Have you been talking to design & landscaping companies about an upcoming new garden project? Are you trying to compare different companies to see which one is right for you? Has one of them suggested they could refund your garden design fees if you go ahead and have your garden landscaped by them?
Having been in the industry for over 30 years, we're aware that some companies use the offer of a rebated design fee as a sales gimmick to get you to sign up with them. At first glance, it can seem like a compelling offer, particularly if you're feeling your budget might be a bit tight.
But what are the risks involved in taking up an offer like this and what does it actually say about the company offering it to you?
We hope by the time you get to the end of this article you might feel better informed about the pros and cons of rebated garden design fees. So then you can make a smarter choice about whether to take up the offer or not.
Disclaimer: While we do not offer rebated fees ourselves, we've tried to make this article as unbiased as possible. If, after reading it, you don't feel it is, please let us know.
Will you end up paying for the rebated design fee some other way?
If you are being offered to get your garden design done for free by paying for it upfront but then having it rebated at the end of the job, then there is definitely a catch to this.
The biggest catch in a "design fee rebate" offer is usually that you are going to end up paying for it somewhere else, but often in a hidden or disguised manner so you don't actually see it.
As the old saying goes - "there's no such thing as a free lunch". This is certainly true in a commercial relationship.
Generally, the catch attached to a supposedly 'free lunch' will suit the person giving away the free lunch not the person receiving it.
As a rule, the 3 'catches' to rebated landscape design fees tend to be:
- The cost of creating the landscape design is recovered by adding it onto the construction costs (usually in a disguised manner) so that you actually end up paying for it anyway
- Alternatively, the landscaper will be tempted to use cheaper materials and/or other methods in the construction of your garden in order to try and recover the cost of the design
- Or the company will try and do a 'quickie' job on the design itself, pressuring the designers to spend minimum time on the design, so it costs them less as a business to do the design work but you end up with a less than ideal design in the first place.
Whichever method is used, the company has to do something to try to recover its costs because of the work involved in creating the design in the first place.
How much work is involved in a typical landscape design project?
We can't speak for all landscape designers, but this is how things tend to work at Whyte Gardens.
Typically, our landscape designers will spend around 50 hours working on a new garden design for someone who has just built a new home and has a 'blank canvas'. This is to take the project to what we call the Master Plan stage.
If we examine the breakdown of hours required to take the project to the Master Plan stage, it usually looks like this:
- Site Assessment - The designer goes to the site to take photos and measurements as required. They then formulate the brief with the client through discussion and perhaps setting up a Pinterest board and discussing imagery, design ideas, pool types, plants etc. This usually takes a least one day
- CAD set up - The designer converts the builder's drawings into a usable file, then adjusts as required to the actual site conditions noted by the designer during the site visit. Half day.
- Concept Design - The designer creates a Concept Design for the new garden incorporating the client's wishlist. Two full days.
- Concept Design revisions - The designer presents a new garden concept to the client, discusses it and carries out whatever revisions the client desires. Half day.
- Master Plan - The Designer creates a Master Plan for the new garden, including a Hardscape Plan, Planting Plan, Lighting plan, Materials Schedule, and plant imagery plans. One and a half days
- Master Plan revisions - The designer revises the Master Plan based on client feedback. Half day.
As you can see this amounts to at least 5, if not 6 days total work in time. But if there are multiple revisions it can go up to 7 or 8 days. This time occurs anywhere from a few weeks up to several months depending on how much time the client needs to digest the garden design, get comfortable with it, review it and make suggested changes.
What does a landscape garden design cost?
Generally, we, and other designers like us, would charge around $6500 to get a garden design project up to the point of a Master Plan as above.
Obviously the cost to the company in terms of the designer's salary, business overheads and outlays are considerable. At that fee, we would make a small profit, however, there are many times when we are unable to charge all a designer's time on a new garden design and make no profit at all.
All this of course does not include the years of training and study the designer went through at university to get their degree and acquire the skills they need to professionally design your garden. Then there is the ongoing training and professional development a designer must go through to keep their skills up to contemporary standards as the industry evolves.
New materials, new methods, new software, new regulations, a designer must keep up with them all.
The skills and experience that a designer brings to creating a new garden for you that elevates your way of living are significant.
And as always the costs associated with running a business continue to rise.
How much is the landscape design valued?
Despite all the work that goes into designing a new garden for a client, we understand that not everyone fully comprehends the value of it or appreciates the effort or talent involved. For a client, we could say this is perhaps excusable.
But for a landscaping company to not value the work of its own designers to the point where it would give their service away for free, is inexcusable in our opinion.
If the designer knows their work is being given away will they feel valued and appreciated in their roles? How motivated are they likely to be to do the best job they can for the company's clients when their work is not being charged for? What level of quality of design are you likely to get when you're not paying for it?
And how will the company treat designers whose work they give away for free? Will they motivate and inspire them to do their best work or take an attitude of "hurry just get it done, remember we're not getting paid for it!"
Ultimately if the landscaping company doesn't value the designer's work, how can they expect you, the customer to value it?
Why do some landscapers offer refunded design fees?
Every business has to have a sales function. (In fact, a wise man once said that nothing happens in business until something gets sold.)
