Your landscape is an important investment in your home as well as your day-to-day enjoyment. Choosing the right landscaping company to ensure you will be satisfied with the results is not always easy at first. Here are five important things to look for in landscaping companies in the Macomb and Rochester Hills, MI, areas.
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1. Don’t automatically hire the lowest bidder.
Consider getting multiple bids. Higher bids are often based on experience and reputation, and it’s true that you get you what you pay for. A low bidder could be a new landscaping company trying to gain a foothold in the business, and that may be fine for a small project, but you want to know you’re hiring a reputable company with the expertise needed to rightfully manage your complex project.
2. Ask for proof of insurance and licenses.
A very low bid can mean that the company or owner doesn’t carry a license and may not be insured.
Always insist on proof of insurance before a site visit. Do not allow uninsured landscaping contractors on your property—insurance can protect both parties in case something goes wrong. Unreliable contractors may disappear mid-project. Accidents happen and property can get damaged or people can get hurt. If the landscaping company doesn’t carry insurance, you could be the sole party responsible for all the risk involved in your project.
Licensing fees, professional memberships, and insurance are expensive. Reputable companies have all of these. Licensed professionals who are members of industry associations take pride in their work, they have undergone testing to prove competency, and their willingness to maintain annual certifications and ongoing education demonstrates commitment to quality work and customer satisfaction.
3. Compare bids—what the landscaping companies tell you and what they don’t.
Ideally, you can compare apples to apples when receiving bids. If a company doesn’t spell everything out, you could end up with unexpected expenses later on. Make sure that you understand what the bid says and potential scenarios that could pop up as the landscapers start working on your property.
The contract could include responsibilities from the start of the project through the end, including who will be purchasing and delivering materials and whether the bid includes excavation and site prep, obtaining permits, and cleanup.
4. Trust your instincts.
You can request referrals from past customers and read any reviews about the company you can find online, but you should also put trust in your first impression. An initial site visit will be telling in terms of the professionalism you can expect and the quality of work that will be put into action. A landscaping company that takes pride in their business is easy to spot—in terms of their responsiveness and how the owner and crew present themselves.
A reputable landscaping contractor will be honest and let you know if a project falls outside the scope of their capabilities. The project may be too small or too big for the business—either way, they’ll respectfully decline the project and let you know in a timely manner. And, ideally, they will be helpful in recommending a professional who can meet your needs.
5. See their work for yourself.
A site visit beats a hundred positive reviews. It would let you examine the details as well as the big picture, and you can get a feel for how your own finished landscape will turn out.
