Plan Your Residential Project
The new year is upon us and you’re thinking about your resolutions. Last year (perhaps even over the holidays) you told yourself and/or your family: “We’re going to tackle the yard next year. It’s time.”
Jefferson Landscape and Design can help. Your reasons could be numerous and range from A to Z. Perhaps it’s the constant work it takes to manage what seems to be an unending weed abatement problem in a yard already bereft of any hope; maybe it’s been thirty years and time for a change; maybe you bought the home knowing someday the landscape would need a complete overhaul of its layout to accommodate your taste and lifestyle. You want to be able to use your backyard the way your friends and family do, to make your landscape an extension of your home. Nonetheless, you’ve determined to take on this goal in 2020 and so here are the steps for planning your residential landscape project for the new year.
Plan
The best way to start a residential landscape project is to know what your end goal is. Realistically, for the front yard, you probably want a landscape that compliments the neighborhood, has character and increases the appeal of your home, but that doesn’t cost too much. Landscaping can get expensive, so aside from the basics what else do you really need for the front? We recommend saving the bulk of your budget for the back. Sure, keep the front aesthetically pleasing, but also inexpensive and simple. The front yard is for the neighbors. The back yard is for you and those you spend time with (which doesn’t necessarily exclude your neighbors).
Do you want a back yard where you can entertain family and friends with a nice patio covered by an arbor? Do you want a layout with destination areas and distinguishing features? A play area for the kids, but a serenity spot for mom and dad? Do you want a (self-sustaining) water feature that not only has environmental benefits and is elegant, but that also offers a calm, soothing ambiance? Landscape lighting not only allows you to enjoy your private paradise well into the evening, but also gives you two completely different perspectives for the same area. The design of a landscape should follow the function it serves. The more information we have about how you want to make use of your new landscape, the more personal and accommodating your landscape will be. To help with all of the above, we have a Consultation Questionnaire which you can request using our online form or by calling or sending a text to 510-861-0944 or emailing us directly at consult@jeffersonlandscape.com . Jefferson Landscape and Design has a carefully thought out design process for our clients.
Design
We provide you with a design packet that includes, with your Consultation Questionnaire, a Landscape Design Proposal that outlines what’s included. With any landscape project, the first thing you need is a professional design drawn to scale so it can be installed. While there are plenty of “landscape designers” who offer “landscape designs”, unfortunately many of them don’t do installation and too many times their “designs” reflect it when it comes time to putting it in. It may look pretty on paper, but unless it’s drawn to scale, in a manner consistent with a two-dimensional architectural drawing, it cannot be used to install with and must be re-done. No matter who you hire to do your design, it is important to hire someone who also offers installation, whether it’s an installing contractor or a designer/architect who works for an installing contractor. Otherwise you may end up with a rendition completely un-installable. Jefferson Landscape and Design has three steps to our design process, accommodated by three meetings.
The Process:
· First Meeting is to view a portfolio of our work, discuss goals, the function of your landscape, and installation options. Hopefully, hire us to create your landscape’s design.
· Second Meeting is to provide a completed drawing, get your input and make necessary changes. If requested, we provide a preliminary proposal with the design’s first draft.
· Third Meeting includes your finalized design and itemized proposal with detailed specifications and recommended materials for your approval.
At Jefferson Landscape and Design, we have over twenty-five years of experience designing and installing residential projects. We carefully craft each project to fit the client’s intended use of space and creative preferences. Softscape, hardscape, waterscape and nightscape: BALANCE is the secret to a well-designed landscape project. And there are no surprises: we offer a preliminary proposal at the second meeting so that you know what it costs and if need be, can tweak the design to accommodate the budget since every component has its own unit cost. You know what it will look like, and perhaps equally as important, you’ll know what it will cost!
From Design to Finish, we will help you plan every detail of your landscape project. When you hire Jefferson Landscape and Design to install your project, 100% of the fee is applied toward the cost of the project. This is outlined more in our Landscape Design Proposal. And we do not charge for the initial Design Consultation (in most cases).
Build
Now that we’ve helped you come up with a plan and finalized the design, it’s time to build! Our experienced professionals take over and put the paper to dirt. After all, this is what we do. There are all kinds of thing to be cognizant of when doing a project and we’re attentive to each one. We’re considerate to your neighbors and keep as clean a work site as can be kept. Our constant communication about the progress we’re making, i.e., what choices need to be made by when (e.g. concrete colors, plant selections), teaching you how to tend to your new lawn, how to operate your new sprinkler timer, and whatever else you need in order for your project to be successful!
Jefferson Landscape and Design is a design and build company that specializes in creating, developing and installing projects with a clean slate—our expertise is to start out using a blank canvas. You’ve told us what you want, we’ve put together an amazing layout where one part of the landscape compliments the next: now watch us create the magic!
We show up when we say, and when we work, we stay!
This means unlike some contractors; we don’t split our crews between projects. They show up to work on your project and work every day until it’s done!
Does something need to stay? Is there a rose your grandfather planted for your grandmother that’s important to you and adds to the oral history of your family? No problem. Just because we take a property and start over doesn’t mean a sentimental item or three cannot stay; we plot it, include it in the design, and incorporate it into the building of the new project.
Jefferson Landscape and Design’s construction services include many things. Among them are: colored concrete, stamped concrete, broom finish concrete and other styles of concrete installations; flagstone walkways and patios, big and small—using multiple installation methods including concrete and mortar, polymeric sand, decomposed granite, ground-cover and other variations; flagstone overlays of existing concrete for porches, patios and more; fire pits and benching with any finish you desire; water features! that include (self-sustaining) pond ecosystems, pondless waterfalls and Aqua-Basin© type fountains; path, post and spot lighting; arbors, fences and gates; plantings, trees and ground-cover; moss rock dry stack garden walls, retaining walls; and more. Contact us today to get the design process started!