Looking for a garden landscaper, it's no longer fun

Before completely hijacks the topic: Shape the garden area with a rented mini excavator (on dry soil!), and then

Alternatively, sow green manure that breaks up the soil accordingly. There are plants for that too. But it doesn't go quite as fast as tilling.

is completely right. For example, lupines break up the soil, loosen it, and form humus. Available cheaply at agricultural stores, simply sow, maintenance-free. In late autumn, plow it under (instead of going to the fitness center) and use the frost curing.

The first beds can be laid out and the lawn sown next spring.

Maybe it doesn't always have to be a landscaping gardener depending on what needs to be done. Civil engineers also sometimes do the yard, and if there's an excavator, a good excavator operator will also level the terrain. After that, you can get involved yourself if needed. The good thing about the garden is that you can also make mistakes without it becoming too expensive. :)

Of course, Paul! The exchange about horticulture/landscape gardening here absolutely makes sense and is certainly helpful. I totally agree with you that searching for a landscape gardener has lost all its fun. We hired a local landscaper. Here are my experiences:

Two guys in a sparse office who pretend to be hyper-modern, have come up with a great slogan with merchandise and a carved table (all green of course), and are totally hip. Beautiful sample items are on display in the office, a great 3D plan is created right away, and the green (pun intended) is talked down from the sky. The price is high but acceptable, and a timely implementation is promised. Of course, there is also an on-site appointment.

Now you come along as a desperate client, look at all this, and are relieved to finally have found someone who is excited about your project and apparently enjoys their job. There is still little info and experience available online, but hey – with such a startup mentality that probably belongs to it. The contract naturally contains no price guarantee and no execution date, but you know exactly: if you don’t sign the contract, three others will do it next week, and once again, you’ll be left empty-handed. That’s just how bad the situation currently is in the construction trade, and these providers know it very well.

Afterwards, of course, a few questions arise for you. No problem, you have the mobile number, email address, etc. You provide all the information you have, you create drawings, take pictures. You want everything to go smoothly. Suddenly, no one is reachable as quickly anymore, suddenly you don’t get any callback. Sure, you think to yourself that the industry is obviously really booming and that such a managing director has his schedule so full that answering simply takes a while.

Eventually, you get a price list with a breakdown of hourly costs for all work that is not included in the great contract. So now it’s up to you to decide how expensive everything will be. If you forgot something – your problem, you should have known beforehand. Such an expert does not have the job of telling you which work needs to be done for garden design...

At some point, you get the information that everything is just getting so much more expensive right now. You should know that because you follow the news. There is unfortunately no price guarantee, so please accept that – otherwise, we’ll just serve the other customers first.

Now it gets dirty. The landscaper has just negotiated the absolute best prices for you, which you will never get again in the future. Remember, 8% inflation, everything is becoming more expensive. So please buy the materials now and everything will be fine. Of course, you have to accept the administrative costs and surcharges. That’s quite natural, Paul. What? You don’t want that? Hmm, then we’ll have to prefer the other customers – you’ll understand that, right? You sign and pay...

Now comes the big one, Paul. Your super landscaper cancels the project for some made-up reasons. Now you stand there bewildered. You do have a contract. You have already paid something as well. You ask again because you can’t believe it. The answer: Why don’t you sue us?

Hmm, nice thought, but what do you want to sue for? A contract without a price guarantee and execution date? Feel free to try, of course, Paul! Then your friendly landscaper will just become active next year with a hefty surcharge. That’s no problem at all.

Conclusion: You won’t see the money from the excessive down payment again and the search for the landscaper starts all over again. But this time with less money. Congratulations! That makes sense!

I was probably very lucky. I found someone reliable (even responds after 8 PM and looks for the cheapest options in terms of price-performance ratio). Additionally, about 20% cheaper than the competition with very good references. And without any down payment. I even suggested myself to pay a deposit for the procured materials, but he gratefully declined. He is starting today with the driveway, the concrete pillar for the fence. The terrace will follow next week.

Fingers crossed for everyone still searching.

...
Conclusion: You will never see the money for the excessive advance payment again and the search for the landscaping gardener starts all over again. But this time with less money. Congratulations! That makes sense!

But isn’t that THE golden rule No. 1 to never pay an advance payment higher than the services already rendered? As annoying as it is, I would be pretty angry with myself for being "so stupid" (of course, something like that has happened to me before, so I was also "that stupid" once!)