Special Consulting Rates for Transitioning Toward Sustainability
I have two special consulting offers for those transitioning toward sustainability.

For residences:   I offer a site visit plus a followup two-hour report making prioritized recommendations about how to transition toward sustainability in your landscape. The total cost for this package is $260 (reduced from my regular rate of $320).

For estates (generally with at least one full-time landscape maintenance worker):  I offer landscape management or co-management for the purpose of transitioning toward sustainability. During this time you have full access to my expertise as a consulting arborist, tree-work crew leader, irrigation designer and troubleshooter, trainer, horticulturist, landscape manager, and more, at significantly reduced rates, as long as sustainability remains an ongoing focus. A minimum of three hours regularly scheduled once per month, and generally a maximum of eight to ten hours on a single day once per week is required to receive the reduced rate. If you meet these requirements I offer the rate of $65 per hour (reduced from $150 for the first hour of any site visit plus $85 per additional hour). Initial consultation at my regular $150 rate plus a nonrefundable initial retainer equal to two months’ expected work are generally required.

For both residences and estates, additional offsite work will generally be billed at my regular rates, and for areas beyond Los Angeles to the south, Pasadena to the east, Newhall to the north, and Pacific Palisades to the west, an additional charge for driving time may apply.

What do I mean by transitioning to sustainability? The list of potential techniques, approaches, and projects is too long to address here, but would generally include integrating organic, ecological-design, and permaculture approaches in order to eliminate use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers; recycling all green waste and all possible other materials on site; reducing and when possible eliminating turf in favor of productive or low-resource-use plants; integrating of food forestry and perennial food plantings when possible; including humans at the site as part of set of functioning, mutually supportive systems that imitate natural systems; developing the landscape for water retention and reduced water use; possibly collecting rainwater and using graywater; developing alternative energy systems; and much more.

Please contact Darren Butler at 818 271 0963 or allnet@pobox.com for more information or to schedule a consultation.

Regular Consulting Rates