Hiring a Landscaper

Even the bravest weekend warrior or garden guru sometimes needs outside help from a professional landscaper. Selecting a landscaper to be a perfect fit for you project is a matter of knowing your needs and knowing a particular landscaper’s strengths.

Your Landscaping Project

Assessing the size and type of your landscaping needs is the first step toward hiring a landscaper. Some landscaping companies advertise large equipment for big jobs. Others cater to smaller jobs, using smaller equipment and a lot of handwork. The first factor to consider is the size of your job and the landscaping supplies you’ll need.

The Size or Timing of Your Job

A new patio, fountain, paved drive or serpentine wall is a large job. A decorative boulder or other landscaping rocks placed in your garden is a small job. You could buy enough block and sand yourself to do all the tasks involved in putting in a new patio or fountain.

You’re unlikely to have the equipment or skill to safely put in a large boulder. Job size is often unrelated to the role a hired landscaper can play. If you do not have the equipment to handle a task, you need to hire a landscaper.

Many people are also choosing professional landscapers to help with installing interlock pavers. That’s because the various shapes and designs of interlock stone requires a skilled hand to ensure that:

• They are properly installed (and won’t shift or move after installation)
• They fit the shape and size of your patio, backyard or driveway
• Any pieces which need to be cut to fit are done so with safety and precision

Or perhaps you have a deadline for using your landscape as a backdrop for a special occasion. The size of the job is sometimes less important than the speed with which it must be completed. Here, you need to hire a landscaper.

Materials Selected

Landscaping is meant to enhance your life and the value of your home. It is not meant to land you in hospital, recovering from back injuries. The materials you need to complete your landscaping job may be:

• Too large to manage by yourself
• Too heavy to lift for work or to set in place
• Too numerous to avoid repetitive lifting injury
• Hiring a landscaper with equipment and crews to handle the materials can prevent injury to you and property damage to your home.

Some landscaping supplies require great skill, acquired over many years of installation. Stone retaining walls, water features and pool coping all demand a level of craftsmanship you are unlikely to master while tackling the work yourself. Your family’s safety is also important.

Knowing how to install landscaping supplies to meet local building codes, wiring in electrical work for lights and pumps, and running gas lines for outside fire and cooking features may all be beyond your abilities.

The Landscaper’s Reputation

Your home is special to you. Can you afford to put your landscaping job in the hands of someone you cannot trust? When considering hiring a landscaper, ask for references of recent work, and call those clients. Ask them specific questions:

• Did the landscaper show up on schedule?
• Was the work done as agreed?
• Did the landscaper’s crew clean up after the work?
• How were callbacks handled?

An excellent way to judge landscapers is by the company they keep. Does your prospective landscaper cater to homeowners and local professionals? You may ask builders, commercial property managers, and real estate agents which landscaper is the most reliable.

The Landscaper’s Portfolio

As you narrow down your selection of the ideal landscaper, ask to see examples of work by checking out a gallery of their work. Ask for addresses of properties you can view from public streets. A handy feature for many landscapers is an online gallery where you can see projects that mirror your own.

Contact Us

Ultimately, you need to hire a landscaper you can trust and who does excellent work. The team at Grand River Natural Stone is dedicated to providing just that. You can contact us today to learn more.