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Landscape Design Assistance
Posted on 4/13/21 at 7:56 pm
Posted on 4/13/21 at 7:56 pm
I'm looking for advice on landscape design for my home. I live in Houston and I had a good bit of plants die from the freeze. We decided to redo my entire front landscape because we never really liked the look anyways. I have a guy to do the work but I wanting to find someone for coming up with the actual design and types of plants to install. Any thoughts on trying to find a landscape designer that all they do is this type of work and don't do the actual installation? We have any designers on the board that may be interested?!? 
9
Posted on 4/13/21 at 8:26 pm to Tiger1313
Jeff Carbo, @ Carbo Landscape Architecture can do it. $$$$
Carbo-la.com
Carbo-la.com
Posted on 4/13/21 at 8:28 pm to Tiger1313
What size lot are we talking about?
Posted on 4/13/21 at 8:48 pm to East Coast Band
Lot size is about 90' wide but the flower beds we are planning to redo is only about 35' wide by 8'-10' deep. The backyard faired out pretty well except 8 huge bottle brush trees we have to completely remove and go back some type of evergreen hedge for privacy.
Posted on 4/13/21 at 9:21 pm to Tiger1313
You are going to run into limited plant availability due to the ChinaVirus and tons of material being replaced in Texas and La. Good luck bro
Posted on 4/13/21 at 9:42 pm to Tiger1313
You could look for a small landscape architecture firm or a one man shop like me. I'm not sure what your budget is but I generally charge $2000 as a base but often more than that. I'm not campaigning for the job though.
Posted on 4/14/21 at 1:02 am to Zappas Stache
$2K for a design??? Holy shite!!! You’re either higher than giraffe puddy, or I’m lower than penguin dick.
Posted on 4/14/21 at 5:12 am to Tiger1313
Just went through the process here in Fort Worth.
Had 3 firms (2 large, 1 small) come out to bid. For the design alone, they were all around $2k. Keep in mind--that's just for the design/plans.
They come out, walk around the yard with you, take pictures and notes, etc. Took about a week for them to get back with me with the option for one of their landscape architects to put together a plan.
Once you agree, the submit to you to a first draft (Zappa, I'm sure I'm butchering the terminology--sorry). I then have the option to have them go back and make changes/amendments.
But once you purchase the design plan, it's yours. Good luck.
Had 3 firms (2 large, 1 small) come out to bid. For the design alone, they were all around $2k. Keep in mind--that's just for the design/plans.
They come out, walk around the yard with you, take pictures and notes, etc. Took about a week for them to get back with me with the option for one of their landscape architects to put together a plan.
Once you agree, the submit to you to a first draft (Zappa, I'm sure I'm butchering the terminology--sorry). I then have the option to have them go back and make changes/amendments.
But once you purchase the design plan, it's yours. Good luck.
Posted on 4/14/21 at 8:39 am to HoLeInOnEr05
quote:That’s a low end to average price for a licensed Landscape Architect. You gotta pay to play. Residential clients are a pain in the arse.
$2K for a design??? Holy shite!!!
Posted on 4/14/21 at 10:26 am to HoLeInOnEr05
quote:
$2K for a design??? Holy shite!!! You’re either higher than giraffe puddy, or I’m lower than penguin dick.
Im on the low end since I work from my house and have no real overhead. But I also don't go after residential work since it's a lot more work for less money than commercial work. I mostly do residential design when a client asks me to work on his/her house or sends a friend of theirs my way.
Posted on 4/14/21 at 10:38 am to Tiger1313
A decent size residential at the firms i worked with was $1000 (that's via design build) but i could see how someone like Zappas would charge 2k given his experience etc.
When i worked for private design only firms, we never did "average residential" stuff. We did mostly estates and homes that were multi million dollar homes. Not to knock you, but based on what you said, I don't think your house fits this category. Carbo is awesome but its going to cost you like 5k for that. It's probably not even worth their time to be honest.
I do designs, but have not done any in Houston area. I would need a ton of good info on your property to consider it.
There was another LA from Houston on here a while back. I wish I could remember his username.
Out of curiosity, how much is your installer going to charge you? Because you can possibly get a design done and get the install via design build contractor for less as a sum of the whole. Just a thought.
When i worked for private design only firms, we never did "average residential" stuff. We did mostly estates and homes that were multi million dollar homes. Not to knock you, but based on what you said, I don't think your house fits this category. Carbo is awesome but its going to cost you like 5k for that. It's probably not even worth their time to be honest.
I do designs, but have not done any in Houston area. I would need a ton of good info on your property to consider it.
