austin outdoor design

Thank you so much. It was truly a pleasure working with you. We are so glad you are enjoying your outdoor spaces and hope that you contimue to do so for many years to come!

Thank you so much for your kind words. It was truly a pleasure to work with you to create these beautiful outdoor spaces.
We hope you enjoy them for many years to come!

Thank you for your feedback. We appreciate any opportunity to improve our client’s experience. We regret that your experience wasn’t our typical client experience.

One of the main directives of our firm is to not only provide excellent design, but to be extraordinarily respectful of our clients’ investment. Through our estimates and proposals, we ensure that our clients are well-informed from the start of their project so that expectations of the process are clear prior to the engagement. We have spent years developing a design process that offers our clients convenience, transparency, clear communication, quality, knowledge and, above all, inspired design. We do our very best to please each and every client while maintaining our high standards of design and service.

We were contacted on April 18, 2017 with a request for consultation which was scheduled for April 20, 2017. The Askew family were undergoing a remodel which included a new pool installation. We were asked to design the outdoor living space and softscape to surround the pool, as well as updates for the front yard. We explained our design process, fees and established that we would be able to begin our design work approximately 3-4 weeks after receipt of deposit.

The design agreement was signed by on April 26th but had yet to receive their deposit. We contacted the client on May 4th to schedule their first schematic design review on May 22nd in an attempt to be proactive and also remind them we had not received their deposit. They were unable to schedule during that week, and were not available until the first week in June.

We sent a gentle reminder on May 10th that we had not received the deposit, to which the client responded quickly that they would send it right away. We received the deposit on May 15th.

We sent an email request to schedule a site analysis visit in order to take measurements and gather more information on May 31st. We had a second onsite meeting during our site analysis on June 7th and were asked to alter the original scope in our agreement slightly, which we were happy to do. We did have to come back a second time to perform further site analysis, as we had a slight equipment malfunction. We returned on June 9th to complete the site analysis.

There was some confusion on what would be included in our design scope, but after a quick phone call on June 12th with the builder, we clarified our scope, timeline for construction, impervious cover requirements and if there was an allotted budget for landscape installation.

The client checked in on July 5th to inquire about progress. We scheduled their first schematic design (SD) review for July 14th. The schematic design review is a meeting to ensure that we are moving in the right direction in terms of design. We like this meeting to be very collaborative with our clients and appreciate their feedback during this time. At the SD meeting, the design is not complete. There were some elements in the scope that were not yet included in the design as we had yet to establish budget and material selection. Our second SD meeting includes a more complete design and an estimated cost for installation. I explained this to the client, which was received with a positive response and talk of looking forward to our next meeting.

On July 15th, we were contacted by the client with some more suggestions for plants and material selections, as well as an inquiry to how many hours had been spent on their project's design so far. I informed them that we were at 12.5 hours of design time. They requested by email that we contact her by phone. The client was unhappy with the product of 12.5 hours of design work and had expected a completed design at her meeting. We tried to explain the process again, but their expectations were not in line with the design process. Site analysis, base file set up and the initial SD model typically take 10-15 hours of design time. We credited 2.5 hours of design time as a courtesy and let them know that we would complete the design for the next meeting. The client scheduled a second SD review, but cancelled it, demanding that we send her all documentation with all elements in her scope included in design.

Informing our clients about the design process can be a challenging facet to our job. We strive to provide thorough and thoughtful expertise to each phase of design so that our client’s investment is well-spent. From budget to site analysis to material selection, we do our best to ensure the end result exceeds expectations. We convey the importance of these elements and are always available to provide consultation should any confusion about the process arise. Again, we are sorry that we did not meet expectations and wish them the best