Pivoting landscapers

Marc Worner points out that when the times demand it, landscapers must be able to diversify their skill sets to keep up the cash flow.

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More and more Australian households are demanding more and more work be done by outsiders. Whether that be landscaping their property, walking their dog, building an outdoor entertaining area, extending the paved courtyard or fixing that broken gate; it's all about the householder being freed up to do other things. A large part of the household chores get done these days by a 'handyman'. Yet some of their bigger jobs can easily be done by landscapers.

Take a fence

For instance, in NSW, when a property with a backyard swimming pool is being sold or rented out, it needs a NSW State Government's Compliance Certificate to be attached to the Contract for Sale or Tenancy Agreement respectively.

Now, because the law relating to swimming pools around Australia has changed over the years, many owners find themselves needing to increase the height of their boundary fences if they're acting in part as pool fences, or replacing their pool gates if they fail to work properly. These things need to be done if the properties are to comply with the respective legislation in each state.

Enter the pivoting landscaper.

Quoting on fencing jobs which have high margins may see landscapers not only smooth out their cash flow, but utilise their business's labour resources in slower times. It may eventually be seen as a lucrative other ‘arm’ to the business.

Most residential properties have either timber or colorbond fencing as their boundary fencing. A common practice is to sight a swimming pool in the corner of a property, so two boundary fences can be used in part as a pool barrier. The average pool is about 9m x 5m, so any quote would involve a length of at least 15 metres to 20 metres of fencing. Usually that existing fencing is about 1500mm to 1600mm high. Swimming-pool legislation in all states requires the fence height to be at least 1800mm.