Q: Are you open year round?
A: Angel Land Designs is open and operating year round. Everyone thinks of their landscape as soon as the weather warms up, but a great time to install trees and shrubs is the fall and winter. It often is the best time to get hardscapes installed as well, so your outdoor living space is fully available to enjoy in the spring, summer and fall!
Q: What forms of Payment will you accept?
A: We accept checks, Visa, MasterCard and Discover.
Q: Do you charge for estimates?
A: If a customer is interested in working with us, we will do a free design consultation and estimate. In return for our travel time and expense, and the hard work and time we take to detail your project and deliver a proposal, we ask that you please allow us to follow up with you and receive feedback on the status of your project.
Q: How do I know if I am eligible for a free estimate?
A: We like to "qualify" a potential customer before sending someone out to meet with them. Qualifying a customer benefits the customer as much as it benefits us. It ensures that neither party is wasting their time. In order to qualify for a free estimate, we ask the following questions:
- Please tell us as much as you can about your project: What is your objective? Do you need a serious concern addressed such as erosion? Are you looking to create an outdoor living space for entertaining? Do you have a vision for your project, with pictures already cut out of magazines? Do you have small children who need space to play? Keep in mind that the more we know in advance, the better we know how to schedule the time needed in our meeting.
- Are you on a tight timetable to get the work done, or are you just gathering information right now? We book our projects anywhere from one to three weeks out and it may take up to a week to collect all the information required to put together a detailed estimate. If you have an event planned and need the work done in just a few weeks, then by all means, please let us know your sense of urgency. On the other hand, if you are just in the beginning stages of planning, and are planning to start several months out or longer, then please help us keep costs down and allow us to schedule your project estimate at the next available date.
- Do you have a budget in mind for the project? This is very important for both the client and us. You need not know everything about landscape pricing, but sometimes the customer has a $3,000 budget, but wants $8,000 worth of work. You do not have to share all the details of your budget with us, but we will need to know that you at least have realistic expectations. Some plan is better than no plan; and remember that we can stage larger projects into several smaller projects to work within your budget.
- We need to know that you will you agree to return our phone calls in a timely manner once the estimate has been delivered to you. Once we provide you with an estimate, we like to follow up with you to answer any questions and to see where things stand.
We keep a log of all phone calls, voice mails, emails and every contact we've had with you. We promise to do our part to provide answers to all of your questions in a timely manner and we respectfully request that you maintain an open line of communication with us to help us understand the status of our proposal.
Q: How do I schedule an appointment for an estimate?
A: Please either call us at 770.422.8440, or fill out our FREE ESTIMATE form and one of our professionals will contact you within 24 hours.
Q: I work during the day. Can you do the estimate without me being there?
A: Doing an estimate will require you to be available. We ask that the decision makers all be present if possible. Estimates are normally provided Monday through Friday between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM. In some circumstance we may be available to provide early morning, evening and/or even Saturday appointments if necessary. Please let us know what works best for you.
Q: What if something comes up and I cannot make the appointment?
A: If for some reason you are unable to make your appointment, please contact us as soon as you know; and give us as much notice as possible. Please call us at 770.422.8440 if it is the same day; or email info@angel-land-designs.com.
Q: Who will be doing the estimate?
A: You will be meeting with either Steve Storey, our "head honcho", or one of our qualified Project Managers. All of our Project Managers have extensive design and estimating experience, but rest assured that Steve will have his hand in your project!
Q: How much time shall I plan on spending at our appointment?
A: Appointments will run anywhere from twenty minutes to one hour. We want to take as much time as necessary to fully understand your project, your needs, and your budget. We need to gather all the information we will be able to deliver to you a proposal that accomplishes your goals and fits within your budget. Please let us know in advance if you feel you will need more than one hour for our meeting.
Q: Do I need to do anything to prepare for my appointment?
A: This is a really good question. We put a lot of time and energy into providing each potential customer with a very detailed proposal for their project. In order to do this, we need you to help us understand how we can best serve you. Please take some time to consider the following prior to our meeting:
- Do you have an issue you want us to address, like erosion control, or are you looking for a specific "look". If you have seen something you love in a magazine, cut it out and show it to us! We will let you know if it will work in your yard and your budget.
- What is your budget for the project? Knowing what you may want to spend will help us determine the best avenue to take for you project (design and materials), giving you the most value for your money. It is frustrating for both of us when we estimate projects outside of your budget. We also don't want to give you less than what you are looking for. Most people are unsure of what things cost, and we try to help by giving ballpark amounts to work with during the meeting, but it helps get us started when you have a rough budget number in mind.
Q: What is a typical budget for a landscaping?
A: Budgets vary greatly depending upon the work being completed. This is why it is very important during the consultation for you to discuss your budget as well and your wish list for your new landscape. Often the two are not even close, and this leads to disappointment for you and usually several revisions of the proposal, which is very costly for us. For instance, hardscapes add a great deal of usability and beauty to a landscape, but can become costly. If your budget is small but your ideas are big, please discuss this with us during our meeting so we can deliver an amazing landscape without busting the bank. Often we can divide the project out into phases that fit within our budgetary constraints.
Q: When can I expect the proposal / estimate for my landscaping project?
A: Once we have completed the consultation, we may be able to offer a verbal, "ballpark" estimate, but most of the final project pricing will be completed at our office. Estimates are usually completed within two business days, but please allow us up to one week to complete your estimate. We will prepare a proposal based upon our discussions, and once it is completed, email the proposal to you as an attachment in PDF format. This does not include project drawings. You will receive a phone call indicating that it has been sent. Please contact our office if you have any problems receiving or opening the email.
Q: What happens then? Will you follow up or should I call you?
A: If we have not already heard from you within a day or two after receiving your estimate, then our office will contact you to see if you have any questions. We put a lot of work into detailing all of the elements of your project and we depend on you to give us your honest feedback. We will do everything we can to work with you and help you through the quoting process until all final design choices have been made.
Q: What about drawings? We really don't want to let someone start digging in our yard without knowing what we are getting.
A: Some of our customers can't envision the changes we are proposing and want a drawing of their new landscaping layout. We understand this, but we also understand that we would go broke if we gave these drawings away! Seriously, we really wouldn't go broke, but it would drive the cost of every project we do up to cover the cost of delivering drawings with every proposal. So instead of driving our prices up, we offer the service of doing landscape drawings at a fee.
Prices range from $400 and up, depending upon the size and scope of the project; and we will apply 30% of the cost to the construction of the project once we are given the go-ahead. The price includes all site visits and meetings with the client, and one revision. Additional revisions are priced at $90 per hour.
Q: We have Homeowner's Association, do you provide plans for the HOA?
A: We will provide whatever sketches are needed for your HOA, typically at no charge. The homeowner must let us know what is needed and provide whatever forms the association uses for this purpose. If the drawings required are in-depth landscaping plans, then the charges would be in line with our standard pricing for drawings. Getting approval prior to starting the project is crucial and is the homeowners' responsibility, so please make sure you find out in advance of our scheduled work. The HOA can put a stop to work, which will in turn cost us time and money (plus your yard will be a mess until the approval is gained!).
