I am new posting to this forum. I am not a professional landscaper, but a consumer. I am not sure how to phrase this, but here goes...we received a quote for some landscaping including plant material. How much is the mark up typically? My sister is a florist and can get me wholesale prices on the shrubs etc. that we would like to plant. Is this unethical (not sure that is the right word) to ask the landscaper to simply install the plants if we buy them ourselves? The whole job would also entail prep work and drainage, so there is still substantial work to do to make it worth his time. I don't want to offend him if it is not appropriate to suggest this. Any opinions? Thank you.

Scoutjr

An established landscape company sells goods and services, not just services. They generally need to select plants, load them, ship them, unload them, care for them until they are planted, arrange the plants as pleasingly as possible on the site (takes some skill with or without a plan to follow) plant them, and then guaranty them for a period of time. There is cost and risk in that every step of the way.

They are granted the priveledge of wholesale prices based on being larger volume buyers and because they will take on the responsibility of those plants from that point forward. The idea is that landscaper will generate additional sales for that nursery if they can buy at lower prices. Ethics are called into question when these priveledges are used to circumvent that arrangement.;)

A landscape company often has a markup factor which they charge that includes selecting individual plants, getting them to the site, arranging them, planting them and warranty. You are not buying just the plant, you are buying all of those services with that price.

I'm sure some guys have a markup and then charge labor on top of that, but I have worked in the offices of several landscape companies and most of those did it the way I described above.

Either way, they are going to want to get paid.Most don't like the added hassles that go along with doing parts of a job. Whenever a homeowner is involved in some of the logistics, the job does not go as smoothly. Because of that, you will find it very difficult to get a good established landscaper to help you out. If you do, he'll charge you every step of the way and is not going to warranty plants that you bought.

The bottom line is that you can ask, but it won't be easy to find someone to do it, you will pay for the extra time and materials that are usually rolled into the plant price, and you will have no warranty.

I don't think your sister would charge minimal labor costs if I brought her flowers and asked her to arrange them for me.

It is certainly not considered unethical, but I would agree that not all landscapers would be comfortable or happy with this proposal. All you can do is ask. If you do obtain the plants on your own, I would certainly inquire of the wholesale nursery whether or not they offer any kind of warranty on their plants. Generally with wholesalers this is not common, as they are relying on the quality of their product and the knowledge/experience of the landscaper to effect planting success so the warranty is absent on their part. Most retail nurseries will offer a limited warranty of some kind, however.

However, if I only provide labor, I only provide a workmanship warranty. I will straighten a leaning plant, etc., but not replace plants that die.

Some will say that it makes sense to do both. What is often overlooked is that you can't do both at the same time. That means the labor-only job is displacing the other job rather than being in addition to it. Then we get the posts about contractors not following up with proposals after meeting about the job. Those are the guys that can not justify burning part of the season on a lower paying job. These guys have bills year 'round and the work is seasonal in most places.

You can get people who do not have full schedules of labor/material jobs, for whatever reason, to do your work.