You’ve worked hard for your property. When looking to hire a landscaper to work on your beloved home and garden, it’s important to find a professional who takes the same amount of pride in their work as you do your home. To help find the right landscaper for you, there are 10 important questions to ask:

1. What are their qualifications or certifications?

A good landscaper is certified with respected organizations, such as the Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute, showing their commitment to excellence. Ask about any qualifications or certifications when you are vetting a landscaping company and do some research into the institutions that they are certified with to see if they are trustworthy and authoritative.

2. Do they belong to any professional landscaping organizations?

Belonging to a professional landscaping organization, such as the Landscape Ontario Horticultural Trades Association, shows that they’re involved in their industry, and have committed themselves to uphold their work to a higher standard than the average contractor.

3. How long have they been in business?

While there is nothing wrong with new landscaping companies, working with a company that has been around for 20 years shows the quality of their work. If they’ve been around that long, they must be doing something right!

4. What is their warranty?

Most landscaping companies only offer a 1-year warranty, but landscaping jobs should last much longer than 1 year. Time and time again, we have been asked to come and fix jobs that have fallen apart after their one year warranty was up.

If your landscaping project hasn’t moved in 3 years, then it is not going to change anytime soon. We stand by our quality work and this is why we offer a 3-year warranty on all our projects.

5. What is their lead time, i.e when will they be able to start the project?

It’s important to know when you’ll be able to start your project. Some landscaping companies promise to start right away but end up putting the job on-hold halfway through because they over-booked themselves. While you may have to wait a bit longer for your project to get started with some companies, it is better to know that your project will be done all at once, with no unnecessary breaks.

6. How long will it take once you start it?

Before starting a landscaping project, find out a rough idea of how long it will take. Although there may be unforeseen delays due to weather, your landscaper should be able to give you an idea of the length of the project. This is important as you want to make sure that your landscaping project won’t interfere with any future plans that you may have — or disrupt your neighbours’ peace for too long.

7. What will happen with my pets during the project?

As landscaping projects are frequently done to yards, where your pets (in particular dogs) like to roam, it is important to find out what your landscapers’ protocol is for pets on the work site. Knowing this before the project starts will help keep your pets safe and happy during any landscaping work.

8. Do they have references available?

Before signing a contract with a landscaper, find out if they have references or testimonials from other clients on Google or other third-party review platforms.

Seeing examples of projects in the same price range and scope will also give you a better idea of whether or not it is the right landscaper to work with. You want to make sure that your landscaper can deliver a result that matches your vision and budget.

9. What will they be showing up with?

Depending on the size of the landscaping company you choose to work with, it’s important to be aware of how many vehicles they’ll be bringing to your house. When we work on projects, we may bring a whole fleet of vehicles, depending on what’s necessary to complete the job.

In some instances, a permit is required to park multiple or oversized vehicles on the road. We will look into this before the project starts, always coming prepared to work so that you don’t have to take on any of this paperwork yourself.

10. Any other parties involved in the process?

With many landscaping companies, aspects of the job are sub-contracted out to other parties. Knowing this beforehand will give you a better idea of who will be working on your project and whether or not it is your responsibility to find other necessary professionals.

When working on projects with sub-contractors, the team at Kerr & Kerr Landscaping extend our services to include project management. We find the best options for the task from our list of trusted professionals, oversee their work, and pay them ourselves, including their cost in the total investment of the project. This reduces your stress as you only have to deal with one company for the entire project.

When looking for a landscaping company, knowing what questions to ask can help the process go smoothly. When you ask the right questions, you’ll get the right answers and find the professionals who will make your landscaping dreams come true.