Business idea: Would you be interested in planting consultation services?

[Plantingconsultationservices]

I am not sure if allowed but I do know some MN have asked fellow MN for their views on business ideas - so I hope so 🤞

Not an ad and won’t be naming the business here or linking directly.

We have a garden design business already but the full package is not what everyone needs. I am thinking of starting a separate business which supplies plants only direct from really great British independent nurseries and offers planting design consultations to give guidance and help formulate the shopping list. Kind of like an expert and collaborative personal shopper service.

I am hoping this will help everyone. Some nurseries are struggling reaching customers, some clients have no idea where to start and have small budgets and prefer a diy approach.

Is this something you would be interested in and there is a market for?

If so please comment how much you would pay for such a service (bearing in mind the plants you access afterwards will be a considerable discount to garden centre prices).

POLL:
YABU - no one wants or needs this
YANBU - I like the idea and would or know someone who might engage such a service

Thank you 🙏

I'd definitely be interested. Just moved into a new house, and want to take out a conifer hedge and replace with much more interesting and varied planting. I also have a front garden to plant.

A couple of hours with an expert would be really valuable. I find it hard to do the 3D visualisation of what everything could look like once mature. Plus factoring in growth rates of different plants, the chances that arrive things won't establish well etc etc - that's hard to do.

God I would love this! I think your prices are more than reasonable.

It would be really good if you had a software or something where you could put a picture of your garden and drag different plants around to see how they'd look. You could have them at different stages of growth.
Maybe that's too tech tastic but I'd pay extra for something like that. As I do struggle to visualise what plants will go together.

Thanks everyone 😊

Lots of great ideas!

This is the plan partly but not a full 3D type thing. More a visual photomontage which we create but it shows which plants will be in bloom with one another through the year. We already have all these so it’s just choosing the plants and slotting them in and then you have a visual calendar. It’s the way we have always designed and it’s really fun activity which I thought clients might enjoy doing together.

That sounds awesome. Do you do discounts for benefits claimants/disabled people? 😁 X

I need this! Our hard landscaping pre extension is happening right now and I need help to decide which plants/ how many/ where to plant. I would go for option 2.

Who does the actual grunt work? Couldn’t people get this advice/planning service (minus the measuring) on the Gardening board here, or from friends who love gardening ? I genuinely don’t want to be rude because I know how talented you must be, but I’m wondering what the uptake would actually be long term. Most people around here who pay gardeners want them to do the boring mowing, clipping, and weeding.

We have landscapers coming in next week. Everything is being ripped out and starting from scratch. They are not doing any planting though and DH and I are hopeless gardeners. I’d like option 4 - where it’s all of option 3, but will you please come and do the physical planting as well, because I can’t. I’ll pay handsomely for this, £1500+, would that work? Basically an interior design service for the garden, that’s what I need.

The grunt work as in the digging? You would do that.

The difference to MN garden board / friends and family would be:

• A finished planting scheme with correct quantities (as opposed suggestions and having to figure it out yourself)
• Access to heavily discounted plants compared to garden centre c. 50% to 30% off depending on what it is (so will pay for itself in at a minimum or save you money)
• As you say our talent. Our garden design business is award winning and our work has been featured in prestige locations like Gardens Illustrated and on Gardeners world. But that is a luxury brand with a really personalised high level of service with pretty much permanent duty of care and aftercare advice. And our fees reflect that. So we can’t do these smaller jobs under that brand for lots of reasons (protecting the quality of outcome (we install and usually maintain), protecting the ‘brand image’ in terms style/calibre of design, protecting our chain of referrals ie. You are referred work similar to what you do and protecting our time in terms of back and forth revisions). So this is a way to do a lot more gardens and give people a cheaper quicker way to access us whilst mainly protecting our time and not confusing our initial brand with a lower level of service.

If you charmed us and we really liked you then we might 😂 but that wont be on the original advertising.

I would use this service. I moved into a house with weedy beds. They are now cleared but I don’t know what to put in them. The location is tricky (exposed hilltop but also quite shady). I am not green fingered and don’t know where to start. I have been wondering if a modestly priced garden design service exists! Whatever we plant will get munched by deer so I don’t want to spend thousands on it. This sounds spot on.