How to Create ‘Landscapes for Better Living’ – Fairfield County You may be asking, how does it work? Where do I start? I am a client too, and from Soup to Nuts, I appreciate One Stop Shopping. Things never turn out exactly as you expect them! Sometimes costs may be more than you’ve projected and anticipated. Even with good planning, this can be true! If the goal is to achieve really spectacular results, even on a small project, there may be complicating issues. It’s hard to remember everything, but the more mindful you can be in the planning, staging and development process of your home improvement project, the better the chances you’ll achieve a more successful, stress free and satisfying landscape and lifestyle. It is important to know who is going to do what, and in what sequence. That means asking the question, does the infrastructure (addition or interior work) happen first? In my own home we did the kitchen first then we redid the entrance to the front door which involved demolition of the masonry staircase and stoop to allow for a redesigned grand entrance. This required a licensed landscape architect to work with our team to develop a design which would be approved by the planning board. This turned out to be much more work and money than we would have thought. The results are awesome. While we were developing plans to submit to the town, we outlined a schedule and timeline for construction and installation that would involve masonry, carpentry (reconstruction of new deck with cable rail), landscape lighting, planting, irrigation, a new porous asphalt driveway (which required removing and carting four layers of blacktop!), a custom made kinetic sculpture and finally changing the color of the house, front door and garage. This is major home improvement as well as capital improvement. Stay tuned for the whole story when we are finally done. If you are planning a home improvement project make sure you get everything you want and hopefully everything you pay for! If you need help call or email us for a free consultation. See our portfolio of work on Facebook, Google+ and Houzz to get a better idea of what we can do for you. Jay Archer, President 914-560-6570 jay@greenjaylandscapedesign.com
