Digital Design

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but to landscape designers, a computer image could be worth a lot more. Software that allows designers to show customers an “after” picture of a project before it is even started is a hot sales tool. Designers report using the software to push sales closings upwards of 90 percent.

“You can go up to a homeowner and say, ‘This is the way your house looks today. And this is how it will look tomorrow.’ And they go crazy,” said Jim Vazanna, Design Imaging Group, Holtsville, N.Y. “The inability of the homeowner to visualize the finished project has been alleviated. Now they can see exactly what they will get.”

The software allows Vazanna to present an appealing design to potential customers faster than ever before. “So, not only are we closing more sales, but we have time to create many more plans,” Vazanna said. “Contractors are finding they can make between four and six presentations by using imaging software for every one they used to make using a pencil and paper.”

DOING DOUBLE DESIGNS. “People have always like my designs,” said Connie Hombeck, president, C.J. Futures, Logan, Iowa. “But I never had the time to do as many as I would have liked. Since I moved to the computer programs, I have more time to get to more prospects.”

Hombeck said that while customers were excited to see her designs in the past, there is a new, different excitement when they see an “after” shot she created with the software. “They will look at one of these photos and say, ‘Oh my! I didn’t know you could do that.’”

“The ability of the customer to see the finished product does increase sales,” agreed Mark Watkins, president, Mark IV Landscaping, Lansing, Ill. “But the biggest benefit is my increase in productivity,” he said. ”In the past, the process took maybe a week, and we had a hand drawn sketch from which to sell. Today, I can be at a meeting in the morning, design the landscaping in three or four hours, and be back in the afternoon with a completed design.”

Watkins said the learning curve associated with imaging software isn’t overwhelming. “Getting (the software) up and running took us a few days and maybe a month before I was proficient,” he noted.

Hombeck was using the software the same day she installed it. “The amount of work that goes into learning how to use the software all depends on how much you want to do with it,” she added.

Still, Chad Oberson, president, CPO & Company, Hamilton, Ohio, warned that not all software is simple to learn. “How many landscape contractors spend a great deal of time on the computer? I don’t think you can learn the program unless you commit to 100 or so hours to learn it,” he said. “I set aside three weeks to focus on learning the program, and it has been a great benefit to me.”

Oberson said that many of his designs done with imaging software have helped him increase prices. “Often we are able to charge up to 50 percent more for a design that we did on the computer simply because the customer is that much more enthusiastic about it,” he said.

Oberson said his company has had such success with design that it has completely gotten out of maintenance. “We used to be a maintenance and construction company, but after the sales we have had with this, I said, ‘Forget maintenance.’ This process has changed my business that dramatically,” he added.

GETTING EQUIPPED. Okay, so it all sounds like easy money, right? Well, just like anything else, a commitment is required. First of all, the capital expenditure. Most software available today requires at least a computer with a Pentium processor and at least 32 MB of RAM. Some programs require at least 64 MB.

Hombeck said her system was running slowly until she upgraded to a 256 MB. “All systems will slow somewhat with the larger designs,” she said.

Another requirement is the purchase of a digital camera or a flatbed scanner. Designers must be able to take a photo of the customer’s property and design the landscape based on that image. A digital camera allows the designer to take the photo and download it immediately into the system. Designers who wish to add plants that are not in the software library should purchase a scanner as well.

“I recommend using both,” said Vazanna. Contractors can continually add to and build their databases by using photos from books and magazines. For $99, you can get a decent scanner. A good digital camera costs around $500.

A good quality color printer is a plus. But be warned, printing photos on good paper is not cheap. “My biggest cost is printing – about $3 per photo,” said Oberson. “Between the good paper at about 80 cents a sheet and the ink cartridges at 90 bucks each, I run up large printing bills.”

A way around large printing bills is e-mailing the photo to the client. Then the client has to bear the cost of printing the photo, but contractors should also be aware that customers can shop for landscape services using your work as a sample if they have the picture.

“Everybody wants to have the picture, and I struggle with that,” admitted Hombeck. “They can take my work, go to Wal-Mart and do the job themselves.”

Are there limitations to imaging capabilities? “Yes,” said Hombeck. “The plant libraries are somewhat limited. But my digital camera expedites that process. Now I just shoot the photo and import it.”

Oberson noted that the seasonality of plants is difficult to show. “While I might have a pear tree in bloom in the front, at the rear I might have a Red River birch in a fall setting. I want to show my customers the color they will get, but I have to explain to them that these colors won’t occur at the same time,” he said.

Contractors also need to consider their present hardware configurations. Most of these design programs can be run on a computer’s existing platform. And contractors noted that if you are able to increase business by using the software, your billing department will be busier as well.

“For the longest time the green industry has lagged behind other industries with technology,” said Vazanna. “We didn’t think computers belonged in our businesses. But during the past few years we are beginning to embrace them.

“Contractors will have to keep up,” he continued. “No maintenance contractor would try to cut an acre of grass with a 21-inch mower. A contractor who is going to move topsoil 20 yards with a wheelbarrow instead of a skid-steer cannot be competitive.”

The same principle applies to design technology – contractors need to use it to keep an edge, Vazanna pointed out.

The author is a freelance writer based in Columbus, Ohio.

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