What is a Landscape Design?

A landscape design is a blueprint of your desired yard, garden or commercial planting area. It may consist of a planting plan, an irrigation plan, a low voltage lighting plan and various construction details.

The planting plan indicates exactly how many of which plants are to be installed where in your site. A complete plant materials list is also included, specifying both the botanical and the common names of each plant as well as the total quantity and the proposed size of each type of plant material. The irrigation plan shows the location, type and quantity of each spray head, rotor, valve, backflow prevention device, controller, etc., as well as specifying pipe sizing and other relevant hydraulic information. The low voltage lighting plan indicates which fixture goes where and also specifies the desired lamp or transformer.

What are the Benefits in Having a Landscape Design?

We all appreciate how much a beautiful landscape increases the ‘curb appeal’ and marketability of a home or business. In our area we can expect between ten and fifteen percent of the value of a home to be a ‘retrievable’ investment in our residential landscape. Many of our clients wish to at least partially, install their landscapes themselves. Having a landscape design gives them a guide as to exactly what plantings go where and also helps them to break their project into more manageable phases. Other clients prefer to have all or part of their projects professionally installed by a licensed landscape contractor. In this case, having a landscape design insures that all of the contractors are bidding on installing the same quantity of the same plants, of the same sizes and being planted in the same places. The same concept holds true with any proposed irrigation, lighting, decking or pathways. Thus the various bids should be easily comparable and both the client and the contractor know exactly what is expected to be completed. This can eliminate many potential misunderstandings and offers a far greater likelihood that the client will be satisfied with the final product.

The investment you make in your landscape design can save you costly errors from impulse purchases of plants which for various reasons would be unsuitable for your site. The design fee is dependent upon both the size and the complexity of each project. A firm bid is given after meeting with the client and evaluating both the needs of the client and noting various features of the site such as exposure, soil type and water availability. As every project is different we have no uniform fee schedule. However it is common for a design fee to begin at $425.00 to $2800.00 which includes a planting plan for a typical residence with additional costs for irrigation, retaining wall and pond installation plans. At Star Landscape we work individually with each client to customize your landscape design to your needs, tastes, budget and site thus insuring your satisfaction with the final outcome.