I passed the Northeast Organic Farming Association Accredited Organic Land Care Professional course. I also passed the Connecticut Nursery and Landscape Association Accredited Nursery Professional course.

I enjoy attending any event that will further my horticultural, business, or personal skills.

Q. What are the latest developments in your field? Are there any exciting things coming in the next few years or decade that will change your line of business?

A. Landscape lighting has been growing in popularity over the last five years. It does a wonderful job of making your landscape more functional and increasing the amount of time you have to enjoy your landscape.

Concrete pavers are used often for paving because of their relative ease of installation compared to stone materials and durabilty.

Q. If you have a complicated pricing system for your service, please give all the details here.

A. We will not start any job until you approve a written quote specifying what we will do and the cost of the job. No changes will be made without your approval. We would rather not be hired than hash out a dispute after the job is completed.

Q. Write your own question and answer it.

A. Why do you do what you do?

Because I love what I do and could not imagine doing anything else. If I did not work in your yard I would spend all day working in my own yard. This is what I do, plain and simple.