The June phone call
A customer whose garden you finished in April rings to say half the hedging is brown and the turf by the patio has died back. They want it replaced. The crew leader thinks the customer did not water through the dry May. The customer says nobody told them to. The designer is sure the aftercare sheet was left on the kitchen table.
Nobody can find a copy of the sheet. Nobody is sure which hedging variety went in, because two substitutions were made on planting day. And your replacement policy, such as it is, lives in the owner's head, so the decision depends on who answers the phone.
Why plant claims are so hard to settle
Plants fail for many reasons: stock quality, planting, weather, watering, or a dog. After a few months, the evidence has gone. What remains is a customer's disappointment and your memory. Without a record of what was done and said, every claim becomes a negotiation.
- The as-planted list, with substitutions, is not kept.
- Aftercare advice is a paper sheet, if it is given at all, and nobody records that it was.
- Customers have no easy way to report a problem early, while it could still be saved.
- Your replacement policy is informal and applied differently each time.
- Replacements are not tracked, so you cannot tell whether a supplier's stock is the problem.
What the callbacks cost
Every replacement costs plants, a crew visit and travel. Disputed claims cost more: time spent arguing, goodwill lost, and sometimes a poor review that tells other homeowners you would not stand behind your work, even when the real cause was a dry spell and an unwatered garden. On the other side, being too generous with replacements quietly eats into the margin on planting-heavy jobs.
The aftercare log we build
- When a job is completed, the as-planted schedule, including substitutions, and the turf laid are saved against the customer, with photos of the finished planting.
- The customer receives aftercare guidance you have written, by email or text, and follow-up reminders at the points you choose, such as during a dry spell. Each message is recorded as sent.
- Customers can report a problem at any time through a simple link, with photos, so problems are raised early and in writing.
- Each report is logged and checked against your replacement policy, which is written into the system: what is covered, for how long, and what conditions apply. The owner decides the outcome.
- Approved replacements become a small job with the right plants on the order, and are scheduled into a crew's round.
- Losses are reported by plant type and supplier, so you can see whether a variety or a nursery is behind repeated failures.
| Question in a dispute | Where the answer comes from |
|---|---|
| What exactly was planted? | As-planted schedule with substitutions |
| Was aftercare advice given? | Record of messages sent and when |
| When was the problem reported? | Customer report with date and photos |
| Is it covered? | Your written replacement policy |
| Is it a supply problem? | Losses by variety and nursery |
The replacement policy is yours. The system applies it the same way every time, and the owner can override it for goodwill, which is recorded as such.
After the next dry spring
Customers hear from you during the weeks when new planting is most at risk, and more gardens get watered. Problems are reported early, when a plant can still be saved. When a claim does come in, the conversation starts from facts, not memory. And you learn which varieties and suppliers keep letting you down.
Is this your aftercare?
- You have argued with a customer about whether aftercare advice was given.
- You could not say which plants went in on a job last spring.
- Replacement decisions depend on who takes the call.
- Customers report problems when plants are long dead.
- You suspect a supplier's stock but have no numbers to show it.