FAQs
- What types of customers have you worked with?
Most commonly we are called upon to redesign an existing, old landscape. Give the place a face lift, basically. Usually half way through the planning stage the customer wants to add a hardscape feature - a large boulder or a series of natural stepping stones. This, of course, is not a problem for us!
- Describe a recent project you are fond of. How long did it take?
This was a tough job with very particular clients. This was a wooded lakeside property where I was to design and build an outdoor kitchen, fireplace and pergola and not obstruct the lakeside view. I built a 700 square foot paver patio with circle features and herringbone accents, 22' wide curved steps leading off into the lawn, custom built a fireplace with two wood storage boxes, curved sitting wall with two columns with lantern lighting. Over the built-in kitchen counter, a custom built 12' X 5' wooden mini-pergola was installed. Three pendant lights were suspended from it to illuminate the kitchen work space. Off to the side, a low wooden deck was built and over it a large pergola that matched the kitchen pergola. All wood was stained a dark ebony. During the final stage of clean up, our clients could wait no longer and began placing their new patio furniture this way and that, happily rearranging the candles, pillows and other accents, completely oblivious to our efforts to sweep up and clear out! We were thrilled that these tough clients were giddy as newly weds with their new 'house'. That feeling is what I hope to inspire with in all my clients, no matter how small the project.
- What questions should customers think through before talking to professionals about their project?
Much time is spent behind the scenes in preparing a project. Measurements, drawings, shopping for plants, boulders or stone, arranging deliveries, making substitutions, customer approvals, calling utilities, general logistics - of course it is unseen but that is part of the cost of any project - sometimes a customer forgets there is more to it than what meets the eye. Our work runs deep!