Pool Landscaping IDEAS on a Budget
A good design is more than a sketch or print out. You pour your blood, sweat and tears into crafting the perfect design for your customers — bringing their pool and landscape wish lists to life.
While it may sometimes seem like a simple process to homeowners, creating designs that sell takes valuable time and effort. And you want to make sure you’re earning what the designs are worth.
For starters, we’ve listed three mistakes to avoid when calculating your fees:
- Not charging for designs
- Changing the way you calculate fees
- Being unclear about revisions
- Hourly rate
- Flat rate
- By acre/square foot
- By minimum project size
- By percentage of the budget
Here are tips, techniques and advice from design experts.
3 Mistakes to Avoid When Calculating Your Landscape Design Fee
First, let’s talk about the mistakes landscape designers frequently make when calculating how they’ll charge for landscape designs.
Not Charging For Designs
“If you want to serve a part of the marketplace that values designs and understands what a beautifully built landscape can bring to the table, you have to charge for it, ” says Susan Cohan, APLD, principal of Susan Cohan Gardens. “If they aren’t willing to pay for a design, it’s because they don’t value it. Then you have to question if you want to work with the client.”
Changing The Way You Calculate Fees
Also, don’t change the method you use to calculate fees depending on the project or what the client wants.
“I tell the customer why my process makes the most sense for them, ” says Jody Shilan, executive director of New Jersey Landscape Contractors Association and editor of fromdesign2build.com. “You’re not going to win over every client, but have your process and stick to it. Don’t bend every time a customer wants something different.”
