Landscape Contractors & Design

Landscape contractors turn our home’s outdoors into dreamy landscape spaces by either creating or renovating it. They do this by planting flowers, shrubs, lawns, and trees on the property or building hard landscaping components like decks, paths, and patios. Their services can cater to both residential and commercial customers.
Landscape design can take your property’s curb appeal to a whole next level. To help homeowners figure out how and what to add to your outdoor environment is what a landscape contractor is all about. They will get their hands on the most exquisite pieces to enhance your outdoors during the design phase, whether it’s a fire pit to gather around or a trellis for privacy.
When we say that art is everywhere, we mean it because landscape design is an art itself. It is the art of renovating and arranging the components of a yard, an urban area, or other areas for aesthetics or pragmatic reasons. To simplify the landscape design or plan, the term landscape is further divided into two parts: hardscape and softscape. A landscape contractor works on both hardscapes and softscapes to bring the whole exterior area together.

Types of Landscaping Features
By today’s date, there are numerous landscape features available to play with while designing your outdoors. However, it is not necessary to add every element in your landscape. There are so many beautiful landscapes that do not include half of these and even more. These mentioned below are just a few landscaping additions you may consider starting with.
• Planting beds (such as flower borders)
• Lawns
• Shrubs
• Flowering trees
• Foundation plantings
• Driveways
• Walkways
• Fences
• Fountains
• Water gardens

If your wallet permits, it is ALWAYS better to opt for a professional landscape contractor. If you’re aware of the field of landscaping and all of its aspects, you can try to do it yourself, but a professional landscaper can save you the time, effort, and heavy labor. Choosing a professional has plenty of benefits, as it provides you with a knowledgable landscape designer and assistance to help plan out your garden. The biggest blunder people make is planting their favorite plants or flowers from the nurseries without having a clear view of how they would end up. Moreover, the proper prep of the site and the soil is the most important condition to fulfill before planting anything. With the professionals, this essential step will not be overlooked, and anything that is planted will bloom over time.

The Difference Between Landscapers and Landscape Contractors
The part of the landscape contractor is more diverse than a landscaper. A job nature of a landscaper is to mainly focus on the softscape such as the bushes and plants rather than hardscape features. They also help in upkeeping your garden and property. On the other hand, landscape contractors offer yard maintenance along with large, wide-ranging projects and outdoor architecture. Fountains or any constructed structures, such as outdoor kitchens, all fall under the category of hardscape features.

Landscape Contractor Specialties
A landscape contractor can be a specialist in one field only, based on his or her area of interest, or can have specialization in all related fields.
• Design and Build:
Contractors will help you design outdoor components such as decks, swimming pools, patios, or gazebos.
• Installation:
This varies from small-scale projects like planting flowers and trees to large-scale projects like installing walls, paths, water features, and pools for a homeowner.
• Maintenance:
A contractor skilled in his industry must also have some knowledge about horticulture and gardening, and he or she should provide you with a proper maintenance plan once or twice every week. The maintenance can include fertilization, pest management, trimming, lawn care, and other tasks.
• Residential/Commercial:
Projects can range around different categories like suburban homes to unified urban houses, and commercial interior landscaping and exterior landscaping.
• Exterior and Interior:
Some landscapers can be well-versed in both indoor and outdoor design, whereas others can choose to be specialized in one or the other. In this case, you can find either indoor specialists or outdoor specialists to help you with specific projects.

The 5 Major Perks of Hiring a Landscaping Contractor
Hiring a landscape contractor may seem heavy on your pocket, but the benefits they offer outweigh the cost. By hiring a landscape contractor to do the work, you’ll be doing yourself plenty of favors, such as the following:
1. Increase Your Property Value
Landscaping is an investment. Adding the lavish hardscape features like an outdoor inground sprinkler system, stone patios, or outdoor kitchen would allow you to be able to take full advantage of your property space. Not only do they benefit you, but rather they also play an important role in enhancing your property value. A property with a well-designed landscape would be more attractive and add more to the value than a building with no beautiful outdoors and landscaping. Investing in these landscapes won’t be regret because they give you a higher return rate than others.
2. Make Your Outdoor Space Functional
Landscape contractors are not restricted to just outdoor landscape design. They can also work indoors that means they are offering to turn your living area into a relaxing zen space by connecting the indoor and outdoor via an adhesive path (from inside to outside) – creating more space to chill out by extending the general living room. Improving the bond of your outdoors and indoors provides the perfect atmosphere for family meetings.
Apart from this, building paved patios would make leeway for outdoor furniture. Having seats around the firepit increase the functional capability and construct a composed area for the family and friends to enjoy whenever they wish.
3. Improve Overall Curb Appeal
If you’re looking for a way to uplift your boring outdoors, make sure to contact a landscape contractor. They will bring you the most beautiful yet simple pieces to add to your outdoor area, and those additions will create a significant impact. One of the most natural things to do is to add outdoor lights because this will not only brighten up space but also be the spotlight to natural beauty. Apart from creating more areas to relax and unwind, outdoor lights help guide people in the dark and provide a level of safety to your property.
4. Budget and Time
Hiring a team of professionals does not mean that they will design their vision. They will listen to all of your ideas when designing your landscape. This will also allow you and the team to collaborate and come up with a design that fits your budget. Having to work with professionals also saves time because you won’t have to spend hours trying to bring a DIY landscape project to an end. Landscape contractors ensure that the project is completed within a certain deadline so you can have for the perfect background for your special occasions or events without a lengthy delay.
5. Team of Professionals
Making your landscape dream come to life requires some essentials like hiring a group of professionals with proper license and insurance. Before employing them, make sure to check their sample examples and know if they stand a good chance in front of all the other competitors with a powerful reputation. Once you find all these qualities in your team of experts, you won’t need to worry, because your landscape design is in the right hands who will ensure to finish the project effectively and quickly. You can sit back and relax because your goal for your landscape can be achieved without chaos, stress, or a financial drain.

Average Design Plan Price
On average, design plans are about $6,000. However, they may range anywhere between $300 - $15,000. Plans are usually charged in flat rates. Whatever the case, the cost of a designer varies by region as well as by the local market price. However, the price usually gets balanced with quality.

How Much Does A Landscape Designer Charge?
The average range in which a landscape designer charges is $2,015 to $6,811, depending on the complexity of the project, the time required, and market rates.

Hourly Rate for a Landscape Designer Consultation
Mostly hourly rates vary between $50 - $150 per hour, but typically they may cost around $50 - $75.

Buying Materials
The cost of materials does not count in the design amount. Designing cost and material cost are separate.

DIY vs. Hiring a Professional Designer
Many homeowners think that DIYing a project, or doing it yourself, can help save money. But in reality, DIYing a project will get more costly even if we are provided with software as cheap as $20 to $200 or watching free online videos on landscaping. What you might not know is DIY can get pricier than hiring a professional landscape contractor.
Here’s how! Although we may think we have enough knowledge, do you know which plants will suit your soil type or climate the best? Do you know which plants would work fine and look beautiful together? There are many factors that a DIYer would neglect, which could cost them over time, but a professional would assure you of a beautiful garden every year. A DIY garden might turn out to be pretty good, but how long will it maintain itself after the spring is over? The amount of money you invest at the beginning of employing a professional landscape designer will pay you off with time, and you will realize that the investment was worth it.