Why Hire a Landscape Designer?
Hiring a landscape designer might be one of the most intelligent things you can do as a home owner or business owner. A common trend throughout new developments has been to neglect the landscaping and focus on the house. This is primarily the case because of basic economics. Homeowners often get overextended when buying a new home and builders focus on their part which doesn’t typically include the landscape. I worked for years in a multi-disciplined architecture and engineering firm. One of my good friends lead the landscape architecture department for CTA Architects in Billings MT. Time and time again, I observed how landscaping budgets got cut.
The reason for this has been three fold.
- Landscapes are the last to be constructed
- Most builders do not install landscapes and homeowner have to stretch to buy the home
- Most projects run over budget
The first obvious reason is that the landscape is the last thing to be constructed. Since it is last, it seems to get the least attention. The component of human nature that seeks immediate needs first seems to win. The point to remember is that though landscapes are the last to be constructed, they are the first thing that you see when approaching a home or business.
The second issue is common in Billings MT for homes in new developments. For whatever reasons, it is often difficult for the home owner to afford landscaping. As a result, many developments in Billings tend to get the same set of landscapers who do affordable “cookie cutter” landscapes. The end result is often poorly designed or incomplete landscapes that all look the same.
The third factor is like unto the second. Call it Murphy’s Law, but simply put, not every project goes well. Scheduling, labor, materials and other factors such as closing deadline and economics can make a project late and over budget.
So when should you hire a landscape designer and how can you afford it?
The answer is that you should always hire a talented designer to do your landscape. The trick if to find a talented designer. These days, many professionals posture as designers. The fact is that the factors listed above have created little room for professional landscape designers. This is especially true in Billings MT. Instead of designers, we have landscapers doing slap stick designs. Some have gotten fairly good at it, however, most of these same landscapers push to do maintenance contracts with their customers. If you design and install a landscape with care, then there is little need for maintaining beyond what is dictated by the landscape design itself. And so again, we have a conflict of interest in the industry and in addition, we have a lack of creative talent and experience industry wide. There is no replacement for a good designer. Ask an engineer to design your house and you’ll likely get a box. Ask a landscaper to design your landscape, and you’ll get the “cookie cutter” equivalent of a “box”.
The second part of the question was how do you afford it? The answer is that a good designer can often pay for themselves in the long run by applying good design practices. In addition, since the value of your home will be significantly greater with a professionally designed landscape, the better question is how can you invest so much into a home and not follow suit by hiring a landscape designer? Your home or business is likely the largest investment you will make in your life. It just doesn’t make sense to quit on the project before it is completed. Again, the first thing you and others will see is your landscape.
So if money becomes the primary obstacle, then a good approach is to hire a landscape designer to get you started, and then do the work yourself, have family help, and maybe hire the kids next door. Your designer will give you a good plan and a solid grasp of the costs involved for as little as $500. It is money well spent because it will save you money before the project is completed guaranteed…and the end result will be way better. If you are striving to do the work yourself, then check out these landscape design tips to help you install a maintenance free landscape that will last for years.
How Billings Landscaping is helping homeowners and business owners in Billings:
Our passion is to bring beauty to the world. We offer our design services as part of the landscaping services that you get when you hire us. We help you plan your project in a way that makes it affordable and beautiful. In addition, we offer this website as a free service to Billings residents so they can help themselves. Landscaping isn’t all that difficult. It is the lack of knowledge and experience that makes it hard for people to do it themselves. We hope that by offering this information to the public, we are doing a better job of serving our community and making Billings more beautiful.