Landscape Design for homes in Houston Texas

What is involved in having a great landscaping design?
You have gathered pictures of some great landscaping ideas but how do you apply them on your own property? Will the same plants grow here that you see in the European and New England country side estates? How will you capture the vision of the stately Italian mansion on your lot in Houston Texas? You need the services of a knowledgeable landscaping design expert. A competent landscaping professional will bring you through the entire design development process which will include: consultation and program development, analysis of the existing site, conceptual landscaping design, design development and construction documentation. It is highly recommended that you utilize a landscaping company that not only does landscaping design but also project management and landscaping installation. There is a world of difference between someone who has great ideas but doesn’t know the availability of local materials, methods of construction of local contractors, overall cost and preservation of a proposed design solution in the Houston climate.

What are the first steps of the design process?
The schematic landscaping design will develop out of the meeting, program elements, site analysis and the designer’s experience. At this schematic level the overall design intent is conveyed such as the general use areas and their sizes; patios, swimming pools, lawn areas, trees, shrubs and groundcovers. An overall estimate can be developed from the schematic landscaping design as well.
What happen after meeting with a Professional?
After setting up an initial consultation with a landscape designer or landscape architect, walk with them around your property and share your overall vision, be sure to include you likes and dislikes. It is important to know what you want and be as specific as you can. For example; you may want a deck to seat a party of 10 people, a large enough lawn area for your 3 and 5 year old and two large labs. This detailed information will be brought together to create a program of uses. The program organizes uses by their relationships to one another like the inside flow of your home. The architecture and flow of your home should relate to the outside design and flow of your landscaping. The understanding of this relationship and its interpretation will separate artist/architectural designer from landscape horticulturalist/landscape contractor.

What Next?
Once you have settled on the overall design objective, sizes of use areas, general material selections and their applications you are ready to begin the landscaping design development and construction development phase. This phase can be broken down into 3 groups: 1) Landscaping design drawings for permitting. 2) Landscaping design drawings to convey final design intent and material selections to you and the installation contractor 3) Landscaping design drawings, called construction documents, to convey installation methods, specifications for materials and their installation. These three groups may be a full package of drawings to include; an existing site survey, tree disposition and elevation plan, tree preservation plan, demolition plan, pool layout plan, drainage plan, irrigation plan, hardscape plan, landscape plan, construction details for the above plans, specifications for above materials and their installation requirements. Each city has its own distinctive permitting requirements for the acceptance of landscaping plans. Submittal of an entire permitting package to be approved or rejected by a committee board is the norm. It’s imperative to have a landscaping business that is fluent in these areas to know what vital information to include; such as lot coverage ratios, engineered drainage plans, pool fencing layout and specifications, so the permit can pass and omit unnecessary information that could create confusion or a red flag that would keep the project from passing.

In Conclusion
Whether your project is a simple landscaping design, which only encompasses landscape planting, to a complex construction package it’s vital you hire the landscape company that is competent in these skill sets. It’s also important to distinguish between off the shelf landscaping design and a designer who is after reflecting your distinctive style if this is imperative to you. Always ask to see a portfolio, website and business cards as sign posts to distinguish if the landscaping company you are hiring has a sense of style or if they are regular landscape contractors.