English version below

lako naslov možda sugerira da je ovaj post namijenjen kolegama krajobraznim arhitektima (ili drugim projektantima), njega bi prvenstveno namijenio našim klijentima, naročito privatnim investitorima koji nisu često u kontaktu sa radovima ove vrste.

Naime, u Hrvatskoj je prilično raširena praksa omalovažavanja tuđeg rada. I to u svakom segmentu. Npr. lako je biti domaćica, samo moraš skuhati ručak.
U poslovnom smislu, kada se radi o poslu, bilo kakvom poslu, projektiranju, izvođenju, pa čak i kopanju kanala, stvari počinju poprimati puno ozbiljniji karakter.
Često možemo čuti kako je taj i taj majstor preskup: “uzmi si radije mog šogorovog strica njegove snahe brata. Dečko ima doma kompjuter i zna puštati filmove sa Jubitua. On će ti jeftino spojiti plin na bojler.“
I što je najbolje, ta priča često vodu, jer se danas zbilja mnogo toga može naučiti sa YouTube-a. No, hoćete li zbilja više vjerovati priučenom (iako poduzetnom i potencijalno dobrom) majstoru nego certificiranom serviseru sa iskustvom?
Da, vjerojatno će pitanje likvidnosti odrediti koga ćete odabrati, no kad ste već došli do nas, do naše web stranice i čitate ovaj blog, mogu pretpostaviti da ste osoba sa stilom koja želi lijepo, funkcionalno i kvalitetno urediti vrt/dvorište/ured/stan/hotel ili nešto drugo te da ste donekle riješili financijska pitanja.
Evo jedan primjer iz naše prakse:
Javio nam se investitor koji bi uredio okoliš oko svojih apartmana. Želio je postići vidljivu prednost pred ostalim iznajmljivačima. Nije imao do kraja riješeno financiranje, ali je imao višegodišnji plan. Zatražio je ponudu sa više strana, što je uvijek pametan potez. Nakon što smo vidjeli stanje na parceli, te poslušali njegove potrebe i želje, odredili smo cijenu koja bi odgovarala količini posla kako bi KVALITETNO odradili projekt.
Investitor nam se je požalio da je naša cijena pet puta veće od najniže ponuda za isti posao. Obrazložili smo investitoru da za taj iznos ima naše misli potpuno fokusirane na svaki mali detalj, na promišljanje o funkcionalnosti svakog dijela prostora, promišljanje kako smanjiti troškove izvedbe i održavanja, kako pružiti maksimalan komfor i osjećaj luksuza njegovim gostima, te da ćemo u procesu ispravljati i sami svoje greške a ne ih samo zanemariti i pustiti klijenta da se s njima bori godinama nakon izvođenja.
Komentar naše konkurencije je bio: “mi smo jeftini, ali zato uvijek imamo posla.” Je. Čujte. Ovo-ono.
Idućih smo par mjeseci proveli razrađujući taj projekt. Može li netko tko za svoj posao zaračuna iznos koji ne zadovoljava niti potrebe vođenja projekta KVALITETNO i KREATIVNO osmisliti jedan zahtjevniji projekt? Uživiti se u njega kao da radi za sebe, uživati u tom poslu, provoditi večeri raspravljajući: “a što misliš kad bi…“, provesti par dana na parceli i osjetiti kako prostor diše, uparkiravati auto sat vremena kako bi pogodili kut pod kojim se najbolje iskorištava mali parkirni prostor? Ne, a to je srećom pametno zaključio i investitor.
