5 Questions Worth Asking Your Potential Landscaper
Local trade shows and expos can be awkward and intimidating! Do you get anxious wandering through a huge exposition hall lined with booth after booth of unfamiliar companies… New expo visitors can be hesitant for numerous reasons. Do any of the following situations below apply to you?
- Just bought a new house and have no idea where to start…
- Feel like if you stop and talk you will be pressured into a hard sale…
- Just not sure what/how to ask questions to get valuable information…
With the Madison Home Show fresh in our memory and the NARI Remodeling Expo coming up this weekend, we decided to create a list of intelligent and important questions for you to ask your local landscaper before you hire them to work at your property.
These questions are not only important to make sure you will be working with a qualified, reputable landscaping company – but will also get the conversation going about your potential project and help you determine if they are the right company for you!
Here are 5 Questions we’d recommend asking – with answers from Tim Stenzel, one of our Landscape Architects at Avant Gardening & Landscaping.
1. What is your background in the field?
I have a Bachelor’s degree in Conservation Biology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture from SUNY-ESF in Syracuse, NY. After graduate school, I spent several years working in and around Chicago and the North Shore communities.
2. How long has your company been in business?
We are proud to be celebrating our 32nd Year in Business! As our name implies, Avant Gardening and Landscaping has been at the forefront of the gardening and landscaping industry in Madison and Dane County since 1985. We couldn’t do it without our loyal clients and dedicated team.
3. Do you hire Registered Landscape Architects?
Yes! Having a registered landscape architect on staff is very important for the health, safety and welfare of our clients. We have 3 Licensed Landscape Architects, which is quite a few for our small office! Liza Lightfoot, Dan Schmitt & Tim Stenzel are all very talented and have experience working on complicated projects. Read more about them on our staff page.
4. Where does the bulk of your work come from?
Most of our work comes from Loyal Existing Clients coming back to complete another phase of their project or continuing to work with our maintenance team in their gardens. A large majority of brand new clients come from Existing Client Referrals. We also receive quite a few referrals from local businesses and public gardens (such as Allen Centennial Garden and Olbrich Botanical Gardens), our website & Google, and the Wisconsin Public Television Garden Expo.
If the company answers with Yellow Pages, or doesn’t know where their work comes from, this is a red flag… It tells you that the contractor is either new, inexperienced, a low-baller in the industry or simply doesn’t get many referrals…
5. What are the most unique services your company provides?
- Avant offers a very successful organic lawn care program using compost topdressing, compost teas, and lawn aerating.
- We use a lot of natural stone in our patio, wall and walkway installations. This is becoming less common in our industry. We use eco-sensitive practices whenever possible and believe in sourcing local raw materials, such as natural stone, which means there is less processing of materials which ultimately creates more waste water.
- We make our own soil blends! We recycle whenever possible and take all of the plant debris from jobsites and turn it continually throughout the year, once it breaks down into fine organic matter we mix it into our planting bed mix – the outcome is a very fertile soil mix that is periodically tested by UW Soils lab to ensure high quality.
Bonus question!
6. What is your company’s philosophy?
Our philosophy has always been to see ourselves as stewards of the environment. We believe in living by example, Avant’s office grounds are landscaped in a naturalistic style that attracts a diversity of birds, pollinators and butterflies. We’ve recently become an official Monarch Waystation! We also have a small pond that we keep open and functioning through the long winter months because it is an important water source for wildlife.
We hope this blog posts helps you prepare for the next home show or expo you visit! Speaking of… don’t forget to visit us this weekend! Stop by Avant Gardening & Landscaping’s booth #409 at the NARI Madison Remodeling Expo Jan. 20-22. For more information check out http://www.nariexpo.com/
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