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7 Pro Tips when hiring a Landscape Contractor/Installer.

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Hiring a landscape contractor can be a daunting task!

Here are 7 questions to ask as you navigate this process to ensure you make the right choice for your home.

1.)Who is a highly respected and recommended landscaper in my area? The first tip I would give any homeowner or contractor is to ask around. Many online sources are deceiving with many companies paying for 5 star reviews and other high-ranking facades. So, the most valuable source you can find is a recommendation from someone you trust.  If you are new to the area, try asking your community architectural review board, local contractors or neighbors. Online searching can be helpful especially once you’ve found a few landscapers you know you can trust. Check out reviews of local companies on platforms such as Google Business, Facebook and Yelp.

2.)Do our styles match? Once you’ve found a few potential companies, check to see if your styles match. Go on their website, check out their past project photos, give them a call and see what type of landscape design they are used to working with. You are going to want a professional that has experience in your desired landscape style and shares the excitement for your project . Most of the time you will find certain companies stick with the same plant pallet, types of water features, and hardscapes.

3.)What Services do you provide? Asking this question up front will help you know if they will be a good fit for your project. Some landscapers offer full service: design, architectural stamping, installation, and maintenance, however, many do not. Certain large projects or projects with large plant material are too much of an undertaking for smaller landscape companies, so it will save you time to identify that up front. Another question to ask them is what services will be completed “in house” and what services will be “subbed-out” to subcontractors. This is nice to know and will give you a better gauge how that company operates.

4.)Who will be my contact during construction? When meeting your landscape contractor always identify the role of who you will be communicating with and ask if they will be your contact during the entire construction process. It is important to have clear communication with someone that understands your project fully throughout the entirety of your project.

5.)What is the schedule, budget & time frame? Make sure to ask your prospects about their schedule and their ability to get a crew out at a desired time as well as an estimated time frame for completion. You should also ask the contractor for the percentage of jobs that have gone over budget. A well experienced firm rarely if ever go over the discussed budget.

6.)Are you insured? Make sure to always ask for proof of insurance especially if your landscape contractor will be using heavy machinery.

7.)What is the warranty?  Any landscape contractor you hire should outline a warranty for your recently installed landscape. Hiring a contractor that warranties their work will give you a peace of mind as well as insure that the contractor is not cutting corners and doing it right the first time. If your palm trees die a week after installation are you covered?

7 Landscape Design Trends in 2019

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Here are your 7 Landscape Design Trends!

  1. Low Maintenance Landscapes

Low maintenance landscapes are becoming popular again in landscape design due, in part, to two main factors. First, the Green Movement: businesses and homeowners are becoming more environmentally conscious (water, fertilizer, energy, etc.)  as the availability of this information has increased. Secondly, because life seems to be going faster and getting busier for everyone, there has been a switch to an autonomous and low maintenance lifestyles. Here are some examples of low maintenance landscape choices:

  • Replacing annuals (lasting 1 year or less) with perennial (lasting 2 or more years)
  • Removing exotic non-native plants from the landscape. This cuts down on watering schedules,seasonal fertilizing and most importantly, the exhaustive maintenance of these invasive/exotic plant species.
  • Autonomous irrigation clock with a rain sensor & wifi module that allows you to turn on or turn off your sprinklers anywhere in the world with wifi.
  • Fuss free plants! There are a lot of Florida native grasses such as Muhly & Fakahatchee Grass that are virtually maintenance free that are making their way into Florida landscape designs.

 

2.) Business in the front party in the back

 

Being in the residential design & construction industry for over a decade there has been a design trend that introduced itself early in the 2000’s that has become the absolute norm. This trend simply said is maximizing backyard space by placing your home as close to the curb as possible. Doing so, allows you, the homeowner, to design your own private oasis in the rear of the home. Here are a few ideas that are trending:

  • Private courtyards are offering homeowners a private oasis away from the busyness of the world right in your own backyard. These spaces typically feature large canopy trees that provide adequate shade, ornamental and less formal plants, and romantic yet quaint seating for two.
  • Outdoor activity spaces such as putting green, basketball court, fire pit, tv area etc.
  • Larger lanias and outdoor kitchens are perfect for those who like to entertain
  • A living fence such as a shrub or trees placed along the property line add additional privacy as well as decrease sound pollution.

