FAQ's

What exactly does your company do?
How long have you been in business?
Does your company provide both commercial and residential services?
Does Hansen Landscape do small projects?
Are you insured?
Is your work guaranteed?
Are you licensed?
Who does your work?
Do you subcontract?
When hiring a new employee, do you do background checks?

How does a project start?
I am getting ready to sell my home. Does Hansen Landscape work with sellers to ready their landscape for selling purposes?
Are plans necessary for Hansen Landscape to install my project?
My HOA (Home Owners Association) requires plans. Do you create landscape plans?
When can you start the installation of my project?
How long does it take to install a project?
How do I pay you?
I already have a design. Can Hansen Landscape install it?
Do you have references?
Is it ok to tip the crew (or should I?)
Does your company provide after care of your projects?
What is your service area?
What is my next step?


FAQs

What exactly does your company do?
Check out this video!
Back to Top

How long have you been in business?
We have been serving the custom landscape and gardening needs of Bay Area residents for 42 years.
Back to Top

Does your company provide both commercial and residential services?
Yes, we provide both commercial and residential landscape services and are happy to assist you with designing a project for your home or business to suit your desires, needs and budgets.
Back to Top

Does Hansen Landscape do small projects?
We are happy to assist you with any project large or small. We have no minimum project size.  You'll find we are as happy to assist you with a complete project as we are with smaller needs, including fixing a loose/saggy gate or a broken sprinkler. 
Back to Top

Are you insured?
Yes, we are insured for five million dollars worth of property damage and liability insurance.
Back to Top

Is your work guaranteed?
"Yes", please see our guarantee.
Back to Top

Are you licensed?
Yes, we are licensed with the State of Ca. for contractors. We are a C-27 Landscape Contractor. This license is the widest ranged license classification next to a general contractor in so far as the extent of items we are licensed to install. We also carry a C-8 Concrete Contractor License.
Back to Top

Who does your work?
Most work is done by in house employees. Back to Top

Do you subcontract?
Some work such as the forming and placement of concrete, we hire another firm that we trust and have a good working relationship with. Because they have a dedicated crew to perform this kind of work, we feel we can give our clients better value for this work. All work performed by subcontractors under our contract is the responsibility of Hansen Landscape and applicable guarantees. Back to Top

When hiring a new employee, do you do background checks?
Each person considered for employment in our companies is thoroughly background checked before hiring to include:

  1. That they have a valid CA driver’s license and that they have an acceptable DMV history.  As a company, we feel that anyone of legal age without a CA Driver’s is suspect for past failure to maintain a good DMV record, normally for not obeying laws and rules.  We then order a DMV history to allow us to see what the applicant has been up to in their personal life.  If they have a clean DMV, implies that they obey laws and follow accepted rules.
  2. We pay for a background check through Intellicorp to include confirmation that the Social Security # provided us by the applicant matches the name they provided and to see if the applicant has any past criminal history that may preclude us from hiring them.
  3. We contact several applicant supplied references to include both personal and past work relationships or companies worked at to further aid in an assessment of whether to hire the applicant. 

It is IMPORTANT to note that our company does not pick up workers at the parking lot of the big box hardware stores as is often common for “under the table” type landscape and gardening companies in order to save them money as they normally do not pay insurance or taxes for these day workers. 
“If we would not let an applicant in our own backyard, we will not let them in yours”.  Steve Hansen

 

Getting started and the design process

How does a project start?

Please email owner Steve Hansen at hansen.steve@comcast.net and share your project needs with him. Steve will determine next step for your project.

OR

If you would like to learn more about what Hansen Landscape can do for you, we also have available for you to visit our extensive and beautiful 1/2 acre outdoor landscape showyard located in Castro Valley. Please email Steve if you'd like to make an appointment to visit. This visit is a good way to become familiar with us and our work before considering to hire us.

