Have a "big city" landscape architect coming to look at my yard

[Bartman]

It was easier to find someone than I thought.  He makes regular trips here for the city and other clients and said he will be in town again next week.  No charge for the initial discussion.  We'll see how it goes.  I already told him I don't have a big budget.  I'm not looking for a fancy plan from multiple angles either so with any luck he can do something in my budget with the ideas I already have and just help to clarify a 5 year plan.

Anything I should be aware of when talking to this guy?  Industry lingo or what I should expect to pay for or not pay?  I've never dealt with any architect before.

I'm also hoping he can give me some leads on where to buy some planters that I've been hunting for.  I found them this past weekend, but they wanted $750.00 for three of them which I thought was excessive.  I'm not that crazy yet.  I could build a new pond for less than that!

Bart

[miguynmkoi]

As you already said make sure he understands the budget and timeline you need to work with.  Anything and everything: get it in writing.  Will he be around while the work is installed?  It is important that he is at your beck and call in case there are any misunderstandings in the plan or work. 

Work out a payment schedule; labor and materials to be paid for as they are done or arrive on your property.  I make sure my crew cleans up every night and at the end of the job.  Make sure his crew is dependable.

The relationship you have with this professional must feel good to you or there will be lots of axes to grind.  Everyone happy?  Better outcome.  Nothing you ask will be out of the ordinary.  Make a list of questions and write in the answers as you discuss the project.

There may be more things you could ask but my thinking cap is loose    Good Luck!  And of course before and after pics are our favorites! 

[MikeW]

The lesson I've learned the hard way - and more than once, is to have a large final payment. As large as you can get away with.
Had more than one contractor walk away before the job is done, and the money I yet owed him was way less than the value of the remaining work to be completed. I now look for at least a 40% final payment.

All depends on the guy though. I have been ripped off with a signed contract (know how much that is going to cost you to enforce), and I have been more than pleasantly surprized with guys I've worked with on the strength of a handshake.

As to technical verbiage etc., my trick is to explain to the best of my abilites what it is I want, and then add "On the final day that your crew leaves my house, I am hosting a garden party 30 minutes later, and all I want to do is to add the lanterns." That should clear up any confusion as to what it is you are looking to see, and gives the guy a chance to reavalute, or at least come up with questions for me that I would not have known to bring up.

Other tip I've learned - be present as much as possible during 'construction'. Amazing how many little things come up that you can correct when you are right there. (I have a flight of steps running from a patio right into a flowerbed that the contractor should have built three feet over, but there was a misunderstanding between the contractor's instructions (and he was not present) and the guy actually building the steps.

Good luck Bart - it is a fun project to wrestle with at least.

Cheers,

Mike

[Bartman]

Okay all good however I will reiterate that I'm not having any work actually done by anyone yet.  I'm after "the plan".  Most everything will be done by me when it comes to ripping things up (which would be the fence and grass) and by me when it comes to the planting and what not.  Mostly a DYI long term project.  I have a fairly good idea of what I'm after, but not a great idea of how to lay it out for the right effect and what plants to use.  As with my interior remodelling I want the experts involved when the big ticket and/or will be looking at for a long time items are on the table!

The hardscape items, when it comes time, I'll contract out.  It is not a big yard and I do not anticipate doing anything that will be a huge expense (beyond a hot tub at some point) and the new fence.

I mainly do not want to get into a situation where I have no direction and just start randomly executing my ideas only to find out later that I should have done something in a different order or not at all.  I'd like to have it laid out in steps, but also have some "instant gratification" spots in there too so I can enjoy it and stay interested in seeing it to completion.

I'm, totally, looking for a contemporary back yard.  Colours are the highlights, but I don't want to get into flower beds or another pond.  Some kind of water feature for sure.  Some kind of fire bowl for sure.  Probably flowers in planters only (but not the ones they wanted $250.00 each for).

The biggest issue right now is privacy since there is none.  I almost need a tree row on two sides, but don't just want to stick that in willy-nilly.  There is also no shade and it's south facing so unbearable except for the evening.

Bart

[MikeW]

About 7 years ago, a friend of mine bought a new house in San Diego. One of these new developments, so there was nothing in the garden - apart from a few weeds.
He paid a landscape designer $1800 to plan out the whole garden, front and back, where to put the pool etc.

I thought "Wow, one could buy a lot of plants for that", but many years later, my garden is a work in progress with digging things up that ended up being too big etc, while this friend of mine, who did mostly all his own work, by the time the last rose bush went in, the whole place looked like it all belonged together.

I guess, you just have to be as honest as you can be as to how you want the place to look, and how you plan to use it, to enable this landscaper to create something that will work for you.

Cheers,

Mike

[Julles]

Ask to see pictures of what he's done, and references, too.  And CALL the references.

Have magazine clippings and photos of things you've seen that you like, so there's no miscommunication about what you like and don't like. 

[Bartman]

I know he does work for the city so some of it I've probably already saw and didn't know it!

I think Mike has hit the nail on the head.  I don't want to be working on this yard for a long time.  I'd like a 5 year plan and call it done!  I mostly need clarification of my ideas and maybe one sketch to follow.  For me the biggest challanges are dealing with the idea of little or no grass when it is done and the proper trees and placement of trees.  Things like planters, BBQ area, hot tub area and a quiet corner deck almost fall into place on their own already based on the space.  I guess the water feature isn't coming to me easy yet either so some help there too would be good.

I'm happy to pay for some guidance if it will save me dollars later which I think it will.

Bart

[JimMcD in SVAZ]

Bartman,

     You might explain to the architect that you're really only interested in him reviewing, tweaking, and drawing up your plans, suggesting some plantings, and a generating work schedule.  He may walk out.  He may take the job. 

     He will also be able to tell you whether you need permits.  A fence - maybe.  A deck, if it attaches to the house - maybe.  A pond, how deep - maybe.

Good luck.

[Bartman]

Well had my first meeting with the guy today.  It went very well, I felt a good vibe during it.  He is in the city off and on for the next three months doing a big project for them.  He said he doesn't normally take on residental projects because they are really busy with these city projects, but since he was here anyway he decided that it was something he could do to fill in some spaces.  Works for me since I'm not having to pay him mileage to come down here!

I had my list of what I wanted to stay, what I wanted to change (fence, garage) and what I would like to ultimately see incorporated.  He took photos and said he would do up a very quick sketch and if it was looking like a direction we could go in then we would move into the fee schedule, more sketches and the deeper levels of design.  The costs would be spread out over the whole project which also works well for me as it allows me to have a bigger budget for him than if I had to fork over X number of dollars for some plans and just have at it myself.  I said I'd like to see it done in 5 or 6 years.  I'd still do as much of the work myself.

He liked that I had a blank slate to work with.  He also identified problem areas right off the hop that were on my top 5 list of concerns.  Good start.

He already saved me some money.  I had planned to put in some trees this spring, but weather delayed things enough that I started second guessing what I had planned to do in terms of how many and where.  I hadn't done anything which was good since the trees I had been told to get really would have caused me problems later on.  He said that there were far better choices that would do the same thing without the issues.   Must have been fate.

I'm excited now to see the initial rough sketch.  I hope that we were on the same page so it can move forward withough a lot of revisions and added expense that would bring.

Bart

[Julles]

Sounds like you got lucky, Bart.  See if you can post pictures of the plans.

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