A Shortage of "Green": Trees and Sod
Why has the price of trees and sod increased?
As the economy continues to improve, so has the demand for new landscaping or the repairing of or adding to existing landscapes. This is great news for us landscapers, and we are excited to be able to use our skills to meet the demand.
However, the price of trees and sod has risen over the past few years and continues to rise. This, of course, increases the challenge for us to provide you with the awesome landscape that you have dreamed about while keeping our costs as low as possible.
Why did this happen?
There are various reasons that contribute to the shortage of trees and sod this year. A large part is due to the downward turn of the economy during the past few years. Many brokers and growers who were not able to survive financially during this time either sold their property, went out of business, or retired. Years ago, nursery suppliers and growers would grow a surplus of trees in anticipation of future demands. In more recent years, those that were able to keep going no longer replaced or planted new trees. Unfortunately, some growers even resorted to burning older, larger trees when no one was buying them. Now that the demand is increasing, new ones are being planted, but since this takes five to ten years before they reach a reasonable selling size, the shortage will continue for a few more years. Other reasons for sod and tree shortages include increased trucking costs, extreme weather conditions, natural disasters, droughts, and invasive pests and diseases.
Only five years ago, the supply and demand for trees and sod was balanced; therefore, the prices remained relatively stable. In fact, the price of sod has stayed the same for almost twenty years. However, now with the increase in demand and the shortage of supply, the cost for both sod and trees has doubled.
In spite of these shortages and increased costs, Squeals Landscaping is doing everything we can to find the plant materials needed to complete the landscape you've envisioned and we have designed while keeping the costs as minimal as possible. We have planned ahead and ordered the plant materials we need for your projects early. We have maintained our longstanding relationships with many farms in Michigan and surrounding states in order to provide you with quality plant material at reasonable costs, allowing us to make your landscape dream an affordable reality!
