L-07 · Design services
Draw it first
A plan is a fixed price
on a moving target
Without a drawing, a landscape estimate is a guess wearing a number. Quantities get called "allowances", the wall height gets decided by whoever is holding the level that morning, and the parts nobody measured turn into change orders.
With one, the terrace has a square footage, the wall has a face area, the plants have a count, and the price has somewhere to come from. If you take the plan to another contractor, they can bid the same scope, which is the point. You should be comparing prices, not comparing guesses.
What the design stage produces
- D-01
Measured site plan
The property drawn to scale with the house, drive, existing trees, grade and every proposed element in its real position and size. Not a mood board: a plan you could build from.
- D-02
Hardscape layout
Terrace, walk and wall geometry set out with dimensions, so the square footage in the estimate is a measurement rather than an allowance.
- D-03
Planting schedule
Every plant named, counted and sized, laid out at mature spread rather than at nursery-pot spacing, which is why BDS beds still look right in year five.
- D-04
Material selections
Paver, wall block, coping, stone and mulch specified by manufacturer and color, with samples you can hold up against the house.
- D-05
Phase plan
If the whole thing is not happening at once, the order it should happen in, so phase two does not mean tearing out phase one to get equipment through.
- D-06
Line-item estimate
The takeoff priced by unit against the plan. Every quantity traceable to a dimension on the drawing.
What it costs
Quoted on the walk, before you commit to anything
The design fee depends on the size of the property and how much of it is in scope, so it is set at the site walk rather than guessed at from a web form. You will have the number in writing before any drawing starts, and it is credited against the build if BDS installs the plan.
Design is phases 01 through 03
It is the front third of the job. The other four phases are the build.
- 01Design
Site walk
We walk the property with you, look at grade and drainage before anything else, and find out what you actually want to do out there.
- 02Design
Measure & plan
The property gets measured and drawn: a site plan with hardscape laid out to real dimensions, a planting schedule, and material selections you can hold.
- 03Design
Takeoff & estimate
The plan is quantified: square feet of terrace, face feet of wall, linear feet of fence, every plant counted. Then priced line by line. No allowances hiding a guess.
- 04
Earthwork
Grading, excavation, drainage and base. The unglamorous half of the budget and the half that decides whether the rest lasts.
- 05
Build
Walls, terraces, coping, fire features and fence go in, in the sequence that keeps heavy equipment off finished work.
- 06
Plant & turf
Beds cut and planted, mulch to depth, final grade and sod. This is the day the property changes.
- 07
Walkthrough
We walk it with you, hand over watering and establishment guidance, and shoot the finished property from the air.