Your property is an extension of your home– both dynamic and evolving. Our interactive and personalized approach puts you at the center from the very beginning. The initial design planning is worth the investment, saving you time and money in the long run and helping you to realize your vision for your property. We complete a thorough design survey to ensure that your intentions for your property are captured by our designers. While creating a base map, we take soil samples to determine the necessary soil amendments and the best plants for your specific conditions. A conceptual plan outlining the bed spaces and hardscape elements is utilized to narrow in on a final design. Design offerings can range from simple lists of complementary and site appropriate plants, to quick conceptual sketches, to more intricate master plans, including detailed elements like outdoor kitchens, water features, or custom environmental art. We have expanded our offerings to include design planning for interior spaces, green walls, fountains and holiday decorations.
Our Process
Get to know our process
Landscape Design
- We ask all new clients to fill out a comprehensive design survey, which allows us to match you with the best designer for your project. This information also ensures a productive and efficient initial meeting.
- During the initial project consultation, a designer will meet you at your home, assess the site and talk to you about your desired landscape improvements using information provided in the design survey. This typically takes about one hour, and we ask that all decision makers be present during this meeting.
- We charge $125 for the initial consultation. Due to demand for our services, we no longer offer design only contracts. This will allow us to provide more attention to projects that we are installing for you, and a better overall experience for our clients! Clients will be asked to sign up for a comprehensive design and project package based on budget ranges before we can move forward with a design. Designs are charged at a rate of $125/hour, and we offer different design levels from “basic” to “plus” depending on the client’s needs and complexity of the project. Extra design time is necessary for custom features, construction documents, and lighting plans. We also offer 3D design, site elevations, and perspective drawings for clients that want a more “on the ground” picture of their landscape before it is installed.
- A designer will take measurements and photograph the existing landscape conditions. If available, we ask for a copy of the mortgage survey to create a more accurate basemap. For designs with extensive plantings, we recommend having your soil tested for a small fee to determine the necessary soil amendments and the best plants for your specific conditions.
- We work with you to refine your goals for your landscape, and well as determine your aesthetic preferences. Often, we collaborate with clients using web services like Houzz and Pinterest to establish the desired mood and feeling of the landscape.
- A conceptual plan outlining the bed spaces and hardscape elements, along with precedent imagery, is utilized to narrow in on a final design. Your designer will meet you onsite to stake out the preliminary plan so you are able to visualize it in the landscape.
- Your designer will modify the design based on feedback from the preliminary design. The final product is a paper and digital version of a scaled and fully rendered landscape plan.
- The final landscape design is presented at our Design Center, located in a beautiful historic barn. During the meeting, the designer may show you materials specified in the design.
- The designer will provide a refined estimate for installation. We are happy to create multiple estimates for clients considering a phased approach to their landscape. Designers remain the primary contact for clients during the installation process, allowing for a more seamless yet flexible translation of the design from paper to reality.
Get to know our process
Project Installation
All of our projects are accomplished under a detailed contract that specifies the work being done, as well as our professional landscape warranty. After signing a contract for the project we will put you on our scheduling list and keep you notified about tentative timing for the project (please note due to weather and the changing nature of the project schedule, we do not guarantee timing for project installations, we use a sign up date basis scheduling projects in order one after the next). We will also schedule a meeting with our production manager and select one of our project supervisors to complete the team planning for the installation.
Once we are one to two weeks prior to a tentative project start date we will schedule a project setup meeting (please note for maintenance and smaller horticulture jobs often this timing is shorter – ask your designer/salesperson for specifics) at your site and go over the details and planning for handling the project. At this point we will fill out a pre-project planning form with you to insure the site logistics, any issues with drainage or utilities are noted and staked out. It is our goal at the end of the project setup meeting that you know the details about how the project will progress and feel confident about the team that will be taking care of you and your property.
The installation is run by our project supervisor on site. The supervisor will be there daily doing the work and orchestrating the crew. All of our supervisors have years of experience and are passionate and skilled at the work they do. They send a daily report with photos to your designer and the company owner, as well as file detailed digital time records. The designer is on call and stops by periodically during phase changes and answer questions or solve design/matierials detail questions for both you and the supervisor. We try to stay onsite for the entire duration of the project, with exceptions for weather delays and or different phases of large scale projects.
Your designer will contact you near the end of the project to come up with a final project checklist, as well as provide you with the information you need to take care of your new landscape features. We will meet with you and the project foreman to make sure final site cleanup and details are taken care of, then leave you to enjoy your new landscape or, as we like to say, “LOVE YOUR LANDSCAPE!”
Our contracts spell out our payment terms clearly, and your designer is in charge of collecting payment promptly from you at the different project phases. Your designer and Lotus owner, Traven Pelletier, are always available for follow-up questions. We strongly encourage you to use both our landscape and pond maintenance services to keep your new landscape looking beautiful, as well as our trusted partners for mowing and irrigation services!
