ᐅ Is this landscaping contractor’s quote reasonable or way too expensive?

Sometimes I feel like this thread is a joke or that the original poster wants to mess with us.

The question "why" constantly comes to my mind as well.

Why do I ask the competitor to provide a comparison quote? It would be better to have them make an offer based on facts.

Why does the landscape gardener first say that a pool and lighting concept are included at that price? We are talking about around 70,000 euros (about half of the total quote) that is now missing.

Why do I get the feeling that the craftsmen enjoy leading the customer around by the nose?

I don’t know, but I feel sorry for you because I think your naivety and negotiating skills are being taken advantage of.

matte1987 schrieb:
This is about a sum of over €100,000 and you don’t get any comparative offers because the provider “Vorlauf” might not be amused and could “shut down communication”?

I feel like you didn’t read the posts properly. Why wouldn’t I get comparative offers? I already wrote that I’m working on it and trying to get some. I’m proceeding exactly as you described.

matte1987 schrieb:
Take the offer, remove the prices, keep the quantities, and use that as a basis to request bids from other providers. That way, you’ll get a real comparison.

The problem is, as I already said, just getting a comparative offer in the first place.

matte1987 schrieb:
Then someone who does garden landscaping for average earners should be able to manage that.

If you can name someone with verifiable references who can do that, please share. Because that’s exactly the point.

matte1987 schrieb:
The whole story with the landscape gardener — first boasting a lot, saying that pool, lighting, and so on would all be included at that price, and now none of that is there — makes me doubt whether they can even estimate properly.

I will question that again in detail. The large slabs are definitely part of the cause, I believe the stairs in the garden cost about €15,000 (about $16,000), but I don’t know how he initially roughly estimated everything. Someone local who visited the site said our desired scope would be around €300,000 (about $320,000). But that person has a bad reputation locally, so we didn’t want to go with them.

matte1987 schrieb:
You yourself admit now that the offered quote isn’t anything special.

I wouldn’t put it that way. And we don’t want someone who could end up in court with us. We have some special features planned, such as staircase steps with edges made of weathering steel and steps made from concrete blocks.

matte1987 schrieb:
These are not small items that are missing.

I told them from the beginning that the pool we want will probably cost at least €100,000 (about $106,000) alone. And we will build it sometime in the future, not today or tomorrow.

Otus11 schrieb:
For this project — and the well-known landscape contractor with the green river name — I wouldn’t recommend 100x100x8 concrete stone slabs, but rather Bergischer Grauwacke with the big “Q” in the name.

I just checked; we’ll stick with our slabs.

Otus11 schrieb:
The concrete slabs already cost about €99 (around $105) for the material. According to their website, the landscaping provider has sufficient experience with Grauwacke.

The price is fine, and if you wanted to save, you could get smaller slabs that are significantly cheaper. But the slab price is transparent, and it’s worth it to us, so those are fixed. Above all, I want to emphasize again that the items we selected are also valuable to us! It’s not about cutting positions or anything like that, but about evaluating the offer, as the competitors clearly struggle to provide an alternative bid. Only one said they don’t build based on foreign plans but would prefer to design something themselves — which naturally costs more... and paying an additional €3,000 (about $3,200) for another design, even though we already have a plan developed with us and that we like, just to get another offer, doesn’t make sense.

Alex85 schrieb:
You’re still chasing glossy brochures. Then you’ll just have to pay accordingly. The money for marketing and fancy salespeople has to come from somewhere.

That’s wrong! I value verifiable references you can visit and proven quality workmanship! And at the beginning, I excluded landscape gardeners who said they only do the execution and that I should get the design done elsewhere. Then you pay once for an architect and afterwards for a landscaper who says they can’t execute parts of what the architect planned. That’s what a friend experienced. So for us, the principle was to select someone who handles everything from design to execution themselves. Reducing this to glossy brochures feels a bit arrogant to me.

Bookstar schrieb:
Why do I tell the competitor to prepare a comparative offer? It’s better to let them make an offer based on facts.

