Three Biggest Landscape Design Pitfalls « MasterPLAN Outdoor Living

So you’ve finally decided to bring in a professional to design your new dream backyard, someone to bring your best landscape design ideas to life. It’s a great idea! Studies show that homes with professional landscaping are valued higher than those that do not have professional landscaping. Plus upgrading your outdoor space, whether you’re adding a pool, a deck or simply looking to increase the beauty, is an investment that you and your family will enjoy for years to come.

Unfortunately, not all landscape designers are equal, and choosing poorly today may cost you more tomorrow. Here are the most common pitfalls to avoid when hiring a professional landscape designer:

— Hiring a Designer Who Doesn’t Work in 3-D.

With a 3-D design, you’ll be able to see an almost photo-quality plan of what your finished backyard will look like before the building begins. With just a 2-D design, you’ll be forced to imagine the final project, and may be disappointed if it doesn’t come out as you envisioned it. The time to make changes to the plan is during the planning stage, not the building stage, when changes done in real life cost real money.

–Hiring A Designer Without a Long-Term Vision.

Hiring a landscape designer with a long-term vision will allow you to build the project in stages, over a number of years, if necessary. You need a landscape MasterPlan to capture all of the improvements you’d like to make to your backyard. Without such a plan, you may end up having to relocate expensive plants, or re-doing landscaping elements to make room for a new feature down the road.

–Hiring a Designer Who Doesn’t Know Plants.

This may sound like a no-brainer, but some landscape designers are better at building porches than picking plants. A good landscape designer will be as comfortable with paving stones as knowing which plants thrive in the shade and which in the sun, which bushes will remain small and not cover up your picture window, which trees have roots that will not grow to rupture your sewer line. This, too, will save you money because you won’t have to replant or re-do the plants a few years from now.