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Guaranteed Growth
1 Sep, 2008 By: Brian Albright LivescapesARE PLANT WARRANTIES A VALUABLE SALES TOOL OR A HASSLE?
Warranties are a fact of life in many industries — almost every major appliance, computer, car or power tool comes with some sort of guarantee that if the product fails in the first six months or year, you can get it fixed or replaced.
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But should plants come with these types of guarantees? It's become standard practice throughout the landscaping industry to offer a warranty (usually for one year) against plant failure. While some firms consider warranties a competitive requirement, others in the industry have questioned the logic of providing free replacement for plants the installer has little control over once they're in the ground.
"It gives the customer security, and helps us sell the project," says Mark Babineau, owner and operations manager at B&B Landscaping, a residential design-build firm in Glastonbury, CT. "We're confident in our bed preparation that we're going to have a small amount of failures compared to a company that just digs holes and shoves plants into the ground."
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"There isn't another company in the industry that doesn't offer it," says Tom Morris, operations manager at J. Downend Landscaping, a full-service firm in Crum Lynne, PA, near Philadelphia. "If you don't offer it, they won't choose you. The big box stores are doing the same thing now."
There are risks in offering these types of guarantees, though. For one, depending on how often customers take advantage of the offer, it could be costly. And if your supplier or nursery doesn't guarantee the plants, you could wind up footing the bill.
These guarantees may also be setting the firm up for customer conflicts. Plants die for a variety of reasons, but owner neglect often tops the list. Customers often over- or under-water plants, use the wrong fertilizer, or let their pets and children trample the plantings. Should the landscape contractor be on the hook for that damage?
 IN THE LONG run, a landscape is only as good as its maintenance plan. So should installers warranty new plantings? |
Cynthia Kinman, co-owner of Dublin, OH-based Kinman Associates and a principal at the consulting firm Kinman Institute, thinks the landscaping industry should scrap plant warranties altogether. "We're being asked as an industry to guarantee a live plant that is not even under out watch," Kinman says. "We have no documentation as to what the plant endured before we got it, and we don't control how it's treated once we plant it. If we keep doing these things for free, we're devaluing our services."
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Mind the Details
Most plant warranties last one year, but the scope of the warranty can vary from firm to firm. Some companies, in an effort to reduce their exposure, provide a lengthy list of exclusions.
While these exclusions can protect the landscaper, too many of them can reduce the perceived value to the customer. David Orsini, owner of Orsini Landscaping in Schenectady, NY, warranties pretty much everything he puts in the ground. "To me, it's important to take care of any issues that my customers have," Orsini says.
Customer Conflicts
The rate of warranty claims varies by the type of plant, but a 5% replacement rate seems to be the average for most companies.
"I don't think there's ever been a case that we lost enough plant material to make it a negative," Babineau says. "I think it definitely pays off."
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