Building From Blueprints: Landscape Design

"I like to think that every property is different - it mirrors the personality of the client," described David Knauff, owner, Yes, We Care Landscaping, Wilmette, Ill.

By developing a design that is both creative and sensible, landscape designers devise a plan to solidify their clients’ vision and address their needs. The process is a culmination of creativity, practicality and technicality - considerations that designers should carry to the drawing board.

Quite simply, landscape installation designs require fine-tuning the senses and synchronizing form and function.

TUNING THE SENSES. Relationship building is an essential prerequisite to the contract and even the estimate, as designers stress that communication is ultimately what allows a project to flow smoothly through the installation process. Conversation during initial meetings with prospective clients allows designers to become familiar with the quirks and qualities of the site and get a feel for the homeowner’s tastes and intentions for the project, Knauff said.

"We begin the process by having an open discussion - not getting into the specifics, but really listening to the client from the beginning," he explained. "By keeping an open dialogue, they will tell you how they want to see the space used."

Keeping an open dialogue includes keeping open eyes. Observation is two-fold, as designers focus on the aesthetic and physical properties of the client’s site, while also tuning into less natural qualities. Flooding indicates slope; footprints reveal traffic. Both cues expose elements that figure into the planning stages of a landscape design.

While touring the property with the customer, Knauff pays attention to additional signs, recording a mental inventory of installation ideas. For example, extra cars in the driveway might indicate a need for additional parking, he said.

Interior clues also expose clients’ tastes - whether their style is contemporary or leans toward conservative, noted Jeremy Clayton, president, Clayton Landscaping Technologies, Ijamsville, Md. "If the house itself is structured and the interior has a standard living room, sofas and tables, you might choose another style of landscape than if you go into a house and there’s different pictures and a lot of statues," he described. "I try to blend the inside and the outside together."

Stylistic continuity includes bringing indoor color schemes to outdoor plant beds and coordinating landscape features with window views, Knauff added. Here, too, designers must fine-tune their senses during an initial site visit to go beyond questionnaire-type responses from prospective clients. Visual clues often speak louder than the homeowner’s verbal requests, he noted.

"By being on the property, you can get an idea of the soil type, existing plants and the size of the property itself," noted Dan Devore, designer, Blanchford Landscape Contractors, Bozeman, Mont. A sense of the property’s atmosphere allows a designer to truly delve into the environment and create a complementary design, he said. "It is hard to get a feel for how the area will mature if you don’t see the area you are going to be working in." Devore supplements this visual inventory with probing questions to gain a better understanding of the client’s expectations.

Jim Martin, president, James Martin Associates, Vernon Hills, Ill., structures his "conversation meetings" to ensure he will obtain the information necessary to identify possible designs. His design planning process generally includes six meetings before installation begins. The first meeting is centered on a questionnaire that pulls information on the client’s outdoor activities, long-term plans for pools, tennis courts or spas, and overall expectations.

Martin stresses that initial meetings are not only opportunities for clients to express their dreams, but also a chance for the designer to prove his or her talents are worthy of winning the account. "A lot of times, the client is considering other people, too," he noted. "In a competitive market where a client is shopping around, that first meeting is your opportunity to distance yourself from your competition."

During Martin’s second contact with a potential client, he gathers responses to the questionnaire, and the third meeting includes a physical survey of the plants, elevation, surrounding properties and possible installation issues. Then, the client provides a property survey, so "we know what exactly is there," he explained. "We don’t want to be designing on a blank slate." In addition, Martin shoots photographs from inside windows and sliding doors, so all angles are addressed in the design drafts. The subsequent meetings revolve around reviewing, modifying and finalizing the design, he said.

Though these introductory meetings might seem repetitive, they can prevent indecision later, which leads to changes in the plan that can be costly and time consuming. "There are lots of ways to express a design in the same place and many ways of solving a problem," Martin noted. "We want to engage the client and have them be an active participant in the process. By going in this direction we don’t have to sell solutions, the customer selects them. It creates more of a collaborative relationship."

BUILDING THE BUDGET. The designer’s vision and the client’s dream inevitably are curbed by a budget. Companies that address the customer’s financial parameters from the start will avoid miscommunication that often results in them eating unexpected costs, Martin warned.

The key to costs: Discuss early, and discuss in detail.

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"In the past we were creating solutions where clients were blown out of the water with the potential budget," Martin recalled, adding that he now breaks down the costs for customers and lets them choose material in various price ranges so they gain more control during the pricing process. "Patios could cost $4 or $24 per square foot. Now the client feels empowered to decide whether they want to spend the $4 or the $24. Maybe they’d rather have the irrigation and lighting be more expensive than the patio. By showing all of those details, we have created communication and a greater understanding, and we don’t have to repeat steps."

Martin also brings up budget during the first couple of meetings with the client. "Do they want us to explore ideas toward a specific budget or do they want to turn us loose and see what the possibilities are," he asked.

Part of setting a budget includes identifying features clients can realistically include on the property and offering honest estimates so they will not be surprised by the cost of plants or materials. Labor, materials, design fees - all of these components should appear in the estimate so the customer and company can agree on the cost of the job. Also, contractors should stress to clients that each change comes with a cost, Knauff added.

