Planning for the future requires having a master landscape plan in place. Des Moines, IA is a unique and growing market, and a landscape project is an investment that will add value to your home.
A master landscaping plan will not only include what you’re working on now, but it will take into account features that you plan to add in the future. A future outdoor kitchen? Maybe a swimming pool or firepit? Your landscape plan will also take into account what needs to be done now in order to make your future possible.
The value of having a master landscape plan is that you can phase out the building of your outdoor living area in appropriate stages.
For instance, while the patio is the main project element right now, if an outdoor kitchen is part of your future then it makes sense to run the lines for everything now, while the yard is already torn apart for the patio build, and then cap them off for later use.
This will add a little bit of expense to your existing budget but will save you a lot of money in the long run by not requiring you to dig once again. It will also spare your patio from needing to be torn up.
What’s important with phasing is that the project looks complete after phase one is finished. Only we should know that the space has “more to come.” For instance, we are working with a client who built a patio in phase one but will be adding a swimming pool in phase two. We stopped the existing patio 10-feet short of where the pool will be—but nobody would know. If you were to look at the current patio you would never guess that it wasn’t complete.
When phased projects are left looking unfinished, it just appears as though you skimped on your project and that looks bad for both of us.
Of course, there are some aspects of a patio build that simply should not be phased. For instance, if you want a tree that is going to be mature enough to shade your patio, then it makes sense to at least have that one tree planted during the initial install—even if you have more trees planted 5-10 years down the line. We’ve also had clients who had us do some very basic landscaping around their patio but planned to add more a year or two later.
Retaining walls, steps, and walkways are also typically a phase one necessity. We may need to deal with a slope or with grading that could make retaining walls and steps a must-have item. In addition, when it comes to walkways, we don’t want to have to tear up your landscaping in the future to add a walkway if we can do it now.
Of course, exactly which items are necessities and which can be phased is largely site specific. Every job is unique in terms of both the needs of the client as well as the specifics of the property itself.
If you’d like to discuss your master landscape plan, or would like an assist in coming up with one, please contact us today and we’ll be happy to help you.
