Are you planning to hire a general contractor to renovate a building or do some work around your property? If you are, I would highly recommend that you include your landscape contractor in the initial meetings. A professional landscape contractor can provide some valuable insight that might save you a bit of money and or time in the long run. Usually we’re the last ones on the job and because of this most property owners, facility managers, and even generals don’t think to include us in the initial meetings. This could prove to be a costly mistake in the end.

Here are some items that should be discussed with the general contractor prior to the start of any new construction:

• Discuss what landscaped areas will need to be protected prior to the start so that everyone is aware
• Locate any underground utilities such as irrigation lines and wiring that should be protected
• Locate other important items such as the backflow prevention device and the irrigation controller
• Discuss whether the water will be kept on to protect any existing landscape
• If the water will be off, discuss what options are available to continue irrigating
• Verify that the power will be kept on to the irrigation controller throughout construction
• Address whether sleeves will be installed under any new concrete or asphalt areas for future use
• Ask the general to note the location of any damaged sprinklers, lines, valves and/or wires

Discussing these items with the general contractor prior to the start will definitely save you some money. I don’t know how many times I’ve come on to a site where I have no idea what has been done. As I begin to test some stations I find broken lines and heads everywhere. The controller has been disconnected and there’s no power to it. There’s a new concrete handicap ramp with no sleeves installed underneath, etc., etc. etc.

So to keep it short and simple. Please give us a call before you start! Include your landscape contractor in your meetings. I guarantee you it will save you some money and headaches in the long run.