Choosing a landscaping designer involves asking a few questions of yourself, as well of the designers. What’s your vision for your landscape? What do you really want? Do you want a fabulous formal garden and lots of features, or do you want a wonderful natural vista, with lots of native trees? How about a beautiful cottage garden or your own personal Monet landscape? How about both?
The good news for landowners is that modern landscaping can do practically any type of design you want. Advanced design techniques and technology allow a lot of creativity and flexibility of design. You can participate, and you can also get good practical advice about managing site issues like drainage and terrain issues.
Better still, you can also get cost-effective landscaping, excellent quality designs which deliver lasting value and low-maintenance landscaping features. You can even make money with your landscaping. Good landscaping can be a real value-adding asset to your property, as well as providing amenities and beautiful surrounds.
That said –
- You’ll need to talk to designers and discuss design issues, explaining what you want.
- You’ll need to see what the designers can do, from their previous work and current portfolios.
- You’ll need to check out what services they can provide and get a clear picture of costs.
- Above all, you’ll need to be sure that the designs are appropriate for your location. Local landscaping experience does matter. Local landscapers know the environment, know the drainage problems, know the soil issues and how to manage local trees, for example.
The questions
These questions which will tell you everything you need to know about a landscaping design company:
- What sort of work have you done in this area?
This simple question tells you whether the designers are experienced in local site landscaping and on what sort of scale. These designs are verifiable quality controls when you’re shopping for a landscape designer. You can also go and see them for yourself in your area, check out quality standards and workmanship. - Do you do hardscaping designs?
Hardscaping is construction of landscaping features like retaining walls, drainage, and similar exterior features. Hardscape designers are experts in construction, and technically very competent. - Can you show me a model of a design for my property?
The best designers are right up to date with the latest software, and can walk you through a model of the design. These models are also the artist’s palette for landscape designs. - Can you give me an itemized quote for the design and the landscaping work?
The only acceptable answer to this question is “Yes”. Experts never need to guess about their own prices.
How do we know these are the right questions? We get asked these questions all the time. We’ve done a lot of local landscaping work of all kinds in our region of New York. We do our own hardscaping design and construction. We use top quality software to help our clients bring their ideas to life and explore their landscaping choices. We give our upfront quotes based on best market rates.
Our advice – The right landscapers give you the right answers.