Cijena izvođenja radova nije mala. Ovisno o količini radova, može se popesti visoko, vrlo visoko. Ne želite da vam buduće troškove projektira netko kome je u interesu samo da vam uzme novce kako bi do kraja mjeseca platio telefon, struju i natankao gorivo u auto.
Kada se iz bilo kojeg razloga odlučujete za uređenje okoliša, morate imati na umu da su ti radovi skupi. Ljudski rad je tu manja stavka. Iskopi, nasipi, betonaža, odvozi i slično mogu odnijeti velike količine novca.
Ukoliko i nemate takve radove, morate biti svijesni da svi materijali za vanjski prostor koštaju puno više nego oni za unutarnji. Moraju biti otporni na sunce, kišu, zimu, habanje… Elektronika, npr. rasvjeta, obavezno vodootporna. Biljke su posebna priča, jer one daju dušu prostoru, pa makar na tom prostoru bila samojedna. Najkvalitetnije dolaze iz domaćih rasadnika, navikle na našu klimu, te koliko sam primjetio, njeguju ih ljudi koji ih i vole. Naravno da su takve biljke skuplje od uvoznih “industrijskih” biljaka. Nakon svega, takve prostore treba i održavati. Tko ima vremena i volje može to i sam. To je vrlo lijep i opuštajući posao ako je hobi, ali ako nemate vremena ni volje, morat ćete uzeti uzeti nekoga da vam taj posao odradi. Recimo nas.
Ovime ne želim nikoga odgovoriti od uređenja okoliša. Uređenje nam je potrebnije nego ikad prije. Samo želim da budete svjesni da te stvari koštaju.
Ukoliko ste financijski slabi, igrajte se sami u svome dvorištu. Radite na malo, eksperimentirajte sa biljkama (ali obavezno iz domaćih rasadnika, i oni će vam uvijek rado dati savjet).
Ako ste pak kao i naš klijent odlučili na potpuni preobražaj, a nemate do kraja riješeno financiranje, dobri projektanti će vam razlomiti izvedbu na faze, a da ujedno nemate konstantno “gradilište” na terenu.
Projektanti vam pametnim rješenjima mogu smanjiti troškove. Ali nije samo stvar u troškovima. Kada ste se već odlučili za preuređenje, želite dobiti vrhunski rezultat. Najbolje što možete. Želite lijep prostor. Udoban i opuštajući. Ili možda zadivljujući prostor koji ćete sa ponosom pokazivati prijateljima ili partnerima. Prostor za druženje ili prostor za razmišljanje. Ili sve to zajedno, ali sigurno ne želite potrošiti svoj novac i vrijeme na nešto što netko to “eto radi”. Ne bi trebali željeti nešto tipa “pa nije baš nešto, ali bar nije bilo jako skupo“. Zato sada kada smo zaključili da ste relativno situirani, imate stila i želite unaprijediti kvalitetu života, nemojte igrati na kartu onih drugih koji su jeftiniji, ali zato tražite izvrsnost za svoj novac. Jer to je ono što vi zapravo tražite. Sigurne instalacije u stanu. Auto koji radi. Padobran koji se otvara. Krov koji ne prokišnjava. Hranu koja ne truje. Završio bi i sa državom koja štiti i uslužuje sve svoje građane, ali let’s keep it real, pa ćemo završiti sa dvorištem u kojem volite boraviti i uživati.

