Abstract
Little consumer research is available to help landscape design and installation businesses develop service marketing strategies. We investigated the effect of three components of a landscape design on the perceived value of a home. This information would be useful in marketing lawn and landscape services to prospective clients. Our objective was to provide a consumer perspective on the value of the components in a ‘good’ landscape and determine which attributes of a landscape consumers valued most. Using conjoint design, 1323 volunteer participants in seven states viewed 16 photographs that depicted the front of a landscaped residence. Landscapes were constructed using various levels of three attributes: plant material type, design sophistication, and plant size. Results showed that the relative importance increased from plant material type to plant size to design sophistication. Across all seven markets, study participants perceived that home value increased from 5% to 11% for homes with a good landscape.
Author notes
Partial funding was provided by a grant from The Horticultural Research Institute, 1000Vermont Ave., NW., Suite 360, Washington, DC, 20005. The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of many colleagues in the USDA multi-state S-290 project for their assistance in data collection and manuscript revisions.
2Department of Horticulture, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824.
3Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716.
4Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996.
5Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803.
6Coastal Research and Extension Center, Mississippi State University, Poplarville, MS 39470.
7Department of Horticulture, University of Kentucky, Lexington KY 405460091.
8Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824.
9Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695.