Auburn Landscaping Services

We're Elite Horticulture - Landscape Services In Auburn WA. We provide landscape design and maintenance, hardscapes, patios and backyard fire pits, and lawn care services. Call us today for your free consultation. (425) 533-4350

How To Choose A Landscaping Service

There's a lot that goes into landscaping and creating a landscape that is perfect for you and your needs. Choosing the right landscaping company is probably the best place to start. An awesome landscape starts with a great landscape design. This is because the landscape design influences every subsequent step. It's important to start with the end in mind.

Landscape East and West writes in their article, How To Choose A Landscape Designer That's Right For You:

"Before you gather information from potential landscape designers, it’s wise to get your own thoughts in order. What will you use your garden for? Are you looking to install a walkway or a water feature? Or are you more interested in how your landscape can provide fresh veggies and healing herbs for your family? Collect magazine/book/neighborhood photos that can show your landscape designer the style, features or feel you going for.

Sketch a design that expresses what you envision for your garden space. It will be much easier to find the right landscaping contractor if you have clear ideas about what you want. You can even write a brief description of what you’re looking for; this will make it much easier to directly compare the different solutions various contractors propose for your garden. More communication means a better end result." Read more...

Getting your thoughts in order is really great advice of course. When you hire a designer they are going to want to make your vision a reality. That is what you are hiring them for. However, if you don't have a clear plan when you first engage with a designer it will be really hard to tell if they are confident that they will be able to accomplish what you are asking of them.

It is also important that you learn whether or not the landscape design firm is able to execute on the plans once they are created. Some design firms have landscape contractors on staff and some don't.

Laura Fisher Kaiser writes for HGTV in her article, How to Hire Landscaping Contractors:

"To make it more confusing, many design-build firms have landscape designers and architects on staff to orchestrate the complete design, installation and maintenance of the most complex landscapes, while some designers and architects hire their own contractors. Sometimes you can hire a landscape architect or designer to come up with the plans and give good contractor referrals, which you then implement yourself. With landscape contractors, any design work is considered part of the construction package.

Whom to hire depends on several factors: your budget, timeline and project's size and complexity. The ultimate litmus test, though, is how you get along. Is the person receptive to your ideas, goals and project schedule? Can you communicate with each other?" Read more..

As you can see, a great starting point is to create a clear plan, and then find a landscape company who can both confidently create a landscape design that matches your vision and also provide contractors to execute on it. Otherwise, they should be able to offer a referral to a landscape contractor whom they trust and have worked with before.

For more information please call Elite Horticulture at (425) 533-4350