1. I didn't start out by thinking I was going to shop a design around. But my landscaper said "go ahead - try and have someone else build this for you for less". And btw that price for me included almost all new rerouted irrigation since my new pool and lanai messed up the original design. The price also included all new stone mulch for all landscape areas including my original.
2. The landscaper gave me one year on all plants to thrive. I only had to have him replace 1 plant in that time.
3. I didn't have any hardscape included so it wasn't TOO much for the project (5 large palms, 100+ other plants around the pool and two new islands). New rock mulch and new irrigation.
4. for a price that no one, no one, even came close to. It was a no brainer.
The only drawback is that the landscaper doesn't do a lot of work in TV (he is out of Orlando) so I had to put a little faith into his work. But he accepted small token dollars until the work was done. He was recommended by my pool company - All Seasons.
And no I won't give out his name or company since he doesn't want to do work inside TV any longer due to the travel involved and he has plenty of work near Orlando.
Mansfield does some great work. But for me $ was a main concern. Heck I still work for a living
And to those of you who say that you'd never shop around a design from someone else - I'll bet you've done it many times - for example when you buy a car you go in person to a dealer (or online) and spend countless time talking to someone about exactly what you want, get a price, then shop that price elsewhere. Right? So if you don't buy from the original sales guy you wasted all of their time. Didn't you? Or you get an insurance guy to come to your house and try and talk you into a deal only to go online and find the same deal cheaper. The point is that if someone is confident in their landscape design they have no problems telling you exactly what going to be included and exactly how much it will cost and exactly how much they stand behind their work. No different than any other good service company.