When we offer our guaranteed interior plant watering service along with the sale of new plants and containers, we often hear:

No thanks. We’ll handle the plant watering service ourselves. We’ve got a couple green thumbs on staff who can do the plant care service for us.

We then typically ask…

• Do you really want your people spending their time on that?
• Do they have the tools to do the entirety of the job, including cleaning, fertilization, pruning, pest control, and disease control?
• Will they remember to and have time to do it on a regular schedule, and not miss a service?
• Will they guarantee the plant and replace it if it dies?

Most of the time, the answer to these questions is no. Clients quickly realize that it’s best to let experts handle their plant care. Management guru Peter Drucker once used office plant care as the perfect example of something a company should outsource to a local provider. We agree: office plant care should be left to plant care experts.

But, in the interest of explaining ourselves further, let’s dive deeper on why.

Office plant watering service isn’t so simple.

It takes years to accumulate the experience required to keep plants thriving indoors. There are a wide range of different species, each with its own quirks when it comes to plant maintenance. Plant care requirements vary further through the seasons. Even office environments themselves create plant care requirement quirks because of specialized lighting and ventilation systems.

Even if you have a green thumb on staff, you may not want to rely on them for office plant maintenance. After all, they undoubtedly have other priorities. They’re going to go on vacation or work from home periodically. They may leave the company or have to take leave themselves, leaving your indoor plant maintenance services in limbo. You may not want that person spending their valuable time coordinating the plant care handoff, in addition their other duties, every time something comes up. This is sadly just one of those responsibilities that inevitably gets forgotten. Each time it happens, the plants will get stressed or even die, creating even more to figure out. You’ll end up wishing you’d had a plant watering service to just handle it.

Sorry, but team plant care is even worse.

Instead of relying on one person, some businesses attempt team plant care, which often turns out worse. Inventor Charles Kettering once said, if you want to kill an idea, assign it to a committee. He may as well have been talking about plant care. We find that the fastest way to kill a plant is to assign its care to a group.

Plant watering service is actually way more than watering.

What are you going to do if your plants get infested with pests or disease – say fungus gnats or mealy bug – to use some common examples? A local plant care specialist will have all the treatments in stock and just as importantly, the corresponding knowledge, to handle the problem quickly and easily. In fact, they likely use preventative treatment methods during their routine plant watering service to avoid the problem from ever happening in the first place. If a plant needs to be replaced, no problem. Your plant service company should be able to quickly source a replacement, get it installed, and properly handle the problem plant before it gets out of hand and without leaving a dirty mess on your carpet.

What if we fail at doing our own plant maintenance?

The whole reason for getting plants in the first place is to make the office nice for staff, customers, and guests. A poor or inconsistent job on plant maintenance service can actually be far worse than going plant-free to begin with. It reflects poorly on the business. Plus, when plants do inevitably die, you’re going to spend time and effort coordinating replacements. It’s usually easier to avoid the issue altogether by using a plant service provider to handle everything.

What about the cost of the plant care service?

The cost of plant maintenance service can vary provider-to-provider. Offices generally get what they pay for in terms of service quality and protection from the risks they are trying to avoid by hiring a plant care service. Most plant care services will have a minimum fee that will then scale up as the number of plants and care requirements become more significant. Beyond just the direct labor cost, plant care service providers also have to cover a broader range of expenses to cover in their pricing including insurance, licensing, facilities, transportation, fuel, parking, uniforms, and supplies.

What about the plant service guarantee?

Most providers will say they guarantee their plant care service, but for some this is simply a marketing statement. They will hide when it comes time to actually redeem the guarantee. The reality is: all plants will be replaced eventually. Using a provider with a robust guarantee and the operation to back that up is critical. A company that is growing will invariably have a more robust replacement operation. After all, acquiring and installing plants is a much bigger part of what a growing plant company does. A company coasting on profitable long term maintenance contracts has a strong incentive to hide from the guarantee. It simply costs them more to fulfill because of a lack of volume.

At The Wright Gardner, everything we source and conduct plant maintenance service on is fully guaranteed. If any plant declines in health or vigor while under our care, we replace it at no extra cost. Our replacement process is generous to our clients, simple for our service employees to activate, and fast to respond to ensure we can live up to our first rate reputation.

The Bottom Line about Plant Watering Service

What it comes down to is that most businesses just don’t have the staff, the time, systems, or expertise needed to successfully perform their own indoor plant maintenance and all it can entail. A local plant watering service provider will have an entire system and staff of trained technicians designed to orchestrate the plant watering and other indoor plant maintenance needs for their clients without skipping a beat. And if things still go wrong, they guarantee the service and replace the failed plants at their own expense.