BUSINESS TIPS
YOU CAN QUOTE
ME ON THAT!
Helpful tips for industry professionals on the art of quoting, by Lindsay Gray
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You will learn from experience how to assess the length of a project. Don’t be
overly optimistic when you first start out. You It is easy to get so caught up in the excitement
of creating a magnificent garden for your client that you omit some easily-overlooked costs in
your quotation. It happens to all of us – not just
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Double-check your measurements and workings as there is nothing more humiliating than having to ask your
recently established designers and landscapers.
client to fork out additional money because of
Let’s discuss a few of the important aspects
an error you have made. It is far easier – and
of quoting:
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One of the first mistakes we often make is to do the design for free in the hopes
that it will seduce the client into retaining our services for the implementation. Ladies and gentlemen, if you have studied garden design or landscape architecture, it is imperative that you charge for your intellectual property! You paid good money to acquire the knowledge you are now utilising to enhance the value of your client’s property. The quotation for design and implementation are two separate quotes. If you don’t charge for your plans, you are letting down the rest of the design industry. Besides, by the time you have worked through the
honest – to credit the client at the end of the job for a small amount of material that you might not have used.
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You are within your rights to add a percentage mark-up on labour, building
material, hard surfaces and accessories, as well as plant material. The percentage on the first three varies from 10 – 15%, whereas the mark-up on plants is from 15 – 100%. The cost of plants varies per province so one cannot set a standard mark-up. Remember two things – don’t be greedy and don’t take your client for a fool. Your mark-up should never exceed the retail price of the plants.
giving the work to anyone else.
2
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project and your client will not feel sympathetic towards your plea for additional labour charges. Base your quotation on an additional few days – again, it is far easier to credit your client at the end of the project. As you gain experience, so too will your assessment of the cost of a garden project. Most of the landscapers I know are almost spot-on when they say, for instance, “This is a R60 000 or a R200 000 job.” However, it is still essential that you work through the entire quoting process on every garden so that if your quotation is called into question, you can justify each and every expense. On-site adjustments do occur, and you can negotiate these with the client, but your reputation will be judged ultimately on your integrity. About Lindsey Gray Lindsay is the founder and principal of The School of Garden Design (1994), South Africa’s longest standing private garden design school.
design process with your client, the relationship should be such that they wouldn’t dream of
might well experience obstacles that delay the
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Establish an hourly/daily rate from which you can earn a decent living and
cost yourself out accordingly the following
Lindsay has co-authored two books, Making Sense of Garden Design/ Sinvolle Tuinwerp and Gardening for Butterflies. She also authored A Sense of Space: The Gardens of Jan Blok. The
Always obtain a minimum of a
services: Consultation, Site Assessment,
50% deposit before commencing
Design, Plant Research and procurement,
business skills and skills-development courses
work, whether it is for a plan only or the
daily visits to site and collection of materials.
for the green industry.
full implementation of the design.
Time is money!
www.schoolofgardendesign.com
Pro Landscaper Africa / June 2016
school offers a wide variety of garden design,
www.prolandscaper.co.za