3.) Hardscapes

The term Hardscapes refers to a man made object/material that is incorporated into the landscape of a structure in contrast to the vegetation that is used for both functionality and aesthetics. As homes are pushing for formality we’ve subsequently seen a rise in hardscapes. Here are a few hardscapes you will find trending in the new year.

  • Water Features have become increasingly popular among landscapes due to their noise cancelling properties, ability to attract wildlife and overall aesthetic flare.
  • Retainer walls are being used to incorporate clean lines and create a great formal landscaping bed.
  • Pots are a great hardscape to add additional color to your home where pathways or decking have made it impossible to add landscape
  • Pergolas are becoming increasingly popular as people are desiring creating outdoor living spaces.
  • Fireplaces are a great way to add an additional element to complete the Fire, Water, Earth and Air vibe.

 

4.) Edible Gardens

You have the space you might as well use it! As the demand for healthy organic produce has been on the rise homeowners are taking upon themselves to grow  edible garden spices and produce. With as little as a 10×10 space, you will be well on your way to growing your very own edible garden. Many are adopting the “what can I grow myself” mantra which is leading to an increased garden space.

 

5.) Landscape lighting

 

Since the early 2000’s landscape lighting has become almost customary on all recently landscaped homes. It is now in 2019 that we are seeing not just 3 or 4 lights to say “we have outdoor lighting”, but, it has become a whole landscape design itself. For example:

  • Solar footpath lights
  • Dramatic uplighting to make those palms, oaks and other “wow” trees look epic in the evening
  • White “christmas lights” strung around the backyard are very popular right now, and not just around the holidays, but year round
  • Step lighting

 

6.) Artificial Grass

Artificial grass has experienced it’s time in the spotlight. As synthetic grass prices have become commercially feasible and skilled labor has become informed of the installation processes there has been a large increase in demand.

  • No trimming!
  • No fertilizer!
  • And 20+ years of maintenance free grass.

7.) Landscape as Art

 

We are seeing an increase in landscape art including topiaries, hardscape patterns, and live arbors.

  • Topiary are plants or trees that have been trimmed in such a way to make an ornamental shape. Disney World has become famous for their over the top Topiaries of disney characters.
  • Designing hardscape patterns out of rocks and other material have become a creative way to construct an image or pattern in your lawn.

7 landscape irrigation tips to save water, save money, and save the environment!

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  1. Install an irrigation timer. Many of the new irrigation timers used today have many features that simplify the irrigation process. One great feature that you should get to know is the seasonal adjustment dial . This user friendly dial allows you to adjust your watering times to a seasonal percentage to protect from over watering in summer and under watering in the winter months.
  2. In addition to installing an irrigation timer add a rainfall sensor or soil moisture reader that will turn of your system automatically when proper moisture levels are met. This simple addition to your timer can save 1000s of gallons of water a month.  We recommend having a WI-FI module installed to your irrigation timer as well in that it allows you to have access to your clock anywhere there is WIFI.
  3. Use a combination of irrigation heads including Rotors, Pope ups, and bubblers.
    • Rotors are a great option in large areas that need large amounts of water spread over a longer period of time. The Rotor heads rotate at adjustable radius allowing you to adjust the head for optimal watering coverage. Residential grade Rotors are typically placed 10-25’ apart.
    • Pop Ups are great options for smaller landscaped areas.. Since the water is being exerted at an even stream in a small confined area it is smart to dial back watering time when compared to a Rotor head.
    • Bubblers are great to install at the end of your irrigation swing pipe when you are looking to water an individual plant or tree. The bubbler is a great compliment to your irrigation system since this water emitter is one of the most efficient . Some drawbacks to the bubbler are that they have provide limited coverage and need to run for long periods of time to provide adequate water supply.
  4. Increase your efficiency with replacing generic pop up nozzles with the highly efficient Rotary nozzle. These nozzles use the same approach to watering as the larger rotors do. Incorporating this type of watering with your pop up heads has been known to decrease water runoff and limit evaporation from the typical mist like emission of water from the traditional nozzle.
  5. Picking the prime time to water. Typically the best time to water is early morning roughly 2 hours before sunrise. This allows the irrigation system to run at a cooler time of day which limits evaporation. By watering at this time you are not only saving water but protecting your lawn from fungus that could grow at night if you were to water later in the way.
  6. Replace damaged heads immediately! If a irrigation head goes un-repaired you could be losing up to  10000 gallons of water per month as well as damaging existing landscape and even damaging the foundation to your home.
  7. Adding, moving and simply adjusting current irrigation heads can be one of the top ways to save money, save water and save your landscape as a whole. Sometimes by simply decreasing the amount of water emitted from certain heads and adding additional heads in hard to reach areas are all it takes to save irrigation water from becoming runoff.

