When considering to hire a landscape top residential architects in Miami to landscape your garden, you need to take into account your lifestyle. Do you have children or pets? Do you spend a lot of time in your garden relaxing, or do you want it to be utilitarian, supplying vegetables and fruit for your dinner table? When these questions have been answered, it is time to make a plan. This plan should be as detailed as you want to make it, incorporating any special features such as a pool or a pergola.
How do you find a good landscape architect? You may have a friend with a beautiful garden. Ask him for the name of his landscaper. Drive around your suburb and spy out any particularly attractive gardens and go ask the home owner for the name and phone number of their contractor. He will be flattered that you admire his garden as much as he does, and will gladly hand over the details you require. Note the name of landscaping firms whose trucks you see regularly in your area, and call up the companies. Failing all else, look up possible landscape architects on the internet or in the Yellow Pages.
Invite several contractors to review your site, give them a copy of your plan and ask them for any suggestions they may have. Note how well each listen to your ideas and incorporate them into the suggestions they may have for how best you can use your terrain. Then ask them to submit bids for the work you have in mind.
At this stage it is also a good idea to ask them for references from people they have worked for. You can then drive out to those properties to see if you like the work. Talk to the home owners and ask them if they would recommend the landscape architect and ask why they would recommend them. Was the landscape management work done within the agreed budget and time frame? Were any dead plants replaced by the landscaper? Did the landscaper listen closely to what the home owner required, or did he push ahead with his own ideas?
Ask the landscaper how long he has been in business. A more experienced landscaper will give better value for money, be more used to working closely with, and listening carefully to clients, than a less experienced man. Qualifications are important also. If the man has a degree in landscape architecture, and all other things are equal, it would be wise to choose him over a less qualified person.
When all the details have been worked out, have a contract written out, stipulating the time the work should take, the agreed on price, and details of what exactly will be done to the lot. This will save much heartache for you in the unfortunate case that the cost or the timeframe for the work blows out. A well written contract will keep the contractor on track and give you peace of mind.
As long as you have good communication with your contractor and/or landscape architect, you are clear about what you want and you have done your proper research regarding his references, experience and qualifications, you will be on track to becoming the owner of a beautiful and useful garden.
