Why Designs and Plans are Necessary
When thinking about your landscape, outdoor living, or patio project it’s very easy to get carried away while looking at Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest and think that the end result you’re looking for can be achieved as easily as it is on TV. When looking online at your dream outdoor space you will most likely find some amazing inspiration. The major key to taking that inspiration and turning it into your outdoor living reality is a good design and plan. When you’re looking at a larger backyard project that might include a fire feature, a pergola or pavilion, outdoor lighting, an outdoor kitchen, or even a pool; it is incredibly important to have a great design and a solid construction plan before ground is broke on your project.
The thing that might be frustrating about creating a design before breaking ground is the time it takes to turn around a clear design and construction plans. However, the time taken on the front of a large landscape construction project like this will save untold number of headaches down the road. The last thing you want on a large project is for construction to start without having an understanding of how the contractor is going to get from breaking ground to handing the project over to you once they’re done!
Our design process at Outdoor Oasis goes as follows; and whether you choose us or not for your project we hope you choose a contractor who understands how to get you from point A to point Z on your landscape project.
Initial Consultation: On our initial visit we will bring out a small sample book so you can see colors and textures of pavers, a product catalog if you’re looking for pavers or a retaining wall, a tape measure, a Zip Level to read grades and elevations, and of course a notebook and a phone to take notes and photos. Throughout the initial consultation it is our goal to understand how you will use the space. If you like to entertain it is important for us to know how many people you usually have over. If you like to grill and want an outdoor kitchen it’s important to know what kind of appliances you want. What the initial meeting boils down to is getting us all on the same page so we can begin with the initial concept design. Once we have your “wishlist”, a budget, good measurements of your property and good elevations we can get started on the concept design.
Concept Design: Within 7-10 days after the Initial Consultation we will email you the Concept Design. This design gives us an opportunity to come together and see how close we are to meeting everything on your wishlist and to tweak things as needed. With a typical concept design we will also provide a rough estimate of what the project will cost. If we have to make changes to the concept design those will usually be turned around in 3-5 days if not sooner.
Full Design Presentation: After the concept design is finalized we will set up an appointment to meet at your home to go over the final design in detail. We will typically print a 24”x36” design and also bring a laptop to show the 3D renderings of the project as well. At this meeting we will also go over the proposal together to make sure we’re all still on the same page. If the design meets all of your “wishlist” and is within budget we will both sign the contract and a deposit will be made so we can order materials and get started building the landscape project of your dreams.
Construction: Before we begin construction we will call 811 to mark utilities at least 10 days before we break ground. On the first day of construction or before the first day we will schedule a meeting with you to paint and mark everything out and walk you through our construction process as well. This allows us to set expectations and opens up the ongoing dialogue between us for the duration of the project. For larger projects we will provide a detailed email update every Saturday morning between 6-8am to inform you of progress, challenges, setbacks, or anything we feel is pertinent for you to know.
Post Construction: Once construction of your own Outdoor Oasis is complete we will have a final walkthrough to ensure your satisfaction with the project and to also hand over the keys so to speak. If you have a feature rich hardscape project we will show you how to use your grill appliances or light your fire pit or fireplace and also teach you how to use the transformer for your landscape lights. Once the project has had 3 months or more to “mature” we will set up a meeting for us to take some final photos for our website and social media pages.
This process can be very tedious with some designs and plans taking months to finalize. However, when you’re spending upwards of $50,000 on your landscape construction project the time invested in the front end will be well worth it on the back end. We have had multiple projects where the design has taken longer to nail down than the construction of the whole project. All of the customers that has happened to have been very happy that it happened because it ensured that the final project was exactly what they were dreaming of.
Whether you have a small landscape makeover project or a project complete with all of the outdoor amenities, please make sure your landscape contractor has some sort of design process in place!
