Now that you’ve decided to contract professional help, you’re left with a conundrum: how on Earth do you find a reliable and reasonably priced gardening service?
Let’s take a look at the top 5 things to consider when hiring a lawn mowing and gardening contractor.
Is Their Reputation In Check?
Any smart business knows maintaining a good reputation is paramount to success. And consequently, it’ll bend over backwards to ensure its customers are as happy as can be. The first place you should look to evaluate the reputation of a business is its online reviews. Google Maps, Facebook, and Product Review are all excellent places to start. An established company should have plenty of reviews to peruse between the three.
Be careful, however, to not give too much weight to a single bad review. It could be from a competitor, a troublesome customer, or perhaps the business just failed to deliver one time due to circumstances outside of their control. What you should look for is a pattern of negative reviews. If there are numerous complaints of the same nature, then the business is likely lacking in that respect. On the flip side, companies with hundreds of reviews and an average score of 4.0/5.0 or higher are probably quite good.
Online reviews aside, another sure-fire way to assess a company’s reputation is by seeking feedback from family and friends. Ask around your social network if anyone has contracted a gardening service and whether they lived up to expectations.
Are They Insured and/or Registered?
Sure, it’s going to be pretty cheap to hire some random guy off AirTasker to take care of your garden. But aside from the fact they probably have no idea what they’re doing, the chances are they’re not insured as well. If that person should happen to injure themselves on the job, then the chances are you’d be liable for the medical bill. And that could well be enough to send you bankrupt.
Don’t take the risk. Give those dodgy online freelancers a miss and opt for a registered Aussie business that insures its employees.
Do They Know Their Stuff?
Gardeners and landscapers aren’t required to obtain any certificates in Australia to work legally. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t need one.
If you require someone with an in-depth knowledge of horticulture to work on your prize-winning garden, then it makes sense to hire a professional who’s obtained a few TAFE certificates over the years. On the other hand, if you just need someone to help out by mowing the lawn now and then, then tertiary qualifications certainly aren’t required.
Aside from asking about qualifications, you should quiz the gardener on the finer details of your requirements for complex jobs to evaluate whether they have the necessary technical expertise to get the job done.
Do They Do Proper Maintenance?
A low-quality gardening service provider won’t bother to sharpen its tools. And plants that have been sliced with a blunt blade don’t look anywhere near as good. The same applies to lawns and lawnmowers, which should ideally run for no more than 10 hours before being sharpened for optimal results.
A quick and easy way to determine whether a gardening business provides quality service is to ask one simple question: “how often do you sharpen your blades?”
Is Their Customer Service Any Good?
Given you’ll be dealing with the business regularly, it’s in your best interests to determine whether or not their customer service is up to scratch. Contact the head office by phone and ask a few questions about the job. Next, send an email or Facebook message and evaluate how long they take to reply.
A company that can’t provide useful information promptly is a company you shouldn’t do business with.
O’Shea’s Gardening Services
If you’re in the Adelaide region, then get in touch with the professional team at O’Shea’s today. The company has been providing landscaping and cleaning services to the people of Adelaide for almost three decades, so you can rest assured that they’ll do the job right on the first go.
