Was wondering what percentage you markup your plants on a residential install to cover the possibility of having to do warranty replacement. Let's say about 100 assorted shrubs, small trees and ground cover. Typical one year warranty. Thanks for your input.
We typically give our customers 2 options for new plant material installation: a price with a guarantee and a price without a guarantee and most of them ask us for both prices anyway. To guarantee our plant materials, we charge 3 times what the cost of the plant is. Example, if a tree costs $100, we charge $300. This covers the initial cost of the tree and leaves you with a $100 profit and a $100 buffer in case that tree dies and you need to replace it. At least if the tree does die, you still walk away with your $100. And, if it doesn't die, you make out even better. If you're going to guarantee your stuff for a year's time, you'd better cover your butt. We charge 3x the cost of the material and charge for labor too. We do not, however, mark up our labor costs. If the tree dies and you have to replace it, you will probably have to eat the labor portion of it but at least you won't take a hit on everything. In most of our cases, the customers go with the price without the guarantee, for obvious reasons. Hope this helps.
Thanks for the input tslawn. Do you mark up all of your plant materials the same? Trees the same as groundcovers? What kind of markup are you doing for the non warranty installs? Thanks again.