"You have to be careful how your contracts are written," he noted. "Some clients are realistic about making dramatic changes and that they’ll have to pay for the change order."

Set budgeting precedents at initial meetings, Clayton stressed. By discussing potentially expensive alterations while walking the site, customers are immediately aware of their price. Also, designers can pad prices to avoid underestimating and disappointing customers, he added.

"You can tell them, ‘I estimated this much, and it won’t be more than that,’ and they appreciate that vs. adding additional costs at the end of the project," Clayton said.

DRAFTING THE DESIGN. After becoming acquainted with the people, property and price, designers can draft a design to fit the guidelines. For Martin, these first sketches are merely drafts. His project team prepares three or four preliminary designs with various project solutions. Clients review these conceptual sketches and modify or meld the designs into final plans, he explained.

Follow-up meetings occur in the company’s conference room to finalize design decisions. Display boards with more than 400 photographs of landscape features and eight display gardens with a variety of hardscape materials create a virtual installation showcase. These on-site model landscapes turn the conceptual into concrete.

"When the client is here, we have taken them out of their home with distractions, and most of the time when we show them the options we can walk out of the conference room and into the patio spaces and find almost any factor - any element - that is suggested in the plan," Martin noted.

The design team then integrates these choices into the final plan, which almost always is a culmination of several drafts, he added. In fact, he offers clients a broad range of designs and hopes some of the options will collect negative feedback.

"If we show them three solutions and they’re minor in differences, that wouldn’t allow us to show them the options for their property," he explained. "If we show them a range of three or four contrasting ways to do a driveway and they say, ‘That one is not for us,’ we absolutely get the client to react."

This reaction translates to less indecision during the installation process, Martin noted.

Clayton drafts designs quite differently from Martin, relying on a one-plan approach. He might trace 50 designs over his original copy, but he offers customers a single plan.

"One is better than more," he said. "This says to the customer, ‘This is what I believe to be the best plan.’ If you present too many options, unless you’re getting paid by the hour to do the plan, you’ll end up spending more time developing several plans."

Clayton considers the frequency of client revisions and builds flexibility into the design to accommodate various plants and hardscapes. "Most changes are in plant material and minor alterations in walks or patios," he noted, adding that he saves these choices for last. After working on the property, the crew is more familiar with the site’s light and water availability and can select appropriate varieties.

After the clients approve the plan, however, Clayton said revisions are rare, and he tries to harness customers’ additions and amendments - too many alterations stack up on the invoice, he added. "The way to get around indecisive customers is discipline on the contractor side," he advised. "Set a schedule and stick to it. What you’re telling the customer is, ‘I expect prompt payment, but I am providing prompt service.’

"If you show indecision, then they’ll show indecision," Clayton reasoned.

Indecision is a notorious installation dilemma, Knauff noted. He limits this temptation by carefully overseeing each project so that problems can be identified immediately. By involving project managers during the design phase and supervising subcontractors, he keeps tight communication with all parties participating in the installation.

"More often than not, I stop in on a project to make sure there is open communication among the project manager, labor staff and client so if they have a concern, I can turn around and get it changed before it becomes a problem," he described. "All parties need to know the philosophy in my design and thinking so it can be translated into that project."

While assuring the client’s ownership in the process is the key to their satisfaction with the end-result, contractors should hold them accountable for changes, Knauff added. "You don’t want them to think they can pick up the phone and get everything changed on a dime." Clients must understand the chain of command and respect the implications tied with tweaking design projects: time and money.

Martin stressed that as in many installation issues, the roots of indecision are buried in communication. Interactive clients and contractors will avoid massive reconstruction.

"A project is more of a partnership or a collaboration than them hiring us to serve them," he noted. "We don’t have problems later on if they’ve looked at the project during the planning phase - they don’t second-guess if the patio should go there, or a tree should go here. By going through that thought process, we don’t have a lot of changes or second guessing during the construction phase."

LEARNING FROM LESSONS. Most design/build firms mold their systems from years of trial and error. Learning from pricing, timing and planning mistakes builds a foundation for a landscape planning system that pleases both the company and client.

Project changes prompted Martin’s greatest lesson.

"We do multiple concepts now because we used to have too many projects that were in the middle of the building stage, and the client would say, ‘This wasn’t how I envisioned it to be at all,’" he explained.

After a few cases like this, Martin and his design team devised the multi-meeting system they implement in their business today. He is also careful to evaluate the site’s topography after a previous project’s inadequate drainage caused water back-up that ultimately resulted in an insurance claim, he recalled. Now, his design team carries equipment to measure the property’s grades to avoid future flooding.

Clayton discovered the importance of a post-project site walk-through with clients after one client suggested his company was responsible for ruined plants, when in fact, tire treads in the bed indicated the homeowner’s car had trampled the plants.

"I always meet with the customer to do a final walk to go over the job and get a final check," he noted. "If they have a couple of things that they want moved or replaced, we can do it promptly. As the kids play in the yard and the dog walks through it, the job will slowly degrade, and if you can finalize your job, have the people look over it, and fix the problems, anything that happens from there on out is not your responsibility."