So any landscaping company must sell its services, including its design services. There is nothing wrong with that. If it doesn't sell anything, it won't get any new customers and then it will go broke
As far as we are aware there's only a small number of landscaping businesses that offer rebated design fees this way. But it is their 'sales pitch'. They use it as a lure much like other businesses offer "20% off today only" or "buy one get one free" and so on...
But we believe it's bad business practice to give away for free anything that actually has incredible value.
As a business, we invest a lot of money trying to attract new customers. (This website alone costs thousands of dollars and continues to cost us money.) Marketing is a large part of our business. We definitely want to attract new people who we hope will become clients.
Offering a refunded or rebatable design fee is a good 'sales pitch'. It can sound appealing as it touches on people's sensitivity to how much things cost.
It can make the client feel like they are getting a 'bargain'. And don't we all love a bargain?
So the refundable or rebatable design fee works as a point of difference for those that offer it and helps to not only engage the client but motivate them to stick with the company as they move from the design to the landscaping stage.
Some landscaping companies worry about losing clients after the design stage. That is, they get the garden designed by company A, but then choose company B to construct it.
Now given the costs to landscape a whole new garden, there is more profit to be made in the construction of the garden than there is in just designing it, so landscaping companies that offer both design and construction are highly motivated to keep the customers onboard after the design phase.
Hence the appeal of the rebated design fee. It can seem like a 'smart' business plan to rebate the customer $6500 on a garden that will cost $250,000 to landscape, including the pool, deck, etc
This is done because the company hopes the profit from the construction work will more than cover the cost of the design. Which it might, but the added costs will have to be built in.
In the end, it's just a marketing tool. Now the company might write off the rebated design fee as a marketing cost, which is a valid strategy, but only if it is transparent about it.
The importance of transparency
For us at Whyte Gardens, transparency is everything. And that is why we don't offer rebated design fees. Because they can lead to a lack of transparency on a job and it can seriously compromise the quality of our work.
If you are a landscaper who has offered to rebate a client's design fee, you still have to pay your designer a salary for all their work and cover all the business overheads. But now you are under pressure to make enough money on the construction of the new garden to make it worth your while to rebate the client their design fee.
If you do already run a very profitable operation you might easily absorb the costs.
But more than likely the temptation is to start loading up all of the construction costs. Add $500 to the paving costs. Another $500 for the pergola costs. Perhaps $1000 to the decking costs because that won't be noticed so much. Another $200 over here on the soil and $400 on the plants.
Add a bit more to all the permit fees, the engineers' costs, the arborist and the soil expert. But you have to keep it all hidden.
If you do this, you can quite easily get the $6500 design fee back from the client
But in doing so the client ends up paying for a design fee you said you were giving to them for free.
To us, that's not the transparent way we like to do business. We simply couldn't look our clients in the eye if we knew we were putting $6500 back into their pocket with one hand while taking back out again with another.
Of course, the other way to cover the rebated design fee is to simply cheapen the job. Use lesser quality materials but still charge for better quality ones. Or instead of using professional bagged tile grout for the client, you make up the grout in a cement mixer because it's cheaper. Again, not something we feel comfortable doing.
Cheapening a job to cover rebated design fees can also lead you to be disappointed in the end result of your new garden. And that is definitely something we don't want at all!
We like to be open and honest in our dealings with you. So if you query an invoice or anything to do with the construction we can be transparent about what things cost us and what we are charging you.
Now we do understand that some people really enjoy getting a 'deal'. In fact, in some cultures, if you don't 'haggle' and get some sort of discount or deal or rebate or something, you might not feel comfortable doing business with that company.
If you are being offered a rebatable design fee, just make sure you ask a lot of questions to ensure you are not being misled. Check out the exact terms and conditions of the offer and query whether it's just being loaded on the other end.
The real value of good landscape design
Ultimately a strategy of trying to cut corners on the design phase to save a little money can be a poor investment strategy.
The irony is that a really good designer can design your garden in such a way as to save you thousands on the cost of constructing it, just by being clever about how they go about the design. This is an actual saving in real dollars and could exceed the value of a rebated design fee. But you're unlikely to get really good, smart design work that saves you on construction costs from a company that doesn't value its own designers and the work they do.
We understand that the investment you could be planning to make in landscaping can be very substantial. The landscape designer you choose can be a fork in the road that, depending upon the road you choose, whether or not you end up arriving at the best possible outcome for your landscaping project. The value and worth of you having your ideal garden can be immeasurable to the well-being of your whole family and friends.
A really good designer can direct you on how to save money where needed on your journey. A great landscape designer is a creative person who brings a garden and all the pleasure it could bring you, from just being an idea, a hope or a wish, into a physical reality. They are artists founded in practical application. Engaging the right designer might just be one of the best investments you ever make.
Your ideal garden sits at your back door waiting for you to step outside and participate in the experience of creating moments to fondly remember. Make the right decision when engaging your designer and you will be richly rewarded.
We value and respect our landscape designers and architects immensely, and the work they do. We would never give it away for free, because we value it too much. And we would want our clients to value it as much as we do.
If you would like to start a discussion about landscape design, without any of the tricks or traps that can be associated with rebated design fees, please click this link below:
