Houston landscape designers are presented with unique challenges: coastal plains weather, dense soil, drainage and flooding issues, and a variety of insects and plant diseases. Whether your project is a small garden design that only encompasses landscape planting or is a complex construction project, you can get a real return on your investment by hiring professional Houston landscape designers.
Houston Landscape Designers: Choosing One
It is important to distinguish between off-the-shelf landscaping design and a designer who can capture your personal vision. In the interview process, always ask to see a portfolio and visit the company website to determine if the design firm under consideration has the sense of style you appreciate and is one who can design a landscape that complements your home and lifestyle.
In your early discussions, try to be as specific as possible about your wants and needs. Perhaps your family would enjoy a summer kitchen or a luxury swimming pool. Or maybe your want other hardscapes, such as an arbor, winding pathways or distinctive gates. Understanding these landscape elements, their relationships to each other and the open space, and interpreting them well separates the best Houston landscape designers from the rest of the pack.
Houston Landscape Designers: The Process
After selecting a landscape designer, the next step in the design process develops out of the meeting notes, site analysis, program of uses, and the design professional's experience. At this conceptual level, the landscape designer commits the overall design to paper, including the general use areas and their sizes, landscape lighting, irrigation systems and drainage systems, lawn areas, and plantings. An overall cost study is developed as well.
Once you have agreed on the overall design intent, sizes of use areas, general material selections and their applications, you are ready to begin the implementation and construction phase. The documentation for this phase covers three areas: 1) landscaping design drawings for permitting. 2) landscaping design drawings to convey final design intent and material selections for you and the installation contractor 3) landscaping design drawings, called construction documents, with specifications for materials, specifications for their installation and installation methods.
As for permits, each municipality has its own set of requirements for landscape plan approvals. The norm is a submittal of the entire permitting package to be approved or rejected by a committee board. For this reason, it is important to hire a landscaping designer who is fluent in these areas, one who knows what vital information to include, such as lot coverage ratios, engineered drainage plans, pool fencing layout and specifications.
Houston Landscape Designers: The Long View
Finally, it is also a good idea to use a landscaping design company that performs project management and landscaping installation in addition to the design work. You want someone with great ideas who also knows the availability and best use of materials, local contractors and their methods of construction, and overall cost and budget development. In short, you want a landscape designer who can deliver an on-time, on-budget landscape design that flourishes in the Houston climate over the long term.
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