Ea r t hs t y l e Au t u m n / Wi nter 2020
collaborative groups produce greater results
ANDREW WHYTE WHYTE GARDENS
Scott Morrison has been known to use the “at least six months” line. But what happens in month seven? It is what we do now that will dictate how that seventh month will look. The phones have gone a little quiet, this is true. Most of us have a future workload in place so as not to be causing too much concern yet. However, not many of us are lucky enough to have more than six months of work contracted and ready to go. So, what can be done? This week I have signed up two new clients for design work. People are wanting to achieve the gardens they have imagined. So, there are people out there still wanting to develop their dreams. A little bit of trivia for you - The Lochs (lakes to English folk) I visited growing up in Scotland, all travel to the sea. And they all start way up in the hills as tiny streams or ‘burn’ as we call them. Tiny streams gather a flow, become rivers and culminate as lochs. No tiny flow, no loch!
Clients tend to incline towards a more conservative approach in these times. Explaining to a client that installing a pool, spa, pergola and landscaping will cost them around $200k plus, may be too confronting to contemplate. However, if you start as a ‘stream’ it is much easier for the client to digest. What might that stream look like? The initial consultation with our clients is about creating a flow to their future. People tend to be OK with the idea of paying for a design as it is still a little non-committal to the construction phase, which can be daunting. The initial consultation is about directing a way for the stream to flow. The actual designing phase is about creating a river, which has a stronger flow than a stream. Once at the end of a concept design, the client begins asking about construction and the flow opens. As designers, we work for months with clients to help articulate their requirements and then shape a landscape that fulfils their needs from both pragmatic and aesthetic aspirations.
This time is where the tiny stream gathers and becomes a tributary to a much larger river. The flow now gains momentum and is harder to stop. By aligning to designers, where these tiny streams begin to flow, the streams become the swimming pool, the pergola, the deck, the garden and so on. Until it becomes the construction project. Collaborative groups produce greater results. If we all work together to create ‘flows’ they will gather strength and when that seventh month does appear, the tributaries are flowing and the work is there! If we can ignite our potential clients dreams by pointing them to a designer to begin the ‘planning step’, then some will extend an unsteady hand and be willing to be guided along a journey to commence their dream landscape project. Let’s ignite the passions of people and remind them to dream!
PHOTOGRAPHER: TIM TURNER
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