Professional Confessional Design/Build What do you wish the general public understood about designing and building beautiful, functional and sustainable landscapes? A thoughtful design and skilled construction can transform a plain lawn into a lush landscape. The pros know bringing an outdoor space to life requires a talented and diverse team of specialists. However, misconceptions persist — like the idea that landscape design and construction are only about aesthetics, or that designing a garden with software is simple. Landscape Trades asked landscape designers and builders to help dispel myths around their professions.
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Vertical lift loader
“Speaking as a landscape designer, clients may not fully understand the complexity of making beautiful, environmentally friendly, practical designs uniquely matched to the priorities of people and the special features of their site. Additionally, metropolitan areas like Ottawa contain a variety of soils (ranging from sandy to clay, silt, gravel, rocky etc.) and we have climate zones ranging from zone 4b to 5b, possibly 6a in protected microclimates — that's a very wide range of possibilities, and professional advice can be game changing!” - Martine J. “I wish the general public knew that you can't price out a job without a design in place. Being a landscape designer allows me to communicate clearly what the client gets for what they pay for. One myth I’d like to dispel about my profession is that landscaping is expensive. I’d like my client to understand that collaboration is key. The biggest challenge I face as a landscape build contractor is red tape with permitting.” - Blake T.
“So often we battle against people unaware of the cost to do the job right. They want to hire a pro because they think we get materials at a discount and offer free trucking and a magical way to get rid of soil. Unfortunately some people are unaware of the true costs for running a business and dump illegally. The playing field is full of new startups, people doing side work, unemployed who have a truck and wheelbarrow and the legitimate contractor. Each has a place but I hate wasting my time giving advice to the people who don't intend to pay the price for a good job. Working strictly by referral is helpful but limits your reach. I wish it was harder to get into our industry and for people to access products. Is it time for us to be a
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Closed loop hydraulics
Garden Donkey HD MSRP $3,999 Standard model shown
licensed trade?” - Dave O'D.
Hydraulic dumping
“List each task required to complete a project in the order they need to be done, estimate the time for each, and then double the total time. This will give everyone a clear picture involved in the project.” - Brandon M.
500kg load capacity
29” wide 8 - 10 hours runtime
Charger 110V, 4.5A
www.pembuilt.com Pembuilt
Want more Professional Confessionals? Check out the grower and garden centre sector confessions on our website at gfl.me/hbSH
8 | LANDSCAPE TRADES
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