Lawn & Landscape Blog | Kingstowne Lawn & Landscape

5 Things to Look For in a Landscaping Company

Written by Krisjan Berzins - Owner, CEO | Jan 19, 2021 2:21:43 PM

Have you ever tried to hire a landscaping service and felt like it was difficult to do business with them?

Here you are, willing to pay and eager for their service and yet you can’t even contact them—or get a response for that matter. You shouldn’t have to chase them down when you’re trying to hire them—or even worse if you’ve already hired them.

Whether you just have a question, want to make a change, are looking for a quote, or even trying to pay your bill, it shouldn’t be so challenging!

If you’re working with a lawn service or a landscaping service you expect that experience to be easy and convenient—not one that adds stress and frustration to your life in any way. Yet, we’ve heard some of these horror stories and we empathize with the sentiments.

We’re homeowners as well and have experienced these types of situations, too.

That’s why we’ve rounded up a list of what to look for in a landscaping company to make it easy and convenient for you. These are things that can help you choose the best landscaping service.

1. Your Landscaping Service Should Communicate With You

When you are deciding how to choose a landscaper, make sure you consider communication. You might also think of this one as the fact that your landscaping or lawn service should be easy to reach. You shouldn’t have to chase them down to ask a question or address a concern. It should be convenient and easy to communicate with your lawn or landscaping company.

This all starts with who answers the phone. At a lot of companies, your call goes to a call center or maybe directly to a voicemail. Neither is a personal experience and both can make it difficult to get in touch and get the information you’re seeking.

A big difference with Kingstowne Lawn & Landscape in Alexandria, VA is that we have team members answering the phones. That’s not to say that you’ll never receive a voicemail. But we’re making every effort to answer all incoming calls or at least promptly returning the ones that we don’t personally answer.

The same goes for email. We’re also incredibly responsive to electronic communications. There’s nothing worse like feeling as though you’ve sent an email into cyberspace and will never hear back again. We’re internally focused on making sure any emails that come in also get a speedy response.

2. Customer Service Should be Able to Help You

This takes that first point a little further. The truth is, even if you get a “live person” answering the phone at a lawn or landscape service, they generally are more of a message-taker, which only puts your query on hold. It’s a step up from leaving a voicemail but you still feel like you haven’t gotten very far.

At Kingstowne Lawn & Landscape, we’ve trained the team members who answer the phones so that they’re also often able to answer your questions. These are members of our Client Care Team, which is different from typical customer service. They can pull up your account and be able to answer questions or address issues.

Of course, there will be times they don’t have an immediate answer. They’re also trained to help get you that answer. They know who to ask or who to direct your call to, which is a big difference from just taking a whole list of messages that never make it to the right people.

3. Your Landscaping Service Should Be Flexible to Your Needs

Another issue that we commonly see, and know that homeowners don’t like, is when they feel pressured into services they don’t want or need just to be able to hire a lawn or landscape service. It’s very common for landscaping companies in Northern Virginia to have a service minimum. They’ll have maybe 3 specific services you need to hire them for before you can use them for anything else.

For the most part, Kingstowne Lawn & Landscape’s list of services is a la carte, which is another way that we try to make it easy to do business with us. We’re talking about the services that you want or need and customizing your options based on that conversation.

4. The Landscaping Company Should Have Comprehensive Offerings

Most likely, your Northern Virginia property has a lot of different needs. As a result, it can be frustrating to have to hire a variety of different professional services to keep your property as a whole looking and performing its best.

That’s why a comprehensive list of services of something to look for when hiring a landscaper.

Hiring one provider as opposed to a separate lawn service, landscaper, pest control, and plant health care service is so much easier and more convenient.

5. It Should be Easy to Make a Payment

We totally get that paying a bill isn’t anyone’s favorite topic. But have you ever had an experience where a company made it difficult to pay for their service? Maybe they left behind a paper bill and it blew off the door or maybe they mailed you a bill and it came late.

We’ve had experiences like these ourselves, which is why we implemented some ways to make it easy to pay for our services. We understand it’s an inconvenience to you when billing is made more difficult than it has to be!

At Kingstowne Lawn & Landscape, billing is paperless to make the process as easy and seamless for homeowners as possible. You can receive your bill via email. Or, you can go to our website and simply click the “pay your bill” link. We can also get it set up that it’s paid automatically each month so you don’t even have to think about it!

This is all in an effort to help make the process of working with us as easy as possible for our clients.

Taking Away Your Worry, Frustration, & Stress

When you hire a landscaping service, it’s because you want your property to look great. But it’s also because you don’t want to be involved in any of the hassles or headaches that are involved in achieving that success. You just want it to happen at the hands of a professional who knows exactly what your lawn and landscape need.

Of course, if that experience of working with the professional suddenly creates its own set of frustrations and stressors, then it may start to feel like it defeats the purpose! Maybe you aren’t stressed about the state of your landscape, but you’re stressed about dealing with your landscaper.

Plus, let’s be honest. If you’re paying for a professional service, you expect a positive customer experience. You’re investing in their help and expertise and you ought to be able to get that!

At Kingstowne Lawn & Landscape, we understand that the customer experience is both about great results as well as great customer service—and we are committed to providing both. We know that you have a lot of choices in landscaping services in Alexandria, Arlington, and Springfield, VA. What we feel sets us apart is that we truly are committed to offering our clients the best (both from a “results and service standpoint). In turn, this makes life easier and more convenient for you.

Are you ready to see why Kingstowne offers the best (plus easy and convenient) customer service experience for projects and maintenance at your Alexandria, Arlington, or Springfield, VA home? If so, request your consultation, get your customized plan, and relax as you get the royal treatment.