Transforming Gardens – The Background
Transforming gardens is at the very core of Jack Bayford’s gardening business. Jack runs his Ed’s gardening business in Hitchin. Before joining Ed’s Jack had a career as a professional groundsman for a premiership football team. Jack says “Although it was always my plan to run my own show, my formative years installed a passion in me for delivering above and beyond. Only the absolute best would do in my previous job and that is something that I have brought to my own Ed’s business. I treat every job like my whole reputation depends on it. I think it is the only way to be. The payback for that dedication is having really happy customers. I get a true kick out of that.”
We asked Jack to give us an example of a recent garden transformation. Here is his story…
Transforming Gardens – The Job
“This job was quite a sensitive one. My customer had very recently lost his mother and the garden of her well-loved home had fallen into disarray as she had spent her final days in a nursing home. She had been a keen gardener when able and, in later years, loved nothing more than sitting in her conservatory watching the birds feed and bathe in her garden. My customer said that it made him sad to see her pride and joy in such a mess. Furthermore, my customer lived some way away from his mother’s home and we needed to discuss the details and access remotely. Without due care, this could have ended up being really impersonal.”
Jack’s approach
“I made sure to call my customer at the outset to have a good chat about his requirements. I then went out to view the garden and some helpful neighbours gave me access. Immediately I could see that it was quite a full-on job. The garden wasn’t huge but there were both front and back gardens to tackle. Furthermore, both had become very overgrown and it was difficult to see the condition of the lawns underneath. However, I was confident that I could restore some former glory with a bit of TLC.”
Communication is key
“Consequently, my first step was to share my thoughts in detail with my customer. I explained exactly what the job would entail, how I would go about it in steps and how much it would cost.” My customer was very appreciative of me laying things out so clearly. He was very happy for me to go ahead and he hadn’t even met me.”
Putting plans into motion
“This was how the garden looked before”.
“And this was how it looked after my efforts…”
“I love taking ‘before and after’ photos for my own job satisfaction. However, in this case they were also a very important part of keeping my customer in the loop.”
Happy Endings
“I was really happy with how the job turned out. However, more importantly my customer was delighted with the end result. He said that it brought him peace of mind at a time when he had so many other things to think about. The icing on the cake was when he said that he had called the neighbours to thank them for the access arrangements. They had commented on my professionalism and what a pleasant chap I was. Every gardener loves a compliment!”
If Jack can help you with any of your gardening needs, big or small, please do get in touch.