The Importance of Landscaping

Courtesy of sweethomedecorating.com

As Spring approaches, I told my wife the other day my entire goal was to get my yard plush and green this year, with freshened-up mulch and plants.  I don't know about you, but whenever I go to a golf course, or Sea World or a nice hotel like JW Marriot with beautifully landscaped grounds- I can't help but walk away vowing to make my yard a better place by putting a little more effort into it.

At Mattern & FitzGerald we offer landscaping assistance to the homeowners prior to moving in.  There are some different ways that you can tackle it, and I just wanted to point out a couple.

First, you can interview several different reputable landscape companies, and have their draftsman draw you a plan.  This is a service that can be free if you use them, or somewhere in the $500 range if you don't. Usually the hook is they will donate the drawing time to the cause if you decide to use their services.

The next way that I like best is to have a master plan designed by a landscape architect.  Two years ago, I engaged Matt Stevens mwsla.com to do my personal residence.  Matt is a Landscape Architect and got his degree for it from Texas A&M.  My wife and I were extremely happy with his design and he won a Summit Award for it last year.  The cost can vary but a ballpark number for detailed drawings is $2500.  Yes, that's a lot of money, but what it gives you is detailed drawings, quantities, a master plan and lighting and elevation considerations.  The most important benefit though is it gives you a level playing field from which to solicit bids.  There's no real way to cheat the system when it's laid out in detail like that.  My thought is that you will almost recoup the investment in the plans by getting it competitively bid out from the same basis point.

I would encourage you to do a little advance, thought-out planning on the landscaping portion of your home and get some assistance to help you make your yard an oasis from a stressful day.