BONUS TIP!

Instead of irrigating rain fall  from your downspout to your driveway, invest in a rain barrel that you can use to water potted plants in and outside your home.

South-West Florida Complete guide to Landscape Lighting

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Covered Material

Types of landscape lighting fixtures

Landscape Lighting Techniques & Effects

Landscape Lighting Design

Landscape Lighting Installation

Types of Fixtures

Up-lights

Up-lights are directional lights often installed to illuminate vertical exterior features of a home including palms, trees, and architectural columns. These light fixtures are a great way to highlight garden features and your favorite plants. Installing up-lights also contributes to adding depth to your outdoor spaces while adding ambient light for safety and security during dusk hours of the night.

Path Lights

Path lights are typically used to illuminate areas of heavy foot traffic, however in recent years have been used to highlight decorative landscape beds, low profile hardscapes, and water features. Unlike many other landscape lighting features, path lights are typically installed in high traffic areas making it paramount that they are aesthetically pleasing and highly durable.

Floodlights

Floodlights are typically used to vertically illuminate home exteriors. Floodlights have a wider angle in regards to light emission than the up-lights, making them a great option to add substantial exterior lighting to your home.

Well Lights

Well Lights are a lighting fixture that’s body is installed predominantly below ground. Having its flush profile with hardscapes and turf allow it to be a great lighting option to incorporate in places where foot or machine traffic may pass over the light. Well lights low profile also gives the lighting feature the ability to illuminate starting from the base of its subject.

Deck and Step lights

Deck and step lights work to illuminate the transitional spaces in your home where the exterior and interiors collide. These lights typically highlight decks, stairs, and their ornate ballast. Having these lights installed are a must in regards to safety around these transitional areas.

Landscape lighting; Techniques & Effects

Accent/Up-lighting

This landscape lighting effect is when you take an up-lighting fixture and aim its narrow intense beam vertically to highlight focal points on the exterior of your home. This lighting effect allows you to choose individual features you would like to illuminate without large amounts of light pollution meeting other features of your home.

Grazing

Grazing is when you position a lighting fixture typically a well or flood light relatively close to a surface to highlight dramatic textures on landscapes, hardscapes or exterior walls. This is a great technique for any upgraded features of your home for example if you upgraded your front elevation from stucco to a stone facade this would be a great place for “grazing”.

Shadowing

Shadowing is a lighting technique where you position a light fixture in a relative distance from its subject so that the subjects shade cast on a vertical surface. This can be a great way to add depth to a landscape unless you are working with a detailed wall or facade in which case this technique could give the home a busy unorganized look.

Silhouetting

When you conceal lights behind and below a tree or bush, you achieve that same wondrous effect as seeing it on a ridge silhouetted against the sky at dusk.

Aquatic lighting

Water lighting is a very complicated lighting technique that when used properly can add a dramatic effect to any water feature. This technique is typically done by using an assortment of light fixtures in and around the water feature. It is important to remember that water will dilute the light’s intensity so plan on using 30%-50% more lumens.

Downlighting

Down-lighting is a lighting technique that incorporates a downward illumination over an area. To illuminate large areas it is best to use a flood light at high heights. If the goal is to illuminate ground-cover and walkways a path light fixture would work best.

Steps to lighting design

Landscape lighting design

Creating a great outdoor lighting design can be a daunting task if you go about it unprepared so we laid out a design plan to help you get started on your outdoor design.

Step 1

Creating a budget.

It is paramount that before starting to design a lighting package for your home that you create a budget for this project. During the budgeting process make sure to educate yourself on the cost of lighting fixtures, wire, transformers, LED bulbs & necessary tools. Having all these numbers together will help you execute a lighting design that you love and can afford.

Step 2

Identifying your objectives

Before your break out the pencil and paper and start walking around your home, this is a great time to identify your objectives. Typical lighting design objectives include safety, security, usability, and aesthetics.

Here are examples of each

Safety: Incorporating light fixtures anywhere there is a transition or change of elevation.

Security: Adding light fixtures to ward off potential theft

Usability (Using your home to the fullest extent): Adding light fixtures in key entertainment areas of your home to open up more exterior space and aid in overall safety.

Aesthetics: Incorporating up-lighting to highlight dramatic feature in your landscape such as water features, palms, trellis’s etc.

Step 3

Combine

The third and final step in the lighting design process is to take your budget, design objectives and perceived strength, weaknesses, opportunity and threats of your property and meld them together to come up with a design that ensures optimum use of your home and budget.

As you bring your design from the early preliminary stages of careful site analysis to a conceptual design either on paper or any CAD software it is important that you call out the quantity of material you will need to finish your project. *Note: when measuring distances needed for your wire, be sure to add an additional 10-15% to your final lengths, this will factor in lost wire due to light connections and unforeseen problems in the field.

Installing your landscape lighting system

Now that you have finished your design it’s time to install your new landscape lighting fixtures.

Step 1

Light Placement- We start the installation process of by placing all lighting fixtures as outlined on the lighting plan. When placing the lights, start out with hammering the stakes that hold the individual lights into the ground. Try to use larger stakes 4”-6” in length. Using larger stakes will make the lights sturdier and less likely to fall or break over time. Before tightening the light fixture to the stake ensure that all LED bulbs are inserted into the fixture.

Step 2

Laying out the wire- Run lighting wire starting from the transformer through to each light. Make sure to leave a loop in the wire at each individual fixture, this will give you additional wire needed to splice and connect all fixtures.

Step 3

Wire Connections- At the location of each fixture cut the wire at the loop then proceed to strip roughly 1” of insulation off of the wire ends. After stripping the wire connect your lights to your wire by twisting wires together clockwise and adding a wire nut. *Note: Make sure that one of the connections is leading back to the transformer and the other is leading to the next light in the sequence. Before you bury the light connections make sure to cover wire nuts with a watertight connector. Wire connections are a critical step in the installation process, so make sure to use high-quality watertight connections.

Step 4

Mounting & connecting the transformer- Before mounting your transformer connect the low voltage landscape wire to the terminals typically found on the bottom of the transformer.  Next, you want to mount your transformer adjacent to an exterior outlet. After mounting you may plug in your transformer and walk around the home making sure all fixtures are working properly.

Step 5

Burying the wire- Once you have checked that all lights are working you can start to bury the wire. You want to bury it at least 6” into the ground to ensure that the wire is not exposed over time. A great way to do this is to insert a long square shovel into the ground with a forward and back motion. Once you have reached the desired depth lay the wire into the trough and cover with any excess dirt.

Step 6

Readjust at night- The last step in the installation process is to walk around your finished design at night making sure to adjust all fixtures to properly illuminate their subjects. Also, it is a great investment to acquire a lighting timer and sensor that will turn off your lights automatically after a certain amount of time.

Here are 7 tips to increase your home value with Landscaping!

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LET’S GET STARTED!

1.    Fertilize! Putting a high-quality fertilizer on your yard a couple months before listing your home will bring back healthy color to your trees, shrubs, and grass. Fertilizer is quite inexpensive when looking at its high return on investment typically reaching over 200%!

2.    Right Tree Right Place! There is no better time than now to take an honest look at your trees and call out a professional to remove all dead or struggling trees. Next look at the strengths and weaknesses of your lot and start thinking of ways to take advantage of your strengths and minimize your weaknesses. Some great examples of this would include; adding shade trees around in your home that get heavy afternoon sun. Remove trees that are hiding decorative architectural features or taking away from breathtaking views. And adding trees that compliment your home’s design and architecture rather than subtracting from it.

3.    Curb Appeal! One of the best ways to add some buzz to your soon to be listed home is to increase your “curb appeal” with landscaping. Curb appeal is highly important when selling a home because it increases interest in prospective buyers and will increase foot traffic coming into your listing. This can easily be done by adding new shrubs, flowers, and a heavy mulching. Also, nothing says “I don’t maintain my home” like a neglected landscape.

4.    Upgrade & Automate your Irrigation System! Coming from an ex-Realtor myself, buyers hate any sort of maintenance, including manual watering. Most buyers in today’s day and age are downsizing and are trying to get away from the constant maintenance and upkeep of their homes. A great way to solve this issue is to install an automatic irrigation system that is programmed to water periodically and will even temporarily shut off the system if it senses rain. Also by upgrading and performing an irrigation tune-up, you can get your yard to consume less water while looking better.

