The question I ask before I spend time on a quote

A quote for a landscaping project takes time. Measuring up, calculating materials, drawing, pricing, sending. On a mid-sized project that easily runs to two or three hours of work, sometimes more.

Of all the quotes I see landscaping businesses send out, on average less than a third actually become a client. The rest is time that never delivers anything.

The problem isn't the quote itself. It's the moment before it: everyone who asks gets one, regardless of whether they're serious.

One question, early in the conversation

Before a quote gets made, I ask one question: what budget do you have in mind for this project?

No complicated questionnaire. No ten-field form. One question that immediately shows whether someone has already thought about what a garden costs, or whether he's going to compare three quotes on the lowest price.

Someone who names a concrete figure, or says he has no idea yet but is genuinely ready to invest, is a completely different enquiry than someone who immediately asks "roughly what does this cost per square metre" without saying anything else about the project.

Why this works

You don't recognise price shoppers by their tone. They're often friendly, ask normal questions, sound serious. The difference is in what they do and don't say about budget and timeline.

Someone who doesn't want to talk about it before a quote exists usually wants to compare on price. That's not a criticism, it's logical behaviour if you don't yet know what a garden should cost. But it is a signal to treat that enquiry differently than a client who already knows quality has a price.

At Groeneveld Tuinen I ask this by default before anyone goes out to measure up. It saves visits to addresses where the deal falls through on price after the conversation anyway.

What you do with the answer

A concrete budget: move forward, schedule the site visit.

No idea, but genuine interest: give an indication based on comparable projects before going further. Often someone drops out right here, which saves a visit and a fully worked-out quote.

An evasive answer or an immediate ask for the cheapest option: lower priority. Not ignored, just scheduled later than the enquiries that do answer.

This isn't a trick to scare people off

The goal isn't to reject leads. The goal is to spend the time you have on the enquiries that actually turn into work.

An enquiry that isn't serious costs you just as much time as one that is. The only difference is the outcome. Every quote you make for someone who's going to pick the cheapest option anyway is time that didn't go to a client who would have signed.

In the intake forms I build for clients, this question is built in by default, with automatic prioritisation based on the answer. Not because a system does it better than a conversation, but because at twenty enquiries a week it can no longer be done on gut feel.