Don't use her for even the smallest job. She'll give you an estimate for "ballpark $1000-$1750", and then send you a bill for $7200, and her excuse will be that you wanted more expensive flowers. She'll put sun plants in the shade and shade plants in the sun, and forget to check that the pots are draining, and then blame you (and charge you) because she has to go back to fix her mistakes. Her bill will only list broad categories of things,and will include items that died within the first couple of weeks because she planted the wrong things or planted what she had on hand, whether or not they work in your space.
Then she'll say you are difficult to work with and will refuse to re-consider her bill.
• A preliminary estimate was submitted for basic plantings.
• The client requested more expensive plants that were not in the original estimate, I informed her by email that there would be additional charges for additional plants and time.
• The client insisted that I use certain plants that I said would not hold up for the long run, but would look good for her event.
• The client was not interested in maintenance which would have allowed me to keep an eye on her plantings. It should be noted that she does not live at this residence.
• I went out of my way to make sure everything was installed beautifully and within her time frame. She got another estimate, but the company could not start until the following week and she wanted the work done right away. Each garden space looked lovely for the Open House and she told me that she “appreciated my work”.
• I submitted a completely detailed invoice and did not bill for all of the time involved in responding to her emails.
• A colleague told me that this client paid him what she wanted to and not what he was asking for the job.
• This client is using Houzz to discredit my company and work even though everything was done in compliance with her requests.