5.    Landscape Lighting! Landscape lighting is a great way to compliment your new trees and shrubs and will have any traffic passing by your home doing a double take. This is a great way to highlight ornamental landscape features such as trellises, palms or water features.

6.    Grass, Grass, and more Grass! Often times what happens when you have been living in a home for many years your landscape begins to look overgrown. One of the best ways to simplify your landscape is removing access shrubs and plants and laying down a fresh mat of sod. This will make your landscape look more manicured as well as giving the illusion of a bigger lot.

7.    Getting rid of unwanted sound! Homes that are situated close to busy streets or highways often experience a decrease in home value due to noise pollution. A great way to combat this unpleasant noise is installing water features. Water features though not extremely loud themselves do a great job concealing unwanted noises. Other benefits of installing a water feature are their aesthetic appeal and bird attraction.

Hiring a Landscape professional.

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Here are 7 tips to hiring a landscape Architect/Designer/Contractor.

1.) Licensed, bonded & insured!

First and foremost it is essential to ask your potential landscape contractors if they are licensed bonded and fully insured. The Landscape installation process often involves heavy machinery making it essential that your professional carries adequate bonds & insurance. In the rare case that an issue does arise both you and your landscape professional can rest easy knowing that any issue can be addressed and solved in a timely manner

2.) Number of Years in the business.

A great indicator of a solid and trustworthy landscape contractor is how many years they

have in the industry. Experience is typically synonymous with efficiency & proficiency. What this typically means for the homeowner is that you are hiring a professional that has a high degree of competence and skill in a particular industry equipping them with the skills to manage your project from design to completion with ease. Contractors that have passed the test of time have generally done so by constantly implementing new processes that allow them to complete projects with a high level of efficiency. As a homeowner, you always want to know that your landscape professional is using the best and most cost-effective solutions in completing your project. Hiring a landscape professional especially with local experience will go miles when you start to submit drawings to the city and board (These local authorities can often be arduous when it comes time to review your plan making it essential for you to have professional guidance.

3.) Recent projects

Looking at a company’s recent projects is a great tool to use when narrowing down your landscape contractor search. By panning through these potential contractors projects you will get a good idea of their quality of work and general architectural environments they work in. Say you are looking to build a “West Indies” style home on the water in Port Royal, Naples.

It is important to know that your potential contractor has experience designing and installing landscapes and hardscapes that compliment this architectural style as well as the knowledge to design and implement a plant itinerary that will thrive in a coastal environment.

 4.) Budget & time frame

Make sure your potential landscape contractor/designer understands your budgets and timeframes and is more than confident that they will be able to stay within your parameters.

Speaking of budgets,  It is very important even before the landscape design process begins that you as the homeowner have a budget in mind. Having a budget gives the landscape architect/designer parameters to design in. Too often in the industry landscape architects design ornate landscape plans without an accurate or any estimate on the finished products cost. An experienced and well-trained landscape architect/designer will keep these things in mind throughout the design process.

Once you have your plans completed you will be going to a landscape contractor to install your landscape as outlined on the landscape plans. It is very important that the homeowner again have a conversation regarding the cost and time frame before any construction commences.

5.) References & Reviews!

Asking a potential landscape contractor for references is a great way to acquire more information on a company. Before calling the references it is a good idea to have a list of questions ready. Some great questions to ask include; How was your overall experience with_____? Did the Project stay on budget and timeframe? Will you be calling _____ for your next landscape project?

Reviews can also be a great inside look at a company. Avoid only looking at reviews on the company’s websites and try to find reviews on third party websites such as HOUZZ.com or Google Business. This will give you a more accurate look at the company than looking at reviews on their personal website.

6.) Warranty!

When looking for a landscape contractor it is important to choose a firm that stands behind its product and design. With that said, it is important to hire a firm that carries some sort of warranty with regard to their installation and finished product. Hiring a professional that warranties their finished product is typically an accurate indicator for quality workmanship. Contractors hate doing things twice, ensuring that it is done right the first time around.

7.) Time, Trust and Personality.

Most importantly, you want to hire someone that is going to take the time to get to know you, your space and all your wants and desires. Sitting down with a good architect/designer/contractor feels a lot like sitting down with a therapist that is helping you bring all your thoughts out of the clouds and into the light. It is important that you trust and enjoy your architect/designer/contractor because they will be acting as your guide through this exciting but often lengthy process.