Things
To be aware
of
before you hire indoor plants
Why won’t anyone give me a simple price list?
Because
this is a difficult
question.
The price varies
according to many things, these include:
-
Type of
containers. Some designer containers can cost
up to $500 each. You are hiring these
containers but the hire company needs to pay for
them and usually they will have been bought
specifically for you. This is why contracts
may be
required; sometimes it may take up to three
years for a hire company to pay off the pots.
If they loose the customer before the time
period, they are left “holding the baby”. That
is why contracts are required.
-
You get what you pay for. This
is particularly true in the Indoor Plant
Hire industry. If replacement
costs are not correctly factored into the
monthly hire, some months down the track the
plant hirer will not have the funds to
replace the plant. I have had one
report of a company that would not replace a
plant because the budget had been used up
for that month.
These are some of
the variables that must be considered
before a price can be given.
So before you go for the cheapest price,
remember that, "the bitter taste of poor quality
remains long after the sweetness of a good price
is forgotten".
You
have a right to expect:
To get what you pay
for - look for a specification, it should
detail:
That the plants
always look their best - if not ring and have it
replaced
To know who is on
your premises - suitable Id is required
That the mulch
always looks its best - you should not see the
soil or the growing pot.
Am
I Invoiced Weekly or Monthly
We invoice monthly and
quote prices that include GST.
Be aware of prices not
including GST, this is illegal.
Be aware of prices
quoted per week. Some companies quote
weekly prices, this may involve 4 extra billing
periods per year and does not automatically mean
that the plants are serviced weekly. The only way
to compare prices is by converting the quoted prices
to yearly figures.
Make
sure you know what you are getting
Don't be fooled by an attractive
website.
Determine whether the
photos are of actual work by the company or simply
photos from
some suppliers catalogue.
Has the quotation a
SPECIFICATION clause? What size pots, what size
plants, what type of plant? An old trick is to
quote one type of plant and then in a few months
replace it for something cheaper and/or smaller.
When a plant
deteriorates – and one will (possibly the day before
the National Manager arrives), how long before it is
replaced. Same day service is best.
How do you know the
service men are really from your plant hire
company? Insist that they have and display Company
Id’s.
What about the mulch,
should it be co-co-nut fibre, stones, recycled glass or what. Fibre
is practical and is suitable in a lot of
situations. It is easy to remove and replace – so
plant hirers love it, and, it keeps the price down.
Decorative pebbles or glass may cost as much as a small plant
and they are labour intensive.
How often should the
plants be watered?
Fortnightly watering is a general guide but this depends
on the installation, the type of plant and your
environment (air-conditioning etc).
Unless the plant has some form of sub-irrigation it
probably should be serviced more often than once a
fortnight.
Acclimatization
Living plants will drop
leaves and especially figs, which take about four
weeks to acclimatise, but then drop very few.
It is not possible to
grow plants indoors like they would grow in a
nursery.
Should the Plant Hirer grow the plants they hire
out?
Some hire companies are
associated with successful nurseries (that is how
they started) and have the
ability to efficiently grow plants on a large
scale.
However, most indoor plant hire
businesses use plants grown specifically for indoors
from accredited nurseries. These nurseries grow
plants in huge numbers an optimum conditions and thus reap economies of
scale unachievable in a small nursery.
Industry Accreditation
Should the indoor plant
hire company have accreditation or a quality system?
Indoor Plant Hire
Accreditation has been available for plant hirer
industry since October 2005.
NIPA Accreditation is a transparent system or
process for providing public confidence and
accountability through a tool utilised for
improvement in the "Indoor Plant Hire Industry" in
Australia.
It stamps a company as a quality supplier.
Accredited Indoor Plant Hire Businesses will
display the NIPA Accreditation Logo. It will indicate the
companies commitment to quality management through continual improvement
of product and customer service. NOTE: There are two NIPA Logos,
one for members and one for accredited specialists
(see our home page).
This logo will also mean that the management
team has met the rigorous standards imposed by the national industry
body, and has made a commitment to regular industry assessment.
Action Indoor Plant Hire has
been accredited making us one of three accredited business in
Queensland as at November 2006 and one of two if you leave out the
multi-national.
Ask to inspect other sites. We have
customers in most areas and they would be pleased to
show of their plants.
Ceramic, Plastic or Metal Containers
The problem with
ceramic pots that are meant to be outside is:
-
They need to be
sealed
-
They cannot be
guaranteed not to leak or sweat
-
They may mark the carpets.
Even if the inside is sealed the outside usually
is not.
-
These pots are at least 1cm thick and
porous. So they can still mark the carpet.
Standards
The National Interior Plantscape Association has a
set of standards. These are available to
anyone from www.nipa.asn.au.
