Working Hard on a pool landscape plan...

 Its been a very busy spring...actually a busy winter as well.  I worked on landscape projects right up until New Year's Eve of 2011....took a small break after that in January and have been going strong since...

Below is a plan that I did back in January...

I started out with this customer in the fall of last year and we talked a fair bit about certain wants in their landscape project.  There were some "must haves" to accompany the pool design and so the budget needed to follow a set number...otherwise this project would be a lost dream!

Anyway, I am happy to say that we came within reason of the anticipated budget numbers.  I did my best to keep the patio square footage numbers to a minimum and that helped to balance the rest of the project costs out.  There was a previous landscape plan drawn up by a pool company for this particular project with almost 30 percent more patio included in the proposal...I just did not understand, nor did I see the need for so much more square footage.  The only other reason I could think of was for the contractor to make more money! 

A good landscape designer should always be looking out for your best interests in the design plan....after all, you've hired them!  If patio numbers/sizes start looking like crazy figures... do your research!  Most patios can function comfortably at 300 to 600 square feet....if you add in a pool you are usually closer to 1000 square feet when you factor in walkways and sun areas.  This particular project shown in the pictures ended up closer to 2000 square feet as the customers expressed to me that they do a lot of entertaining and tend to have large gatherings of family and friends...30 to 40 people as a maximum!  Obviously a 400 sq ft patio just would not do for those kinds of numbers.... so my job was to plan accordingly!