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Residential Landscape
Designers in Houston Texas
Have you cut out and collected pictures of
great landscaping ideas, but now wonder how to actually put them
onto your own property? Have you wanted to capture the vision of
a stately French mansion on your property in Houston, Texas?
Would you like to know whether the plants you’ve admired in
European and New England countryside estates will grow on the
Texas coastal plains?
If so, you need the services of an experienced residential landscape design
professional. A competent landscape designer or landscape
architect takes you through the entire design development
process, which includes: consultation and program development,
analysis of the existing site, conceptual landscaping design,
construction documentation and permitting. And then on towards
turning the vision in your mind from virtual reality to actual
reality.
 Landscape
design and Analysis of the Site
An essential part of the initial consultation with your
landscape designer or landscape architect is a walk around your
property. Here is where you get to share your overall vision,
detail your wants and needs and desires. It should be a
free-flowing discussion about aesthetics, which includes your
likes and dislikes of materials, preferences on arrangements—all
the “wouldn’t it be nice if…” things you’ve been considering.
Try to be as specific as you can. For example, you may want a
deck to seat a party of ten people or a large lawn area on which
your three- and five-year-old can play with your Labrador
retriever. This detailed information will be brought together by
your residential landscape designer or landscape architect to create a
program of uses. The program organizes uses by their
relationship to one another, much like the inside flow of your
home. In fact, the architecture and flow of your home should
relate to the architecture and flow of your landscaping.
Understanding these relationships and interpreting them well
separates the artist-architectural designer from a landscape
horticulturalist-contractor.
Residential Landscaping Design
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 or landscape architect conveys the overall
design intent, such as the general use areas and their sizes,
swimming pools and
other
hardscapes,
outdoor kitchens and
outdoor fountains,
lawn areas, and plantings. This phase will also be the time when
it is determined which wish list items are possible on the site
and which are not. An overall cost study is developed from the
conceptual landscaping design as well.
Moving Forward with you Landscape Design:
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 landscaping design development and
construction phase. The documentation for this phase can be
broken down into three groups: 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.
These drawings may be accompanied by a full package of
additional drawings to include an existing site survey,
tree disposition and elevation plan,
tree preservation plan,
demolition plan,
swimming pool layout plan,
landscape
drainage systems,
irrigation systems,
hardscape plan
including
outdoor kitchen
and
outdoor water fountains,
landscape planting plan,
landscape lighting plan,
and construction details for the above plans.
As for permits, each city has its own unique 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 company that 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. It is equally important to omit unnecessary
information that could create confusion or send up a red flag
that would keep the project from getting approved. A
knowledgeable residential landscape designer or landscape architect helps
win approval as quickly as possible.
Garden Design and the End Results
Whether your project is a simple landscaping design that only
encompasses landscape planting or is a complex construction
package, it is vital that you hire a landscape designer or
landscape architect that is competent in the skill sets detailed
here. For your satisfaction, it is also important to distinguish
between off-the-shelf landscaping design and a designer who can
reflect your unique style. Always ask to see a portfolio and
visit the website to determine if the landscaping company under
consideration has the sense of style you appreciate and is one
who can design a landscape that complements your home and
lifestyle.
Additionally, it is highly recommended that you utilize a
landscaping design company that not only does the design work,
but also performs project management and landscaping
installation. There is a world of difference between someone who
has great ideas and another person with great ideas who also
knows the availability and best use of local materials, local
contractors and their methods of construction, overall cost and
budget development, and can then maintain the finished product.
In short, you want a landscape designer or landscape architect
who can deliver a landscape design solution that flourishes in
the Houston climate over the long term.
Since 1987,
Exterior Worlds
has
been making dream landscapes come true throughout the greater
Houston area including the Memorial Villages, Tanglewood, River
Oaks, West University, Bellaire and the greater Houston area
since 1987. Call 713-827-2255 and
ask about its residential landscape design services.
Contact us!
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