Urban Landscaping
Garden Design - Consult - Install - Maintain - Contain - Care
Before and After (click for larger pictures)
Before and After (click for larger pictures)
Though bamboo is our specialty we do all aspects of gardening. From lawns to flower beds. Trees and fences too! Contractor's License no. BAMBOGL913BH.
Services Provided:
Bamboo Gardener LLC will design to clients' needs and site requirements. Depending on your requests for levels of consultations, Bamboo Gardener LLC could consult on a project you will be performing yourself, work with you side by side, or perform all tasks to meet your needs. On most projects Bamboo Gardener LLC can provide a Firm or Guesstimate bid contract with specific job details with related detailed costs. No matter what the job, Bamboo Gardener LLC will complete the project with utmost care and time considerations. The services covered below mainly cover bamboo, but the techniques of quality and attention to detail pertain to all services.
When planning a installation of bamboo plants and rhizome barriers or just remodeling your yard an "On Site Consultation" will save you time and money. A well planned and designed landscaping project with your personal input is well spent time. Planning on paper is less expensive then the physical moving of soil and plants to the right location later on. The proper site and appropriate plant selection for each unique microclimate within your garden insures years of satisfaction in the design.
With an "On Site Consultation" you will get one on one help planning your new addition to your landscape or just sprucing up an old garden. During the "On Site Consultation", ideas will be exchanged and new ideas can be expressed. Measurements taken, plant selection made and a rough site map will be drawn. Within 7-10 days a plan, an Estimated or Firm Bid Contract inlucing costs/prices and installation agreement will be mailed to you for your approval.
Consultations for those out of my area can be done also via E-mail, phone and the U.S. Mail. I receive many e-mails for requests of my time to help in a project. Many from out of State to me. This can require from one to many of my work hours to present well thought out and researched correct information and to achieve the answers to these questions. Thus do expect to be charged for my time as you to would expect to be paid for your time where you work.
Be sure to contact me first before sending extensive information on your project for a price quote for service fees.
Correct professional installation of bamboo plants, rhizome barriers and other desired plant material. Of the utmost importance is proper site preparation and the amending of the garden soil. This first step insures a healthy environment for vigorous root growth. A healthy plant is more disease resistant and pest resistant.
A one time visit or continued care of your garden.
Bamboo Maintenance may require the cleaning up of existing planting by thinning out old, dead, weak and storm damaged canes. Removing stumps and dead or unwanted branches. The proper maintenance of all other plant material and the landscape in general is done in accordance to the seasons and the needs of each situation.
Installation of rhizome barriers before planting your bamboo or to help in the control previously planted overgrown out of bounds rhizomes. This procedure may require root pruning and removal of rhizomes spreading beyond the wanted growing area or cutting off rhizomes that have gone over the top of the rhizome barrier and their removal. These two procedures should be done in the Fall and checked in the Spring.
Always remember that no matter what barrier system is installed, the bamboo will keep growing and will seek a way out. The bamboo planting needs to be maintained on a regular basis to in any way try and keep it contained. Even the best man made barriers will have a life span as they are made by humans. And the powers that created Earth will find a way to overwhelm man made devices.
Do I do Removal of Bamboo??
Yes I do. Removal fees are charged by the hour for actual time dedicated towards the project, truck fees if needed to haul away debris or haul in soil to fill holes from the removal area. Actual dumps fees too. In this way you are not over charged for the actual job, nor am I under paid for this job. Fair both ways. Beware the so called "Bamboo Expert" that gives you a square footage removal cost on the phone. This is a scam to dupe people. Looks good orally, but many have been overcharged in this manner.
Another Question I hear from time to time: "Do you apply the consultation fee onto the future work you will be doing If we hire you?" This another "Switch & Bait" tactic going around. There are only so many billable hours in a day, in a week, in a month, for the year. Those that use this business practice are offering a shiny bait to get you in their boat. Once in, you are dinner. Anyone offering this to a prospective client ends up going two ways. Either they fold this cost into the ultimate cost of the job, thus they charge you once, subtract it, then add it in as another cost to pay for their time. An example is they over the phone give a quote of $8,000 to do the work and they have never set foot on your property. The second is they give away this time, thus are not paid for their billable hours. This goes two ways. One is they cut corners, do not do the job completely. Thus they just cheated you. Or two they do the work, end up giving away their time, their billable hours. And in the end they either are not able to pay their bills, because they are working for free and in the end go out of business. I have seen happen to many of these “Gardeners” over the years. Or they add on costs to future clients in an effort to help increase their income in an effort to stay in business. In the end you get what you pay for. A big part of my business over the years in being hired by the client in a year or two or many years later and cleaning up after these messes and getting the job done. In the end I still get the job, but the client pays for it twice. The choice is yours. I just keep plugging along being honest and still in business for over 29 years.
Prices vary depending on many factors. Your location (on this earth), site realities, other plants in area, utilities in the area, accessibility to get in and out to my truck to the bamboo growing site, the species that is to be removed, the area the bamboo covers, how long ago it was planted, what else is in the soil in the removal area (Stumps, tree roots, rocks, concrete chunks, rolls of wire, old bed frames and springs, all true buried items I have dealt with).
If you are interested let me know and we can talk on the phone or via e-mail. Your Choice. The phone is best as a next step so we can have a human voice to the equation, then follow up with it as an e-mail in writing message. Ultimately an "On Site Consultation" will be needed to make sure we both are educated in the realities of the site, your needs and what I can do for you. "On Site Consultations" have a fee. The fee depends on where you are. I do charge for my time, once again fair for the both of us.
