Creating a luxurious high-level landscape architectural design that boosts the value of your development project in Utah requires much more than just “filling in the blanks” by choosing a few plants to add to an architects pre-determined hardscape layout. Outdoor spaces should have the same impeccable level of design as indoor spaces, and align with your development and architectural design vision. To achieve the best results, hiring a licensed professional landscape architect is essential.

An experienced landscape architecture firm will focus on your distinct needs to craft hardscapes and softscapes that combine top-notch design principles and elements in order to create outdoor spaces that blend seamlessly with the overall architecture of the building, ensuring the greatest opportunity to maximize your return on investment.

Besides saving thousands of dollars in missteps, there are many other benefits of hiring a professional landscape architect, namely: 

Fresh and Relevant Design Ideas

Landscape architects are artists, and the project site and surrounding area context is their canvas. You may already have many pre-conceived ideas, and an experienced landscape architect will first know the right questions to ask you, and with that information, use your ideas to create a design that will simultaneously meet your specific needs and create an impressive work of art that results in greater returns, happier investors, end-users, and greater pride in your development project.

Site Analysis

Every parcel of land is unique as well as being part of a larger ecosystem. A professional landscape architect will be able to understand the macrocosm that determines the broad strokes of design. They will also have the talent to read the small-scale details, which define the unique elements of each area of focus and provide powerful and relevant solutions to site challenges.

Conceptual Design

Once there is a clear analysis of the project site, it is possible to come up with conceptual design ideas to consider. Every site has multiple solutions, but when the background research has been done thoroughly, a well-versed landscape architect will be able to narrow down the options to a concept that innovatively nails your big ideas and achieves your end goals.

Budget Creation

Once the direction and aesthetic of the landscape architecture are defined, it is necessary to bring the project into the reality of money (your proforma). A landscape architect will be able to reasonably assist in providing a project budget range or ball park budget through experience, or be able to guide you through the pricing/bidding process, so that you can more confidently construct what you invested so much time in designing and planning.

Construction Documentation

Just because a developer has an idea about a landscape design for their project, that doesn’t mean said idea is actually buildable or sustainable. By working with a seasoned professional, you can rest assured that what you design and develop together cannot only be built, but also sustained. Addressing construction documentation is key to create an accurate, precise set of plans that gain city/agency approvals and can be bid from and ultimately constructed. This is where the vision on paper becomes the reality out of the ground.

Contractor/Vendor Liaison

It is hugely important to draw the landscape design process into the development construction phase. Some landscape architects work with in house contracting operations – known as Design/Build. Others work solo, and have developed strong relationships with contractors that they are confident in working with or recommending. These relationships have proven to be very useful for architects and developers alike.

Project Management

One of the real benefits of engaging a professional landscape architect from the beginning of the development process is having this person stick with you through the construction phase. Almost every project will have some “unknown” pop up during the construction process, and having your landscape architect close at hand will ensure that you capitalize on opportunities and minimize any unforeseen pitfalls.  This relationship ensures more of a vested interest in ensuring that the owners get the result they are expecting and that problems are quickly and effectively resolved to that end goal.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The best landscape architecture firm will be one that asks the hard questions and always considers your needs and goals first. A great landscape architect will creatively design outdoor places that you love and will thrive over time. After all, it’s an investment that should provide years of enjoyment and added value to your property, and your surrounding community.