jerkoff people

[bobcatnj]

i just love this jerkoffs. lawn customer of mine that wanted some landscape work done in the front. i did some work in the back last year. so i give her a price and a drawing, but its 2 high for her. so i say whatever. so 2day we go to the house to mow and the front is landscaped. to my exact design. man i was ******* pissed off.probaly some jerkoff does landscape work on the side did it for 20 bucks. the damn mulch was overloaded and so damn bumpy looks like rolling thunder. all i can say is whatever hahaha. think im going to start charging for design estimates if they want a pic.

[Eakern & Dog]

That really stinks ! You should mention to her,( nicely of course) that your design that she used took time away from other revenue making oppourtunites and that you will not be providing free advice in the furure since there appears to be no pay back on her part. Reminds me of when I used to work at a Landcape Nursery .People would come in and burn my ear for an hour or so ,asking what to plant in their yard and then go over to Home Depot and buy the plants. Some people had no shame !

[Evan528]

2 things you need to do in the future to alleviate this problem.

1) Discuss budget with them first before you even do a design. No point in designing a 10K landscape when their budget is $4500

2) Either charge for the design or charge for the design and tell them if they have you complete the job, the design charge will be credited towards the price of the work.

Also....... Never give the client the design. Present it to them....discuss it.... then take it with you when you leave.

[Turf Professionals Inc.]

Good advice Evan 528!

[Lawnworks]

2 things you need to do in the future to alleviate this problem.

1) Discuss budget with them first before you even do a design. No point in designing a 10K landscape when their budget is $4500

2) Either charge for the design or charge for the design and tell them if they have you complete the job, the design charge will be credited towards the price of the work.

Also....... Never give the client the design. Present it to them....discuss it.... then take it with you when you leave.

I like that advise... lookin is for free... but keepin is gonna cost ya!

[44DCNF]

Seems to me that the maintenance costs considering the new layout may have just gone up a few dollars a visit. Is there going to be some added trimming/pruning, bed edging and weeding?

[Dreams To Designs]

Evan is right on. When you are doing any type of design work, the budget is extremely important. My pencil can draw a $3000 landscape, a $30000 landscape and when the situation is right, a $300000 or more landscape.

You should definitely be paid for any professional quality design work you perform. I'm sure your intention was to recover the design costs in the installation, but as you already know, you don't always get the job. You can also have all of your work copyrighted, and anyone using your designs without your permission or having paid for that design is in violation of copyright laws. This is more a leverage tool than something that win a court battle, but it is your work and you should be compensated for it. If you do designs for free, the clients put that same value on it.

I will only leave a concept for a client to peruse, never a final drawing, plant list or notes until that design is paid for. if you value your time and efforts for your design work, so will your clients.

Kirk

[bobcatnj]

as i said yesterday "no more mr. nice guy"

[hoyboy]

One more thought on the design charge...

Make sure you tell them at what level the design will be credited. Early on, we had some customers try to get away with only installing a portion of the design and still thinking they could get the design fee credited. For example, we would tell them the design is $500 (for example) and that it would be credited against the installation. We come back with a $10,000 installation plan and they would try to only do a couple thousand and get the full credit. Wrong. Now we tell them they must do at least 15 times the amount of the design to get the full credit. So $7500 in the above example.

Good luck...

Dan

[tthomass]

I don't credit anything........I do a design you pay me and I get paid when I meet them for the first time, before I draw anything. I explain what is involved with travel, measure, scale etc....before its over we meet three times. Time is money.

In the past I've 'credited' but in reality I added it to the cost of the project. If I draw a $500 design on a $10,000 budget.....as the example given......no way I'm taking a $500 hit. My overhead doesn't take a little off the top and neither do I on smaller applications.

[shovelracer]

2 things you need to do in the future to alleviate this problem.

1) Discuss budget with them first before you even do a design. No point in designing a 10K landscape when their budget is $4500

2) Either charge for the design or charge for the design and tell them if they have you complete the job, the design charge will be credited towards the price of the work.

Also....... Never give the client the design. Present it to them....discuss it.... then take it with you when you leave.

X2, I charge for the design and credit when work is done. If they pay me for the design than they can keep it, but the price relfects that. I also dont give quantaties of certain things like mulch. This is cause the customer wastes an hour of your time just cause they want the info they cant figure out. Than you drive by a week later and they are out there with 10 yards of mulch humping it into a 20 year old wheelbarrow with a snow shovel. Instead I describe area to be mulched and depth. If they really want they can do the math.

[Lawnworks]

as i said yesterday "no more mr. nice guy"

I agree w/ you... these days you almost have to be an a-hole not to get taken advantage of... well maybe not an a-hole... have a nice persona but but have strict limitations how you handle business.

[Stillwater]

You made a MASSIVE mistake buy not confirming their budget, by the way how did you do a design without knowing their budget?

[topsites]

I just give them the price, this used to happen to me all the time.
I got tired of giving out my knowledge, half the time they'd end up doing it themselves, but I really don't care who did what if I thought of it.

It used to tempt me bad, to leave them a bill for a consulting fee.
Because on a free estimate, the only part they get for free is the price.

If they want details, that's a tough question, I haven't figured out what to say other than to skirt it.
But I don't give them pictures and designs for free, forget that.
Part of the reason why, as they say, things get tougher every year.

[WigginsLandscaping]

Personally if it were my customer. If this happened to me and I found out that they hired someone else to do my design. I would tell them to have their other landscaper cut their lawn as well. If the customer ended up installing it off your plans and didnt hire someone else I would keep them but be limited to what I offer in the future. You dont need customers like this. You will never make good money off these people. Whenever I drop a customer ("which i have only done a handfull of times") it seems like within a week I have 3 or 4 calling me asking for bids to maintain their yards. My point is dont put up with people like this. You dont have to bust your butt and not get appreciated for it. I would drop this client immediately and tell them why. I dont see how they can look you in the eye when you come by.

[Isobel]

i hate that sort of people, I had a few of those last year. they got a design from me and took it to someone else.

the way I handle it now is if they want a design I inform them there's a charge. If they later use our design, I will give them the design for free. If they don't want to pay for a design, all I give them is a rough plant list, and a walk through on the property. I have found this to work quite well.