The Importance of Having Realistic Expectations When Planning Landscape Projects

As the days go by I come across more and more individuals that reach out to myself and to our organization asking for a bid for their landscaping to be done. Particularly in my earlier years in the industry, these individuals were more calling to fill a need than to fulfill a want they had. While they were calling to get needed work done, they wanted it to be what they wanted so that they didn’t have to backtrack years down the road.

This was often an issue, since the city my wife and I were living in at the time was lower income and the majority of these people either couldn’t afford the services I was offering and decided to go with someone else (and I was giving them a great deal, too) or defaulted to doing the landscape themselves in order to save some cash. This is largely because their expectations weren’t aligned to reality when they first gave me a call.

One such instance happened when a family from out of State built a new home and needed their front and back yards, and their park strips, installed. They drew up elaborate plans for how they wanted to fill out their new, large lot and this included paver patios, stamped concrete, intricate planter areas with raised beds, sprinkler systems, custom fencing, gas firepit, outdoor kitchen, attached awning to the back of their house, and an extended driveway for a future ATV/RV parking space.

When I handed their estimate into them a day later, their reception to it was less than warm. They stopped answering my calls or providing feedback on the estimate the next week. Still, when I would drive past their property almost six months later the dirt on the lot still looked the same.

I think it’s a shame when families don’t come into big build projects with proper expectations in mind. By not having proper expectations for the cost of your project it can be very disappointing from the get go. Wright Landscaping wants to help homeowners plan properly and we offer Free Estimates to aid in giving you the right expectations you’ll need to approach your build with the end in mind.

Best of luck in your landscaping,

Brent Wright (801) 913-7375