3 Reasons You Should Listen If Your Landscape Lighting Design Build Specialist Tells You No !

3 Reasons You Should Listen If Your Landscape Lighting Design Build Specialist Tells You No !

By Mike Gambino

Working with a specialized custom landscape lighting design build contractor such as Gambino landscape Lighting can minimize the likelihood you’ll hear “no” from your contractor during the design and build process.

As a custom low voltage LED landscape lighting design build contractor we are first and foremost in the business of customer service. We want to please our clients and be a good partner to them as well as everyone else involved on a project. But that doesn’t mean we automatically go along with the theory that the client is always right. In fact, as custom landscape lighting experts, one of our primary roles is being the best advisers possible for our clients, which is why we sometimes find ourselves having to say “no”  and when we do, you can bet it’s for good reason.

Reason 1 – Recently on a project, we notified a client that a piece of equipment the client provided us for an install was wrong for the job. Yet, despite our advice, the client insisted we use the piece he selected. Sure enough, the equipment didn’t work properly, and the expensive item had to be replaced. Remember, you hired an established successful specialized landscape lighting design build firm because of its expertise, so you need to trust that the contractor wants to complete the project to the best standards possible. If we didn’t tell clients about a potential mistake, we wouldn’t be doing our fiduciary duty.

Reason 2 – “No” can also come up during the bidding process, particularly when there are unknown landscape lighting costs that simply can’t be estimated. Sometimes there is an item we just can’t put a cost to until we dig in and start work, so an “allowance” is assigned for that item as a placeholder, with the understanding the final cost is subject to change. For one recent project, the client was ready to award us the project, but wanted to lock in the contract using an estimated allowance as the final price. As much as it pained us to say no, we declined the new custom landscape lighting project because we couldn’t guarantee we’d be able to do the best job possible at that allowance price. It turns out we were right, as the true cost of the allowance item ended up being much more than estimated.

This is also a terrific example of how working with an experienced custom landscape lighting design build contractor on a flat fee contract basis works much better than a competitive bid. In a design-build job, your landscape lighting design build contractor specialist has a better idea of costs of unknown items and incorporates that actual cost in your landscape lighting project budget. That can save everyone time and money in the long run, particularly for projects that are more complex.

Reason 3 – Speaking of competitive bids, we understand their popularity, but there are situations when we simply have to say “no” to competitive bids. If it’s clear the potential client is looking for a bargain price by opening the bid to a large number of commercial general contractors, we might choose not to participate. Contracts awarded on price alone can lead to lots of unanticipated problems – from lower quality work to missed deadlines and high cost change orders that upset owners. We’re all for keeping landscape lighting costs in check and making sure we’re getting our clients the best price possible. But at the same time, we’re most interested in working with clients who know there’s more to a successful landscape lighting job than cost.

We are firm believers that trusting relationships build better custom landscape lighting projects, and we want to create a partnership with every client we serve – not just hit their bottom line.

So while we never like to deliver bad news, sometimes it’s in the best interest of the client to ensure a successful landscape lighting project. And if you’re working with a experienced landscape lighting design build contractor specialist you trust, remember that if they tell you “no” it’s for a good reason – so be sure to listen.

This landscape lighting blog is published by Mike Gambino of Gambino landscape lighting inc. all rights reserved. Mike is a professional landscape lighting system designer/ builder and has been designing, installing and maintaining landscape lighting systems for more than 28 years. Mike resides in the Los Angeles area with his wife and 2 sons. To visit his website go to www.Gambinolighting.com . To inquire about hiring Mike please click here .

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