Back to Top

I am getting ready to sell my home. Does Hansen Landscape work with sellers to ready their landscape for selling purposes?
Yes. We charge $250 for a site consultation and assessment. We work with and have assisted many home sellers and real estate agents with our providing advice through implementation that will give your home curb appeal and show a pride of ownership to potential buyers without your leaving money on the table. Idea here normally is to not overdo renovations as it is easy to start doing things you may have desired to do in the past for yourself had you stayed there. Sellers need be sensitive to the fact that the new buyers may have their own ideas and that many landscape upgrades, may not have any added value to a new buyer or from the appraiser in regard to increasing selling price. Hansen Landscape has the experience to know which items should be accomplished and which items should not. We recommend focusing on the visuals and suitable repairs vs replacement whenever possible. We offer to assist you to keep your desires and goals in balance with value added. The $250 consultation fee will be applied back to any project we are hired for of $2,500 or more.
Back to Top

Is a scale design necessary for Hansen Landscape to install my project?
For projects including patios/walks, landscaping and other components such as water features, arbors, a design will most likely be needed. The design fee will be quoted after we see the project and understand the scope of work. When Hansen Landscape is hired to install your project, as we are a design/build firm, we will apply the cost of any design fees toward the installation costs.

Smaller or simpler projects may not require a scale design.
Back to Top

My HOA (Home Owners Association) requires a scale design. Do you create landscape plans?
Yes. Our process can include a scale design that you can submit to your HOA.
Back to Top

When can you start the installation of my project?
After your approval and our receipt of your deposit, we can normally start smaller softscape projects within 2-4 weeks. Larger projects requiring hardscape and softscape may require 4-8 weeks lead time or longer. Please inquire as these lead times can change depending upon how busy we are and time of year.
Back to Top

How long does it take to install a project?
Smaller projects consisting of concrete, lawn and/or plant materials may require only up to 3-4 weeks to complete. Larger projects also requiring masonry or carpentry, may require 6-12 weeks to complete. Your final proposal will indicate how long your project will take based on the components you select.
Back to Top

How do I pay you?
We accept personal checks. When you are ready to sign your installation agreement, we will collect a small down payment of $1000 or if your project is under $10,000, this deposit will be 10% of the contract total. For projects lasting several weeks or more, we will invoice you weekly for only that percentage of work completed. Shorter term projects will have specified payments at specified intervals. Deposits, consultation and design fee credits will be applied toward your final payment.

Back to Top

I already have a design. Can Hansen Landscape install it?
Most projects we install are designed by Hansen Landscape. If you already have a design, we appreciate your bringing a copy to our outdoor landscape showyard where we can review it with you to make sure we are a good fit. In turn, you may email your design to owner Steve Hansen at hansen.steve@comcast.net. What is most important to us if we install your project, is that Hansen Landscape is granted full control over the design of and the installation methods and material selections of your sprinkler and drainage systems, and soil preparations needs and that you our customer are the decision maker and our contact person (vs your designer or architect). This will allow us to offer our liberal guarantees of these items and provide us the best opportunity for direct communications. Please contact Steve Hansen direct at 510-773-1003 or email him with information regarding your needs to hansen.steve@comcast.net and he will be happy to assist you. Back to Top

Do you have references?
Yes. We will be happy to supply you with a list of references including type of work performed, client name and phone #. This list also contains trade references and information about the insurances we carry.Back to Top


View our> Insurance information and references

Is it ok to tip the crew (or should I?)
Of course you should!.......But only if you feel your crew has worked hard and had your interests at heart. We all tip our hair stylist and we are only in their chair a short time. We tip the appliance home repair person (or at least we should).

Everyone appreciates being appreciated. Our crews work hard to create your new space. A pat on the back and saying �a good job� goes along way, however some cold hard cash placed in their hand at the end of the job with these same words really shows that you are aware of the crews efforts and contributions to your new landscape. How much should you tip? For home construction workers, the rule of thumb is $10-$20 per day of work�. per crew person. That means for a two day job, $20-$40 each crew person or a 5 day job $50-$100. Of course whether you tip or not and how much is up to you.
Back to Top

Does your company provide after care of your projects?
No, sorry we only do consultations and design new landscape installations.Back to Top

What is your service area?
With some occasional limitations in the busy season and based on crew availability, we service the entire CA Bay Area. Please kindly inquire.
Back to Top

What is my next step?
We recommend that you at some point before or after we meet with you at your home, to come visit our beautiful and educational � acre outdoor landscape showyard in Castro Valley as a first step for creating your new landscape space to meet our company, see our work and have some questions answered.

This is a good place to start thinking about your new space!

Here, you will see actual displays of real landscape projects we have designed and created, including water wise landscapes. In our sunroom, review pictures and designs of past projects.

Please call our office at 510-537-0464 or 925-846-0359 or email owner Steve Hansen at hansen.steve@comcast.net and share your project needs.

Nice Words

 

 
Home | About Us | Next Step | What's New | FAQ | Photo Gallery | Specifications | Employment Opportunities