Cover Story Extra: Sweat Equity

It’s a common conundrum: The client pays for the design but doesn’t pull the trigger on a project. Often price is the seemingly insurmountable obstacle between contractor and client.

To troubleshoot this, Steven Hansen, owner of Hansen Landscape Contractor in Castro Valley, Calif., offers clients “sweat equity projects.” Hansen breaks down the project into components he believes the customer could do on his own. For example, a client can often handle demolition and site preparation work.

“We still charge the client for management of the project but we’re not charging the same for the labor,” he says. “A lot of times contractors feel like they don’t want the client doing any work because it takes work way from them. I feel that if I don’t get the job, then I’ve lost out on everything.”

Sweat equity work can knock off about 25 percent of the cost of the project, Hansen says. He offers the sweat equity option for about 10 percent of his projects, of which 50 percent of those clients elect to do some of the labor themselves. Hansen issues deadlines for the sweat equity work and has not had any issues with incomplete work or scheduling setbacks.

“It is work that, for us, is more taxing on my project manager’s nerves,” he says. “But it means our client can have a much nicer landscape at a lower cost because they’re willing to do some of the labor.”