do them up a plan, based on the neighbor's yard....they'll be thrilled....and spend your extra time at "happy hour"...LOL!
Regardless of how stupid we might think it is to just look like everyone else, it's their dime....

Clients such as you describe are those I opt away from. If they want a generic, no-thought, same-as-the-neighbor's design, I will let them find someone else willing to do so, or let them do it themselves. It is not something I want my name and professional reputation attached to. No one says you have to work with or satisfy all clients that come your way - I interview and edit them in the same manner they evaluate a potential designer or other professional to work with. The proper fit works both ways.

I'm onfused by your issue. The client has an expectation and they shouldn't expect you to meet that expectation? If I walk into an ice cream shop, i don't expect to be called 'picky' because I want a chocolate ice cream like the previous 10 customers and not the tripple banana split deluxe.

I agree that you might not find satisfaction in the job and should expend your talents elsewhere but it is not the client who has an issue. I know this is cliche sounding but one of the frequent complaints I hear from new clients is that their previous landscaper or gardener didn't listen to what they wanted and they spent a load of money on a design they didn't like.

When you walk into the ice cream shop do you reject all their special flavors, complain they don't have a product that you can get at McDonald's? That would be the parallel analagy. And would you also suggest that they close up their shop because they don't have the ordinary product that you could get anywhere? Or would you just go to McDonald's in the first place? Anyone can do their own home landscaping, plenty of outlets are around anxious to sell generic products to do-it-yourselfers. Hiring a designer carries an implication of looking for outside input, getting something more.

Very interesting the responses are split down the middle. Some of you all do not have a problem with designing in a cookie fashion while others do. It sounds as if some folks think they are above the customer. If you are so well off you can chose who your customers are then so be it. Or you can always try to help the customer along and offer suggestions that are different and they may or may not agree to. After all it is the customer design, they live there you do not. ItÂs their trophy not yours.
They are your customers and how you chose to react is up to you. I'm quite sure your customer can read through you and see your dissatisfaction and probable will go elsewhere anyway and you won't have to worry about them.
Remember the old saying "the customer is always right"?
Where did this superior attitude come from?

Gardengal48 covered it.

Ever see those signs in restaurants and bars - "we reserve the right to refuse service"? It's not too dissimilar a situation. As a professional selling a professional service, I am entitled to chose who I will work with. It is not a matter of thinking I am "above" the customer - its more a matter of maintaining a professional standard.

I don't charge lightly for my services and in my years of doing this type of work, it has been my experience that those same customers that want a very generic, cookie cutter landscape design also don't care to pay very much for it. We typically come to an understanding early on in the interview process that it mutually will not be a good fit and move on.

Why a design professional would consider this a superior attitude is a bit of a mystery to me. My reputation is built on my ability to satisfy my client's requirements while creating a uniquely personal design. No two of my designs have the slightest resemblance to each other and I would not be serving either the client or myself by duplicating the "design"(?) of their neighbors' garden. And why would they need me to do that anyway? All they need to do is take a few photos, go to their local nursery and pick out the same plants and plant them - where is the design and creativity in that?

If that is an approach you choose to follow, more power to you and here's hoping you have your calender booked. There are only so many design jobs I can tackle at any given time and I prefer to devote my attention and creative energy to those that I find as professionally rewarding as the client finds satisfying, responsive to their specific needs and uniquely their own.

GardenGal I agree whole heartedly with you and you do indeed have your right to do as you please. But on the same token not everyone is like you. My guess is most are not.

It is wonderful that you have made your way and received the benefits from those pursuits.

On the same token time and time again I hear folks talk about how they need to educate the public. It is no difference then the average child trying to get into a private school only to be snubbed away. What did the child learn?

Maybe you could start a second firm "with lower standards"?

Just seems that when you come across a customer that doesn't meet your standards they are pushed, ever so politely, away. Your not really satisfying "all" your clients requirements, only the ones you chose. Did you start out with this reputation or did you build it? IÂm truly glad doctors donÂt think this way. And yes I know I'll never change your heart on this matter.

Once someone is established there may not be time to serve every potential customer. Hort. services have to contend with "spring fever", the tendency to want work done during that time only, and right away. Whether it is design, installation or maintenance the common pattern (in this climate) is for the phone to ring off the hook starting in early spring, say March, with everyone then wanting it done tomorrow. If someone is willing to wait for you to get to them, then fine, otherwise once you are that busy you have to pass on jobs anyway.

But the original question was really about parties asking for work and then repeatedly rejecting the proposals made. Better initial interview techniques might be the answer.

