So you decided you would like to redesign your garden and get it looking perfect for the summer months. You've talked with your gardener/landscaper and agreed upon exactly how you would like your garden to look and the timescale to make it happen. And it's all under way. But sometimes unforeseen things can happen that can affect the timing of this work, no matter how carefully we all plan ahead. Here are just a few examples:
We rely on our suppliers for products to enable us to do our work and if they are running late or the materials are not in stock and don't arrive to us when they should, this affects our work and the timing. ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀
Sometimes when preparing the garden, we find things that were not expected, e.g. incorrect and inadequate irrigation that had been put down previously by the client's builders which made the ground totally unsuitable for laying a new lawn straight away without fixing the problem first. And items like big lumps of concrete, tools from builders left behind in the ground, glass, animal remains - even Roman ruins and bombs, would you believe! Of course, all these had to be dealt with first before beginning work. ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀
Also, if our client decides to add something new into the mix, that's fine, but the chances are it will affect at least the timing, and possibly other parts of the project as a whole, so this should be borne in mind when making any changes - particularly when changing special orders or when adding new specials. ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀
We love chatting to our clients, we really do. But sometimes we need to be left to get on with the work! Although on the other side of the coin, we as a company do rely on onsite communication and email communication with our clients. ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀
I know we all like to blame things on the weather, but rainy days do affect hard landscaping work, especially with regard to using power tools, leaving us unable to complete certain work on the day due to Health and Safety issues. ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀
Sometimes clients like to know every detail of what is going on with the work and we keep them updated as often as they like – others prefer not to be bothered with every tiny detail and just want the job done. ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀
Lastly, sometimes things just take longer than expected - Hofstadter's law. ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀
Building projects often run late and no-one is surprised when they do – it is almost expected. However, unfortunately landscaping projects can run late too and clients tend to be a little less forgiving when they do! Thankfully, though, our projects don't often run that late. We have, however, had one project within the last 12 months (ran 5 months late) and 2 within the last 24 months (ran 2 months late) that have overrun. Whilst we do not like it when our projects do not finish to time and to budget, we understand how frustrated clients feel. We wanted to do this blog to share with you that we do understand. We always look upon any setbacks like these as part of a learning curve, as of course our aim is to improve all the time.
Written by Leslie Chetland
27th July 2018
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