James P. Clever Bamboo Gardener LLC bambuguru@gmail.com www.bamboogardener.com Bainbridge Island, Washington 206-371-1072
BAMBOO GARDENER LLC is a business operated by James P. Clever. In operation since 1989. Involved with bamboo since 1986. Past President and the original permit holder for the Quarantine Greenhouse for The Pacific Northwest Chapter of the American Bamboo Society. Past president of the American Bamboo Society. Currently on the Board of Directors of the American Bamboo Society and the Ned Jaquith Foundation. Both are non profit organizations. James is an avid photographer and traveler visiting many private and public gardens on the West Coast of the U.S., Florida, Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, Delaware, Washington D.C., Massachusetts, Hawaii, North Carolina, South Carolina and Louisiana. Bamboo abroad in Costa Rica, Mexico, Thailand, South Korea, Spain, New Zealand, Viet Nam and Belgium. His practical and studied experience with bamboo, along with a large slide portfolio has made his talks and presentations a valuable asset to any garden group event.
Please make timely inquires for availability for speaking engagements.
As this is a business that prides itself in doing a 1st Class professional job for each and every one of Bamboo Gardener LLC's clients in a complete, efficient manner. Bamboo Gardener LLC does not cut corners, use inferior products, tear apart job sites and leave clients with a mess for months. The jobs are done in a timely manner and the repeat clients and referrals speak for themselves. Bamboo Gardener LLC does not do "Free Estimates" as a "Free Estimate" is worth what one pays for it. "It is worth Nothing". Free estimates enables unethical landscapers to add costs later and state "That it was an estimate, and now you owe me more to finish the job". A landscaper will have to cut corners in ways to enable them to offer lower prices. If a landscaper gives out free estimates then those that get it for free and then do not hire the landscaper puts the future paying client of this landscaper in for a higher bill to cover these give away tactics. Bamboo Gardener LLC charges for the time you receive and does not pass it on to others. This is a fair, ethical and a correct way to treat people. What a refreshing way to do business!
Each job pricing is determined by the pre estimated time predicted to do all the work required to do the job tasks and all the projects needs. The supplies and job site location vary so their needs will have to be well thought out to be priced properly for the bid.
Pricing can be quoted on either a “Firm Bid Contract” or an “Guesstimate Bid Contract”.
The “Firm Bid Contract” will list the “Firm” final price cost to you for the project. Thus it will not go up or down in your “Final Cost” even if the job takes more time estimated to accomplish the job requirements that are laid out in the contract or less time. Thus if the job was thought to take 10 hours to complete and it ends up taking 20 hours you pay the contracted amount price, no more. If the job takes less time you still pay only the contracted price. Many times the price comes in right close to pre estimated time thought to be needed to complete. Other times it does not. Bamboo Gardener LLC is not Superman. So X-Ray vision can not be used to see what is buried underground. Digging holes and trenches are always a discovery of what someone else buried years before. Scrap pipes, concrete, garbage of all sorts, and natural effects like glacier boulders and tree roots.
The “Guesstimated Bid Contract” will mention guesstimated prices that in the beginning gives both Bamboo Gardener LLC and the client a starting point to be used as a guide to get the project going down the right road. In the end actual time required for this jobs needs on and off site, actual supplies materials costs, dump fees and truck fees for hauling away and delivery will determine this projects final cost. The difference between a "Estimate bid" and a "Guesstimate bid" is that up front it is made very clear that these costs will not be "Firm" will be different then the costs totals given and not an illusion of as a way to get the job at a lower imagined fee and charge more later. The reason for the "Guesstimated bid" is for jobs that require removals of loose bamboos, "Bamboo Removal", are made 100% clear in the fluctuating time requirements for these jobs. Some removal jobs take days and some only a few hours. The main reason is the root network as under ground and not seen. I call it the "Superman Factor" I do not have x-ray vision and can not give one a 100% answer of how far the bamboo has spread and what it is tangled up with under ground. Some jobs that I imagined to take 8 hours take 2 and some that thought to take a a day took many. In this way you are not over charged or I under paid for the work you receive and the services rendered. A Fair way for all.
When choosing one of these two “contracted” options the client and Bamboo Gardener LLC will find a way that fits everyone's needs.
Before, during or after the written job requirements are put in motion new job requests are sometimes brought into the picture. In these cases any new work should be put into writing by the client and then by Bamboo Gardener LLC to add these costs to the previous contracted amount.
By doing these needed steps, all is in writing, the client knows exactly what will be done and the costs. And Bamboo Gardener LLC will do exactly what is needed to complete the project in a timely manner.
Be sure when ever you hire a worker to do any work for you to ask for their "Contractors" number. By doing this a client can contact your states Department of Labor and Industries to look up the information about this business. You will find out if they are licensed (And current on the needed licenses), Bonded and Insured (So that you and they are covered from any possible future claims do to possible problems caused by poor work or accidents). And find out if any past claims are made against this business. If this business person does not have a "Contractors" number or this number does not check out then you could be 100% liable for this persons accidents at your property. That is another way unethical businesses cut corners on costs. By Not having the proper "Bonding, Licensing and Insurance" Buyer Beware!
For further information and questions please contact:
E-mail Bamboo Gardener LLC at bambuguru@gmail.com
US Post Mailing address is:
Bamboo Gardener LLCTelephone: 206-371-1072
P.O. Box 94493
Seattle, WA 98124
