As a property manager, hiring the right team to tackle your landscape maintenance is essential. By having a trustworthy and consistent company is the key to building a lasting relationship and having the outdoor results you desire. Though landscape knowledge and pricing are two factors that many focus on, it’s important to focus on the long-term facets of your experience with any landscape maintenance provider.
 

Communication

You can often get a sense of the type of communication that a landscape maintenance company will provide from the very start. Most great companies will provide a thorough consultation before any hiring is complete. This is your opportunity as a property manager to see exactly what you’re getting in terms of a relationship. Some communication factors to note:

  • Does the company respond to your questions in a timely manner?
  • Who will you be working with? / Who is your point of contact?
  • What methods of communication does your company make available to clients? (i.e., Is there a direct phone line to call or must clients go through a service request system online?)

Consistent and timely communication are essential when it comes to the maintenance of commercial property. Ensure that any company you are hiring is outstanding in this matter.

Customer Service

Along the same lines of communication, a property manager should hold customer service of any potential landscape maintenance contractor in a high regard. Learning about customer service quality often comes through a consultation, like we mentioned before, or from personal accounts from current or former clients. Reviews, testimonies, and personal recommendations are all helpful when it comes to choosing a commercial landscaper. Ask about response time to maintenance requests, how problems or complaints are handled, and what each service session is like. Ultimately, the quality and care of the space is falling on the shoulders of you, the property manager, so hiring someone that will deliver quality customer services is vital.

Workload and Service Area of Company

Obviously, you’ll need to make sure that you are in the service area of the landscape contractor that you want, but that’s not what we’re referring to here. Find out if the company you are seeking is a local, regional, or national company. There are pros and cons of each, so prioritize what matters to you and your commercial space.

A few things to keep in mind:

  • A local or regional company knows everything there is to know about your local climate, soil, area, etc.
  • A national company may be able to handle more clients, as they likely have more employee resources
  • When it comes to commercial landscaping services, the old saying “you get what you pay for” will come into play. Take it seriously.
  • The personal connections and relationship you’ll have with a local company will be much better and more accessible than a multimillion dollar national company.

There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to choosing the size of the landscape company, you’ll just need to know up front what the experience will be like for any company you choose.

Quality of Work and Attention to Detail

We cannot stress enough that the quality of a company’s work should come above most everything else. Great work and craftsmanship cannot be replicated with the lowest-cost bidder. It simply does not happen. Ask to see client portfolios or examples of work, particularly with spaces like yours and in the same area. Cutting corners, missing steps, or using cheap materials is nothing you want to deal with as a property manager. Again, validate work with reviews or personal recommendations.

No Property Decline

Believe it or not, we have serviced clients who came from other companies who said their properties actually declined after being serviced. Crazy, right? If you’re paying a team to work on your commercial landscaping, it should look better than when they started. This is not to say that change happens overnight; good landscaping can take time- especially if a property needs major TLC. However, if you’re not seeing improvement in 6 to 9 months, you may need to reconsider the company for the coming year.

As a property manager, it is imperative to find a landscape maintenance contractor that will have your best interest in mind. Do some serious homework and consult with multiple companies in your area to find the one that is the best fit.

While The Greathouse Company isn’t for everyone, we have some great clients and work that we think speak for themselves. If you’re a property manager who is looking for a trustworthy, reliable, experienced company for your commercial property landscaping, give us a call.