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- The Importance of Hiring a Licensed Professional
When spring is in the air, many of us are thinking about sprucing up our yards and perhaps doing some landscaping, yard maintenance or even tree work, trying to get our homes looking good for the season. If you are able to do this work on your own, you can enjoy the satisfaction of doing the improvements yourself and enjoy the savings that go along with that. For many, you choose to hire someone to do the chores that either you cannot physically perform on your own or maybe you do not care for yardwork and rather pay someone to do those jobs instead. There is the possibility that you are not skilled enough to design a landscape plan or know enough about plant selection or plant requirements and need the help of someone that does. The same goes for tree work, irrigation installation and pruning shrubbery in your existing landscape.
It is important for you to know that the person you hire to do these tasks are required by law to be licensed by the Louisiana Horticulture Commission. This government agency that falls under the jurisdiction of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry regulates the plant industry in many areas including Landscape-Horticulturist, Arborist, Irrigation Contractor, and Landscape Architecture. The link http://www.ldaf.state.la.us/ldaf-programs/horticulture-programs/louisiana-horticulture-commission will provide the names of license holders in your area. Persons holding licenses are required to pass a test! In addition, arborist are required to carry a certain amount of liability insurance before they can work in your yard. All licensees are required to display their license numbers on their work vehicles so you will know that they are legally capable of working in the state.
Sometimes the costs of landscape improvements can go into the thousands of dollars. If you hire an unlicensed person to perform these jobs, the costs of inferior workmanship may be higher that you could imagine. The next time you hire someone to do work in your yard, make sure they are properly licensed, it is the law! Help spread the word to anyone you know that is planning to have work done in their yard, many of them do not know about this licensing requirement.