P.S.
Pošteno naplatiti ne znači iskorištavati neznanje, bogatstvo ili naivnost svojih klijenata i naplaćivati im preko svake mjere. Pošteno znači pošteno. Litra vode je razumljivo skuplja u Sahari nego u Lici, to shvaćamo, ali smatramo da je potkradanje svojih klijenata nerazumljiva i loša poslovna praksa.

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English version

Althoughthe title might suggest that this post is intended for fellow landscape architects (or anyone who designs anything), it is primarily intended for our clients, especially private investors who are not often in contact with works of this kind.

In fact, in Croatia is quite a widespread practice of belittling someone else’s work. And that’s in every segment. For an instance: it is easy to be a housewife, you just have to prepare the meal. In business terms, when it comes to business, any business, designing building, and even digging canals, things begin to take on a much more serious character.
Often we hear that this or that plumber (for example) is too expensive: “Rather take my (difficult to translate relation)’s brother. The boy has a computer and knows how to stream movies from YouTube. He will connect the gas to the water heater for a bargain.”
And the best thing is that the story holds because today really anything can be learned from YouTube. But would you preferably believe home trained (although enterprising and potentially good.) ”master” rather than a certified technician with experience?
Yes, probably the question of liquidity will determine who you decide to choose, but since you already came to us, to our website and you are reading this blog, I can assume you are a person with style that wants a nice, functional, high-quality garden/yard/office/apartment/hotel or something else, and you have somehow resolved financial issues.
Here is one example from our practice:
We were contacted by an investor who would like to fix up the environment around his rental apartments house. He wanted to achieve a visible advantage over the other owners. He did not have resolved financial situation, but he had a clever long-term plan. He requested an offer from us and some other companies. After seeing the garden, and listening to his needs and desires, we determined the price to match the amount of work to professionally run the project. Investor complained to us that our price is five times higher than the lowest offer for the same job. We explained to the investor that for that amount he has our minds completely focused on every little detail, thinking about functionality of each part of the area, thinking how to reduce the cost of implementation and maintenance, to provide maximum comfort and a sense of luxury to his guests, and that we will correct our own mistakes in the process and not just ignore them and let the client deal with them for years after construction.
The comment from our competition was: “We are cheap, but that’s why we are working.”
Yeah. Cool. Like whatever.
Over the next few months, we spent working on the project. Can anyone perform with QUALITY AND CREATIVENESS if the charged amount does not meet the needs of project management? To enter the spirit of the project, enjoy the work, spend evenings discussing: ”and what do you think if …”, spend few days in the garden and feel the space, park a car for an hour to hit the exact angle to make the most of a small parking lot? No. and it was wise from our investor to believe so.
The cost of construction is not small. Depending on the amount of work. expenses can rise high, very high. You do not want your future expenses designed by someone whose interest is only to take the money out to pay telephone bill, electricity bill and fuel up the car.
When you for any reason decide to make landscape changes and upgrades, you must keep in mind that these works are expensive. Human work is the smaller cost. Excavations, embankments, concreting. transportation and so can carry large amounts of cash.
If you do not have so large scale works, you must be aware that all materials for outer space cost much more than those for the inner space.
They must be resistant to sun, rain, winter… Electronics, ex. lighting must be waterproof. Plants are a different story, because they give the soul to space, even if there is only one plant. The highest quality plants are coming from local nurseries, accustomed to our climate, and as far as l noticed, cherished by people who love them. Of course, such plants are more expensive than imported “industrial” plants. After all construction works, these areas should also be maintained. Who has the time and the will can do it himself/herself. It is a very nice and relaxing job if it is a hobby, but if you do not have the time nor the will, you will need someone to take the job done. Us, for instance.
Hereby, l do not want to turn away anyone from landscaping. Landscaping is now more necessary than ever before. I just want you to be aware that these things cost.
If you are financially weak, play a bit in your backyard. Work on a little experiment with plants (but acquire them from domestic nurseries, and they will always be happy to give advice).
If you, as well as our client mentioned before, decided on a complete transformation, and you do not have resolved financing good designers will break your performance on stages, and in that fashion that you don’t have constant “building site” on your parcel.
With smart solutions, designers can reduce costs. But it’s not just a matter of cost. When you have decided to remodel, you want to get top results. The best you can. You want a nice space. Comfortable and relaxing. Or maybe a stunning space that will proudly be shown to friends or partners. Socializing space or space for thinking. Or all together, but certainly you do not want to spend your money and time on something that someone is “well, doing it”. You should not want something like “it’s not that good, but at least it was not very expensive”. So now that we have concluded that you are relatively well-off, you have style and want to improve the quality of life, do not play the card of “the others that are cheaper”, but rather start asking for excellence for your money. Because that‘s what you are actually looking for. Safe installation in the apartment. The car that works. The parachute that opens. The roof that does not leak. Food that does not poison. I’d like to finish with a country that protects and serves all its citizens, but let‘s keep it real, so I’ll end up with a courtyard where you love to stay and enjoy.

P.S.
Fair does not mean exploiting ignorance, wealth or naivety of your clients and charging them beyond measure. Fair means fair. A liter of water is understandably more expensive in Sahara than in Europe, to understand, but we believe that skimming of your clients is incomprehensible and bad business practice.

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