There was another LA from Houston on here a while back. I wish I could remember his username.
Out of curiosity, how much is your installer going to charge you? Because you can possibly get a design done and get the install via design build contractor for less as a sum of the whole. Just a thought.
This post was edited on 4/14/21 at 10:41 am
Posted on 4/14/21 at 10:41 am to Geauxld Finger
quote:
A decent size residential at the firms i worked with was $1000 (that's via design build)
That's why design/build firms are enticing to homeowners, they are often giving the design away for free to get the install job.
Posted on 4/14/21 at 10:43 am to Zappas Stache
quote:
$2K for a design??? Holy shite!!! You’re either higher than giraffe puddy, or I’m lower than penguin dick.
you want it done by a professional? that's what professionals charge. When you pay for a lawyer, you pay for professional services and assumption of risks. You're essentially doing the same for an LA. We aren't just drawing pretty pictures and coloring them all day long.
Posted on 4/14/21 at 10:45 am to Zappas Stache
quote:
That's why design/build firms are enticing to homeowners, they are often giving the design away for free to get the install job.
No doubt. It's also why they can have that market. I love commercial work. No one to gripe about plant choices or wanting to incorporate some awful fountain or weird yard ornament. Draw the design, stamp it, get it ok'd, and someone else can build it. You go make sure it's installed correctly and that's that.
Posted on 4/14/21 at 11:17 am to Tiger1313
I’m just here to say hiring a landscape architect to put together a design for you is money well spent and down the road you’ll be happy you did. I did this but i installed the greenscape myself in stages - sure I saved some $ with self-install, but more so it’s an activity I enjoy. Seeing the end result of following the LA’s design plans several years post completion, today I’d happily pay 2x to 3x more than what he charged me for the design plans.
Posted on 4/14/21 at 11:25 am to CrawDude
Craw, who did your plans if you don't mind me asking?
Posted on 4/14/21 at 12:25 pm to Geauxld Finger
quote:
Craw, who did your plans if you don't mind me asking?
Sure - James Avault, Jr. - known him since he was a kid as his Dad was.a mentor/advisor to me in college and we later worked together for many years (his Dad and me). James started working at Cleggs Nursery as a young teenager and worked in the nursery trade continuously before getting his LA degree from LSU. I told him to charge me his going rate for the plans but I’m not sure that he did, but if you know James he did his own installs (labor, etc.) and he didn’t seem to have much overhead.
Posted on 4/14/21 at 1:04 pm to CrawDude
Sorry to hijack but I was wondering if anyone had a recommendation for how to plan out a bed yourself. We are putting in a smaller flower bed in our backyard in North Carolina. It’s not big enough to warrant a professional planning it out but also don’t want to go to a nursery and just guess at what will look good.
I’ve put in beds several times and we always seem to pull everything out and redo it bc we didn’t like what we put in. Trying to avoid that this time.
I’ve put in beds several times and we always seem to pull everything out and redo it bc we didn’t like what we put in. Trying to avoid that this time.
Posted on 4/14/21 at 1:08 pm to Zappas Stache
quote:
I'm not sure what your budget is but I generally charge $2000 as a base but often more than that.
I’d tell you to go pound sand.
Posted on 4/14/21 at 1:40 pm to Tiger31
My advice would be to draw out the bed form on paper. If you are more visual than that, get a can of marking paint, and spray out the bed line. Even a rudimentary sketch showing layout will be beneficial so you know how much to buy and where you think it will go.
Use the approach of putting taller things to the back, scale down as you get to the front. Massing is always good. A minimum plant mass should have no less than groups of three unless you are mirroring a specimen planting like a topiary or flowering tree.
Most shrubs average about 36" ht and 36" spread on average, but some shrubs can get up to 60" if not trimmed. It really depends on your intent. Spacing on most shrubs is anywhere from 36" on center to 48" on center, depending on the look you are trying to achieve.
Groundcovers are typically planted at about 12" on center but i wouldn't go farther than 18" apart, depending on the plant material.
Hope that helps
Use the approach of putting taller things to the back, scale down as you get to the front. Massing is always good. A minimum plant mass should have no less than groups of three unless you are mirroring a specimen planting like a topiary or flowering tree.
Most shrubs average about 36" ht and 36" spread on average, but some shrubs can get up to 60" if not trimmed. It really depends on your intent. Spacing on most shrubs is anywhere from 36" on center to 48" on center, depending on the look you are trying to achieve.
Groundcovers are typically planted at about 12" on center but i wouldn't go farther than 18" apart, depending on the plant material.
Hope that helps
This post was edited on 4/14/21 at 1:41 pm
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