Our Design Process

We Can Design Anything

We have the skills and experience to bring your vision to life first on paper, then in 3-D digital models, and finally in your space. 

Questionnaire

Our design process begins with a questionnaire that helps us get to know you and your space – how it is now and how you’d like it to be.

On-Site Consultation & Design Service Proposal 

With your questionnaire responses in hand, we conduct a site visit and an in-person consultation. There are many things we can’t know until we’re standing in your space, and meeting face-to-face gives us a chance to learn more about you, your style, and your project.

After our site visit, we create a Design Service Proposal. This is a shared understanding document that helps us calibrate our approach, set expectations, and communicate transparently (and early!) about our process and pricing.

A Design Service Proposal typically includes:

  • The design brief as we understand it based on the questionnaire and visit.

  • Relevant reference images from our portfolio.

  • An offer to design your garden and our design fee for the project. 

  • An overview of our design process, including next steps and deliverables.

  • A rough order of magnitude cost estimate for the build (provided as a range).

Design Service Agreement

To accept our proposal and formally engage our design services, you’ll execute a Design Service Agreement. Your signature will serve as our notice to proceed.

Design Phase

With an executed Design Service Agreement in hand, we begin work on your design. This phase has three stages:

Site Analysis 

We conduct a second site visit to learn everything we can about your space as-is. A site analysis visit typically includes:

  • Evaluation of existing conditions

    — What is there now?

    — What, if anything, is to be excavated/demolished/removed?

    — What, if anything, is to be retained/recycled/repaired/repurposed?

  • Soil assessment & testing

  • Drainage assessment & percolation test

  • Exposure & sunlight assessment

  • Measurements

When we have a sense of our starting point, we proceed to the conceptual stage.

Conceptual Stage

We generate multiple, high-level design directions for your space, exploring different approaches, elements, materials, and plants based on our site analysis and our discussions with you. We then narrow those down to our favorites and present them for review and feedback.

When you select a direction, we proceed to the schematic stage.

Schematic Stage

We dig into the details of your chosen design direction, creating plans, elevations, and material specifications sufficient for estimating and construction. We then present that complete design, together with a cost estimate and proposed build schedule, for review and approval.

When you approve the design and accept the estimate, we proceed to the build stage.