Landscaping Companies If you need landscapers, perhaps you are faced with dozens of landscaping companies from which to choose. Whether you want natural lawn care, a walkway design installed, a creative waterfall landscape project designed and installed, or simply you want someone to take care of planting flowers in a garden design, you will want to select the right landscaping company for the job.
Pro Pavingstone Inc provides the best ideas and designs for the landscaping. The right landscaping will offer a new and impressive look to the home structure. The designing and installing is through the correct technique to have effective results. The checking of the ideas and designs is beneficial for the people.
How do you choose, when there are so many landscaping companies available? In order to choose between many landscaping companies, you must determine your exact requirements. Think through the project, writing down your goals, including timeframes, and desired outcome. Landscaping Companies This allows the various landscaping companies providing bids to obtain the same information allowing you to effectively compare prices and services. In virtually every state, landscaping companies must be licensed and insured. If your landscaping project is more than simply cutting the grass and edging, you want to be certain the landscaping contractor is licensed and insured in order to protect yourself legally.
If you do not follow this practice, you are potentially liable if a person from the landscaping company is injured on your property and you have very little legal recourse if the project is a disaster or the landscaper damages your property. It is very easy for landscaping companies to accidentally cut your telephone lines, damage a water line, or inadvertently cause other property damage which can be quite expensive to repair if they do not have the skills required and follow industry best practices for landscaping. Do not take the shortcut of hiring an unlicensed, uninsured landscaper; if you do, you may be very sorry!
One of the best ways to narrow potential landscaping companies is to ask your friends or co-workers which landscapers they used for projects you know were successful. If you have just moved to an area and don’t know anyone to ask, request customer references from the landscaping companies and contact some of these customers.
Even if you have references from friends you trust, ask each of the potential companies for a list of locations you can see that they have landscaped. Drive by the some of these locations to see the finished results. If your request is garden flowers, request references where the firm has provided flowering plants. If you want a beach landscape, ask for references that allow you to see an example of other beach landscapes. Don’t make the assumption that because a landscaping company did a beautiful rock landscaping project that you will be happy with the desert landscape or waterfall landscape they produce.
Once you have a few landscaping companies in mind, request bids from each contractor and compare prices. Ask each to provide their contractor’s license number, proof of liability and workman’s compensation insurance, and if required in your state or if you want extra protection, their proof of surety bonds. Their responding bids should reflect the price, estimated completion date, detailed description of work to be performed including any preparatory and finishing work suggested in the landscaping advice provided, type and quantities of any soil to be added or removed from your property, specific names of plants to be planted or brands of equipment to be installed if applicable, and payment expectations.
If you are accepting bids on a large project, ask the landscaping companies if they are prepared to provide a payment and performance bond covering the full price of your landscaping project in order to ensure your job will be completed. This type of bond may add as much as 2 – 5% to your project; it ensures you can not have a lien placed against your property in the event of a problem.
Be wary of landscaping companies that request any payments be made prior to beginning the project. And exception to this rule is that most landscaping companies that are installing waterfalls, sprinkler or irrigation systems, or any type of system that requires the purchase a large amount of hardware supplies, a down payment may be required.
Once you choose which of the landscaping companies you feel most comfortable contracting with, request a written contract which contains their name, address, license number, contact telephone numbers, full description of project and materials, including garden plants and soil, guarantees on labor, plants, and hardware, estimated completion date, preparatory and finishing clauses that include clean up and removal of debris, and any other agreements or guarantees which have been stated verbally regarding labor, plants or materials. If a performance bond was agreed upon, be certain there is a document. If there are any changes to the project agreed upon after this contract is signed by both you and the landscaper, it must be documented and added to the contract as a change order to ensure you are protected legally.
If you follow these guidelines when choosing from the many available landscaping companies, you are much more likely to end up with a garden or landscape you will love. If you take shortcuts and fail to obtain the services of a professional, licensed contractor, the results may very likely be less satisfactory in the end.
About The Author
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Shanon Durham is an irreverent news writer. She covers wide variety of areas and topics of interest. She believes that writing is a powerful tool that can be used to change the world.
