Down to Earth
Do-it-yourselfers can have a tough time switching from construction to the fine art of landscaping. That’s where Simply Terra of Everett can help.
 
By Debra Smith, Herald Writer

Greg Starup enjoyed having a hand on the construction of his Snohomish home.

He laid flooring, installed kitchen cabinets and countertops and even finished some of the exposed support beams in his Northwest lodge-style house.

When it came time to tame the two acres of property, Starup wanted to be just as involved in the landscaping. But he didn’t know enough about what plants to use to do it alone.

Starup and his wife Annette turned to Simply Terra, a new local business that has put a twist on traditional landscaping. The business provides a landscape design sketch, plants and information and the customers do the work themselves.

“The service appealed to me. I had some idea of what I wanted and I was willing to do the work myself,” said Starup, the director of banking and financial services for an intertribal nonprofit organization.

Simply Terra owners Brian and Patti Grunkemeier have worked in the industry since 1980, running their own company, Sunset Landscape and Design Inc.

They came up with the idea for Simply Terra after a customer asked Brian Grunkemeier if he could save on labor costs by doing some of the work himself. Grunkemeier agreed and he sketched a plan for the customer and selected plants.

“The customer got landscaping for less money and I got to go shopping,” said Grunkemeier. “I figured it was a win-win thing.”

“It saved time because they didn’t have to go shopping – and they didn’t know what to look for anyway. They got a first-class product and they saved money. I thought why don’t we do more of that.”

He discovered that what many customers want is an expert’s advice. The average customer may not know what plants to select or how to arrange, install and care for them. But with instruction, most can do the work themselves.

Customers choose from different packages based on the size of the project and complexity of the landscape design they want. They also select one of a dozen styles such as Alpine, Mediterranean or Northwest. When it comes time to select plants, the customer is provided with a catalog with plants that fit the appropriate style.

The most basic package, which contains an assessment and enough plants for a small area such as a city-sized front yard, costs $695. A $75 simple sketch is extra. Larger packages can run into the thousands. Customers can upgrade for more plants or a design plan, which is more detailed than a simple sketch. The business provides guidance throughout the process, including a follow-up visit.

If customers want more than what’s offered on a plan – they want someone to build a brick pathway, for instance – the company refers them to a list of “preferred partners,” companies Simply Terra has screened. Their company, Sunset, is one of those.

Starup envisioned his house looking like it had always been a part of the land, instead of surrounded by a former logging area. He spent $2,000 on a package plan, and $3,000 more for extra plants. He received a discount of about $400 off that price for being one of the first customers.
He received about 65 plants total, and that was enough to landscape his front yard, which he estimated is around 1,200 square feet.

“It would have cost me that amount if I bought the plants at a nursery. The design part and assistance was almost free,” he said. “It’s far worth it.”

The money bought him almost unlimited access to an expert. Brian Grunkemeier provided information on how to prepare the land, how to install the plants and how to care for them once they were in the ground.

Simply Terra saved him from making several costly mistakes, Starup said. He planned a straight, concrete pathway to the entranceway, but Brian Grunkemeier convinced him that a curving stone walkway would be less sterile and fit better with the landscaping and gave him pointers on installing it. He also guided Starup on how to create a pond and a dry streambed.

Starup, who works with new business owners and would-be entrepreneurs for a living, said that if Simply Terra had a flaw it was giving away too much for too little.

“He’s giving away a lot of service,” Starup said. “I would probably have recommended scaling it back quite a bit.”

He also found it difficult to install all the plants by himself at once, which don’t survive well in containers. Simply Terra will deliver plants in several loads, and Starup said that would have worked better.

The Grunkemeiers hired someone to manage their original company Sunset and are working on building a team of designers for Simply Terra. They are searching for a permanent space for the business in Snohomish, which will serve as a design center. A grand opening is planned for March.
 

November 25, 2004, Herald writer Debra Smith; 425-339-3197;dsmith@heraldnet.com