7 Steps To Smart Landscaping
When it comes to landscaping your home, it is important to make sure that you are taking your time and not rushing through everything. If you rush the job then you are more in likely to find that you either have over paid or you have a landscape design that is not exactly what you had in mind. In order to make sure that your landscape around your home is everything that you have always wanted it to be, make sure that you are following the seven basic steps to smart landscaping. Without these steps you could very well find yourself regretting a lot of things in just a few short weeks.
Do What You Can Yourself
Even if you do not have much of an idea how to landscape a yard, make sure that you are doing whatever it is that you can do in order to make sure that you are cutting down on costs. The less amount of work that you have for someone else, the less amount of money you are going to have to pay out.
Take It Slow
If you cannot afford everything that you want all at once, do not be afraid to take it slow. By taking your time and getting different pieces of landscape put in over time you will finally have what you always wanted. There is no need to sacrifice what you want because of the cost of it all.
Think Hard About Credentials
According to the National Gardening Association, about sixty percent of homeowners decide on the landscaper they use according to who their neighbors used. While checking into whom your neighbor used is a good starting point because you obviously have seen the final work, it is important to investigate a little further. Ask for a completed work portfolio so that you are viewing more work of their besides just your neighbors house.
Understand What Your Up Against
While you may have a beautiful landscape design in mind, make sure that you are speaking with your landscaper about the upkeep you will have to attend to. You may want to stick with low maintenance shrubs so that you are not spending all of your free time tending to the yard.
Obtain An Appraisal
Talk with a real estate agent or someone who can tell you where a good place for trees would be and where you should avoid having them planted. Because of structural damage and infestations that can come from trees close
1000
to the house, you want to make sure that you are getting a little help deciding your placement of trees. Trees in the wrong locations can bring down your property value.
Add Water
Since you are trying to brighten up nature, you may want to consider adding a small pond with a little fountain. If this is placed to where it can be seen from the road then it adds a lot of curb appeal, which can help your property value.
Use Natural Tones
Even though you may love bright colored painted rocks everywhere, this could be considered an eye sore by many people. While you want to have a landscape design that you like, you want others to like it as well so keep that in mind.
By: Aplus Trees
Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com
A Plus Trees is the leading Raleigh Tree Removal and Trimming Service. They also provide Raleigh Landscaping and Stump Grinding Services.
Making More Money by Adding to Your Lawn Care Business
Making money in the lawn care business is not difficult, but it can be limiting and the business is competitive. Once you have a lawn care business running smoothly, you need to employ the following tactics to dominate in your mowing area!
It often baffles me that people in the lawn care business so often limit themselves to just mowing lawns for money. They mow, they trim, they rake or mulch, and they leave a potential cash cow and run to the next mowing job.
Look, you already got the job. You are in! Leaving profits on the ground means you have to mow twice as many properties, usually, just to make as much as you could with fewer jobs.
How? By becoming a full-service outdoor lawn and garden business. Look what you can do with contracts you already have:
o Tree and hedge trimming
o Tree stump removal
o Tree and hedge removal
o Fertilizing
o Mulching
o Leaf removal
o Pesticide application
o Gardening/Landscaping
o Water garden installation and maintenance
o Outdoor lighting installation or repair
o Holiday Lighting
o Deck building
o Irrigation/Drainage
o Snow Removal
o Turf Management
o Weed Control
o Planting seasonal flowers
o Aeration
o Overseeding
o Retaining walls
o Sprinkler systems
o Concrete curbing
o Winterization
Think about what lawn care “add-ons” you can implement. People who need lawn care are also great prospects for outdoor lighting projects, path or walkway construction, gardening jobs of all kinds, new deck and patios, gazebo construction, planting and landscaping jobs, water gardens, you name it!
Lawn care is a big industry. Think about the Home and Garden channel and other television programs people are tuning in to. The ideas on many of the programs are great, but many people will still take the idea and hire someone else to do it.
Never think of your lawn care business as something that only deals with mowing, trimming, edging, and leaf removal.
You are leaving profits on the grounds!
Basic lawn care is for high-school kids. You are the professional and you are already “in” with your clients. Why spend more money on advertising to get new clients when you are leaving so much potential work undone with your current clients? You mow their grass and do basic lawn care. You have an incredible prospect to add on all kinds of services you could perform.
They already trust you and have hired you. You have already spent time and money grabbing them as clients. You are in the best position of anyone to be the one who installs their deck or lighting project! You can squeeze a lot of money out of your lawn care business by using mowing as the lead-in to more services that have a bigger margin of profit.
Take your lawn care business to the next level and become “the one to ask first” on all the projects related to lawn and garden work.
For more tips on adding to your lawn care business check out my other articles.
You can reach me at patrick@lawncare-business.com
http://www.lawncare-business.com
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