MAINTENANCE: Adding Bed Edging

Bed edging, a service a client may not think about until it’s proposed to them, brings tidiness and order potentially unwieldy beds, which often lose their definition over time.

EDGING TYPES. Some contractors prefer to install one type of edging over another, but many will provide their client with whatever type of edging they request – including plastic, metal, concrete, stone or natural edging.
 
Ultimately, clients select edging by first determining if their priority is form or function. If functionality – keeping turf separate from mulched beds, for example – is their main concern, clients choices are natural edging (created with a spade or trenching machine), metal edging (aluminum or steel) and plastic edging (polyethylene or vinyl).
 
The simplest way to create a natural edge is with a spade, says Chris Timp, owner of Timp Landscaping, Galena, Ill. “If you’re actually installing a plant bed, you’re basically doing this anyway,” he says, adding it is as simple as using a spade to define the bed’s shape. There are machines on the market that cut well-defined beds in a timely manner. These cost between $1,800 and $3,000.
 
SALES & PRICING. Though it’s tempting, contractors should not price edging by the linear foot, Timp says. “What if it’s really steep or hilly? That might make a job much more difficult,” he says. “We may figure materials by the linear foot, but installation varies.” The best way is the contractor’s mantra of “know your numbers” – track crews and how long it takes them to lay down any one type of material and apply that to future jobs.
 
Though not out of the question, Timp rarely gets a call for just bed edging; it’s usually coupled with other services, like bed renovations. As such, Timp doesn’t really market it outside of the “plant bed edging” page on the company’s Web site or as an upsell opportunity to an installation client. “If we’re sending out a plant design, we might send out pictures of a similar design so people can get an idea of what we can do with edging,” he says. “Because we have so many different types, we have a bunch of different relevant pictures we can print out and we send people to the Web site.”