Do you consider yourself the creative type that has a real eye for design and detail? Are you able to look at a space and immediately envision all the ways in which you could improve the design, flow, and functionality of it? Do you have what it takes to put those ideas into action? From natural beauty to manmade features to ensuring they seamlessly co-exist in an outdoor space, is your passion for all things outdoor design related? If so, a career in landscape design may be right for you.
So, if you’ve decided to move ahead with your dream and start your own landscape design business, these tips can help you be as successful as possible.
Create an In-Depth Business Plan
Regardless of the type of business you plan to open, it always needs to start with a business plan. The business plan gives you the opportunity to set the goals of your business, research the startup and operating costs, determine your target market, define how long it will take for you to break even, and specify what kinds of services you will offer.
Pair Up with Reputable and Reliable Vendors and Suppliers
Because you will be creating outdoor oasis retreats for your clients, you’re going to need a fair amount of supplies and materials to make it possible. This includes things such as plants, trees, bricks, stone, furniture, and even outdoor lighting just to name a few. With that said, it’s a good idea to create partnerships with vendors and suppliers that you can rely on to provide top of the line items.
Take for example Best Quality Lighting (BQL), a manufacturer known in the industry for its superior quality outdoor landscape lighting fixtures. By creating a partnership with a company so well-known as BQL, or a quality supplier of their goods, you know you’ll have access to all the top lighting features out there. This can give you a leg up on your competition.
Find The Right Tools
Alongside purchasing your supplies and materials from reputable suppliers and vendors, you also need to find the right tools for the different jobs. For example, if you are installing high-quality fencing, you need to source post hole diggers to carry out the job successfully. This will help you in creating the best foundation for the fence.
Take the time to consider which tools you need to buy (ones you will use more frequently) and which ones you need to hire. It is a good idea to look at the services you are going to be offering when deciding this.
Scope Out the Competition
Speaking of the competition, you’ll also want to take a little time to do some research on your competitors. Take a look at the services they offer, their pricing, how they have set up their website, and their customer feedback. All of these things will inform how you should go about setting up your business.
Create a Unique Hook for Your Design Business
In order to truly stand out from the crowd, it’s a good idea to come up with something that is unique. What can you do or offer that will make your business different to other landscape designers? Perhaps you can specialize in a particular area of design, and if that’s the case, you want to really push that angle.
Remember that having a robust portfolio of your work that includes plenty of photos and even videos will help to sell your services and set you up as a “professional.”
It’s Time to Jump In
By using each of these tips, you’ll be on your way to business ownership and running your very own successful landscape design company.
