Press & Events

Assessments Offer Value By The Yard
By Katherine Kopp

April 16, 2004 - Triangle Business Journal - Though green-industry trade organizations claim that landscaping can increase a home's value by 10 percent or more, it's traditionally been hard to quantify the true market value of the plantings in a landscape. That is now changing, thanks in large part to a new company in the Triangle, Horticultural Asset Management Inc.

The seed for the company goes back to a conversation HMI co-founder and Triangle landscaper Dave Argay had with businessman Bill Glynn, another co-founder of the firm. "I told Bill I'd lost another job to somebody's kitchen renovation," Argay says, recalling a client's decision to forego a major landscape project in favor of remodeling his kitchen. "Bill said, 'What do you mean?' and when I explained what had happened, he said there had to be a way to show people what a hard asset their landscape plantings actually were."

The incident eventually led the two to co-found HMI with a third partner, Raleigh businessman Tom Hendrickson, now chief executive officer of the company.

HMI has established strategic alliances with a number of professional associations, including the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Associated Landscape Contractors of America, the American Nursery & Landscaping Association, and the American Society of Horticultural Science. Members of these professional organizations can go to the HMI Web site - cleverly named "moneygrowsontrees.com" - and request assessments of the value of landscaping on a property for their clients. The approximately 30-page, full-color assessment includes a description and care guide for all plant material in the yard, replacement cost for trees, shrubs and other landscape material, and metrics on estimated future growth based on typical growing conditions in the property's ZIP code. The growth metrics were calculated by noted horticulturalist Michael Dirr, who holds a Ph.D in plant physiology and teaches at the University of Georgia.

HMI's founders believe their product has tremendous implications for the landscaping industry. "When someone can see dollar for dollar how a plant material will grow in value, it is going to be much easier to make a sale," Argay says. "I talked to one client recently and told him his Japanese maple was now a $6,000 or $7,000 tree, and he said that it was worth more than his TV and his living room furniture combined. In recent years, a lot of money in landscape contracting has been spent on pools and other hardscape," he says. "This is going to help drive people back to the plant industry because it will help them see the real value of the plants in their yard."

Argay also believes landscape assessments will be a valuable tool for the real estate industry. "If you have a client who is looking at property, and you can demonstrate the value of the landscaping material, that is something that may help you close that sale. You will be able to assign value to the landscaping in the same way that granite countertops and stainless steel appliances add value to a home's kitchen."

Real estate professionals and homeowners can also request an assessment through the Web site.

A submitted request will go to a landscape professional in the submitter's region, and that person will then make arrangements to conduct the formal assessment. The cost of the assessment is $250, plus the cost of the professional's time to visit the property and complete the assessment. According to Hendrickson, most assessments will cost approximately $500 for the total package

HMI's partners also believe their product has implications for the property and casualty insurance industry in the future. "This could lead to the development of an insurance product which could allow homeowners to add a rider to their policy to insure the value of their landscape plantings," says Bill Glynn.

While area landscape professionals say they're interested in learning more about HMI and its services, some are taking a cautious approach.

"Something like this may enhance a sale in some form or fashion," says Bill Strope, owner of Old North State Landscape Development Inc. "But I think I'll have to wait and see. Most of my clients are more interested in what their front-end costs are going to be than in what their plantings may be worth down the road."