If you have a finished design and an offer with blacked-out prices, what would you tell them? That you drew it yourself at night after work?

Or do you mean you need someone to come by and just estimate, until they’re willing to pay for another design? Of course, you can only compare 1-to-1. How else?

Bookstar schrieb:
Why do I get the feeling that the craftsmen like to lead the client around by the nose?

Funny that everyone else I speak to experiences the same. I find your tone quite arrogant.

Bookstar schrieb:
I don’t know, but I’m sorry for you, because I think your naivety and negotiation skills are being taken advantage of.

If I were that clueless, I wouldn’t have my own company where I have to negotiate daily and which ultimately enables me to build a house like this.

R.Hotzenplotz schrieb:


We did the same with our house construction. The house was fully planned, and then we took the general contractor’s (GC) offer to another company for a second opinion. They said it was a great offer; they could match the price only with a lot of effort, but no higher. They even admitted both companies have a similar reputation, so building with either would be fine.

So if the assessment is that the offer is fair, from what I’ve heard so far, I’m actually happy about that. It gives me a good feeling about the contractor. However, quite a few people ask me about the pulse (beating heart) when they see or hear about the offer. They think it’s unusual.

Are you serious? How well did your strategy work when building the house? Do you now have a top-quality contractor like you wanted?

You’re just hearing what you want to hear. I haven’t read anywhere that the offer fits or that you can be happy about it! He told you he would provide a pool and lighting for that price, and now you have none of that, yet you still want to hire him?

I’m looking forward to your future thread: Help, problems with the landscaping contractor, initially quoted 120,000, now demands 200,000 after completion.

And you won’t get comparison offers this way! Which halfway decent contractor wants to deal with that? If you insist on hiring someone who does everything, go to another company and get an offer—who even says this was the best garden design?

Honestly, I’m a bit speechless; this reminds me of your lighting plan.

Snowy36 schrieb:
You're not serious, are you? How well did your strategy work for the house construction? Do you now have a top provider like you wanted?

Yes, it worked. A house was planned and exact comparisons were obtained. We were able to choose a provider!

Snowy36 schrieb:
He told you he'd do a pool and lighting for that price and now you have none of that and still want to go with him?

He didn’t say he would give a fixed price; he said what was feasible within the budget without specifying the details of execution at that time. Afterwards, a discussion took place about what we wanted. Certainly, the raised beds, the 1x1m (3x3 ft) slabs, etc., contributed to the higher cost and meant that no pool could be included within that budget—I told the landscape gardener that from the start. It would have been a very basic pool anyway.

As I said, before he was commissioned for the planning, other landscape gardeners were also on site. NONE of them suggested it would be possible to achieve anything here for under €100,000 (about $110,000).

Snowy36 schrieb:
And you won’t get comparable offers that way! Which halfway decent provider would be interested in that?

At least for the house construction, it worked. What would you do? Commission a new plan just to get an offer that wouldn’t be comparable at all?

Snowy36 schrieb:
If you insist on someone who does everything, then go to another and get an offer. Who says this is even the nicest garden plan?

We like the plan. Why should I pay someone else again for a plan when they would say from the start that it won’t be cheaper anyway? You’ll have to explain that logic to me.

But that's exactly how it works. Our construction manager asked us what we wanted, then sent a request with these specifications to three companies, and then you receive comparable offers.
So take what you have, scan it, remove the prices, and send it to someone else.

No, I’m saying just go with that one since you’re clearly already convinced.

One question: is the house process going as planned? Fixed price respected, no issues? If so, then do the same with the landscaping contractor. Or, like your neighbors, spend the 300,000 on it and you’ll be happy too.

But if you want something good at a reasonable price, you unfortunately have to sit down, figure out what you want, and invest time. Why don’t you understand that?

And if that’s too much for you right now because you’re so busy with the house, then the garden will have to wait until you have time again.

We simply don’t live in times when everyone is bending over backwards to design you a great garden for next year on short notice.