Joining Professional Organizations for Landscapers

Eco Brooklyn is an NY ecological landscaping company currently working on a project to build a natural swimming pool (read more here.) Natural pools are a new service that Eco Brooklyn is adding to our long list of amenities.

In an attempt to gain publicity for Eco Brooklyn’s green contracting services, we considered joining a few professional organizations. Here is a list of those organizations and the membership fees our company would apply for:

  • American Society of Landscape Architects– Affiliate Member (individual): $322 or Corporate Member (company): $1,950
  • Association of Professional Landscape Designers– Industry partner: $400 or Professional member: $240
  • Genesis 3 Design Group– Silver Sponsor (cheapest option): $3,000
  • Association of Pool and Spa Professionals- Builder/Installer membership: $575

The benefits of joining these organizations include having your company’s name posted on their website, being able to tout your membership on your website or to customers, and sometimes access to professional practice networks.

In the end, Eco Brooklyn decided these benefits weren’t for us. We already have enough business  in our multidisciplinary field – a wide range of interconnected services from gut renovations, green roofs, gardening, ponds/waterfalls, and more.

Our jobs almost never fall only under one category – say landscaping – because green building is such an interconnected process, so we decided that advertising ourselves in any one specialty isn’t a thorough representation of the business we do.

However, this is a personal choice so if you are a green contractor, waterscaper, landscaper, or salvage and renovation company interested in pursuing such a membership, the above organizations are the ones we recommend.

natural pool contractin
Eco Brooklyn's natural swimming pool. A natural pool has two zones, the swimming area (center) and the regeneration area surrounding it, which will be filled with gravel and plants to clean the water.

 

green contracting nyc
Here is an example of a completed natural swimming pool