>Maybe you could start a second firm "with lower standards"?LOL!! mylu, there are enough folks out there doing that just that! One of the amazing facets of this industry is that there seems to be a "designer" or landscaper suited to every type of client. There certainly does not seem to be a shortage of those with lower or mediocre standards, as I am often called in to correct their efforts after the fact.

I've been in this industry long enough to realize that not all of the public wants to be educated and it is an exercise in futility (not to mention, incredibly time consuming) to try and change their outlook when they firmly want what they want.

I'm not sure your analogies are valid - not every parent wants their child to go to a private school and that doesn't mean they cannot get a decent education by not attending one. And with doctors, there are those that specialize and those that do not - you wouldn't go to a heart surgeon with a simple sore throat. Neither does a potential client necessarily need a landscape designer for a simple planting plan that duplicates their neighbors.

Each person's tastes (and personalities) are unique or just plain unimaginative like your client. It's a matter of discerning very early on why they are hiring you. Sometimes it's cheap labour they want and don't realise your other talents. Other times it's for the social status of being able to say "I hired a professional landscaper". If you're trying to build a reputation to appeal to an elite market it's only natural that you would want to discourage them from wasting your time. Therefore it's important to let them know what you can do for them. A person may want a similar plant to the neighbour's for other reasons and it's your job to find out why. Ask the right questions (open ended ones) to make sure you're both on the same page. Depending on how hungry you are will determine whether you take the job or not.

I've had my share of 'picky' clients or as I call them PITA (pain in the a--) clients as well. For me picky can be wanting a specific plant and is usually unsuitable for the environment at which time educating the client is a must and if they persist I raise the price and won't guarantee my work (put it in writing too!). The frustrating part of having to educate clients is that the whole reason for hiring us is for our expertise right? Ah but for a perfect world where they would leave us alone and let us do our job. In the past I've bent over backwards to try to meet the client's desires despite my objections, but in time I found that their ideas became headaches later on and I'd get call backs. I learned my lesson and now I'm more sure of myself and hense assertive. I'm not afraid to politely remind them of why they are hiring an expert.

There are services for every taste. The best way to see what's out there, is to look at the many garden magazines and books. Some are geared toward the "status quo" looks -- what's popular around the region or country. Others strive to present the enormous variety of unique looks.

Take a look at the huge variation among garden styles and looks in, say, "Sunset," "Southern Living" and in "Better Homes and Gardens." It's great that we have so many ideas to choose from. If we want what the neighbors - or all the people on the block - have, that's fine, too. Chances are, you'll find a photo of it in a ready-made DIY garden in the White Flower Farms catalog.

But to get something really one-of-a-kind, check out the individual designer-created works you'll see in "Garden Design" and "Fine Gardening," or in some of the many great books offered by Ken Druse, Gordon Hayward, Keith Davitt and others.

Some people just want a nice yard to come home to. Others want something that really "speaks" to them, or is in itself a work of art. It's great to have a choice.

I deal with them the way they want. It's their home, not mine. I am in this business to provide a service, and make money.

Granted I love the client who lets me provide them a premium design/install, but I have found the customer who knows what they want, even if it is similar to the neighbors, is easier on me, and as stated above they are happy.

If I decide to be eclectic, and turn down business. I risk offending a potential client, and in turn everyone they tell that I'm hard to work with.

I guess i have a middle-of-the-road approach. Because my business is drawn 100% word of mouth, and because it's their money and environment, i will do whatever is reasonbly necessary to satisfy my clients. I draw the line and will not take a job, however, that conflicts with my values-- for example, because i live and work in an area that suffers from drought, i won't plan a landscape that would require extensive irrigation. it's about common sense and good business sense--they can coexist quite peacefully!!

If a client is hiring you as a professional, they are trusting your judgement as a person with superior plant and garden design knowledge. I am happy to work with clients and try to meet their needs. Nothing makes me happier than when they are pleased with their garden. But all to often they become the driving force of the decision-making and often the results are unsound and mediocre. Then neither of you are happy. Anyone have ideas on how to broad this subject with clients?

Broach the subject at the beginning. The 'phone rings, who answers, you, the person with the superior knowledge? do you book an appointment for that afternoon at 3? Do you show up at 2.50 in desperate anticipation with your Felco's on your hip? Quantify the client when they first call, check them out as you speak because you don't want to be wasting your valuable time or theirs. Treat them as an equal. Offer them two choices of time and date for your first meeting and explain what the expected outcome will be and the cost on the phone. Deliver the expected result and collect the expected remuneration. You could decide to be all things to all men but this doesn't work for me, you say that you are "a person with superior plant and garden design knowledge" so how much is that worth? Believe that value and project that to a client who has a similar value within his own field.

I'm surprised somebody posting as celsiana rose wouldn't refer to them as prickly clients.