FAQ

LandscapeArchitectural.com is designed for residential customers and landscape professionals within the United States who require design support or a professional conceptual design that is custom made to fit your style, property, and needs. Customers that do not require a landscape architect to be on-site or simply wish to use our streamlined online process will certainly benefit from our service as well. Our designs can be provided to you as a scaled master plan and model of your space so that you or your contractor can use it as your guide to build/install your landscape as we’ve imagined.

Please see our Packages page to fully understand what plans we are offering. In short, we are offering professional custom landscape designs at a great price and value to you!

At this time we do not provide on-site consultation, permit drawings, construction details, irrigation plans, drainage or grading plans, architecturally stamped drawings, or guaranteed compliance with your city, town, or village codes. We make every effort to design within your local governing rules by researching your local building codes and using best management practices as we design your space. The local contractor that you ultimately select to build your landscape will be responsible for getting permits if needed and talking to you about irrigation, drainage, and grading as it pertains to your site.

We have a few price points regarding designs for full properties:

If your property is a half acre (21,870 SF) or less which is typical for most American households, you will fall under our 1st tier price point.

For a half-acre to a full acre (43,560 SF), your price will increase to our 2nd tier price point due to the larger sized space that we will be designing. You will be able to select this option when selecting your package.

If your property is over an acre, please contact us directly so we can discuss your needs and decide together how we will need to proceed in terms of the information we will need and custom pricing.

*Note – To find the square footage of your lot, multiply the width by the depth in feet.

LandscapeArchitectural.com was formed to provide a streamlined and affordable alternative to the traditional lengthy and often expensive landscape design/build method. We understand and appreciate that some homeowners will continue to want to do things the traditional way, but for the homeowner that is ready to take the next step with us virtually, we can not wait to delight you!

Upon the completion of your final design, when you are ready to receive bids and/or build your project, we can put you in touch with a qualified local landscape contractor (as available) that meets our high standards of approval. We want to make sure you receive great service, quality, and pricing for your project. Alternatively, if installing the landscape yourself is your plan, we will be right behind you every step of the way! We’d like for you to think of us as your trusted confidant and advisor no matter which route you take to have your landscape design installed.

Paul Knapp is the founder and lead landscape designer of LandscapeArchitectural.com. He has been designing, consulting, and managing landscape architectural projects in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs for the greater part of the last decade. He is experienced in producing residential landscape designs and managing landscape construction projects for some of the most discerning of clients with large estates in the north shore suburbs to the modern and classical architectural homes in the heart of the city. He also has a lot of experience designing and building for clients in more rural locations and understands the unique challenges that certain properties may present. Over the last decade, he has successfully designed and managed the installation of gardens, plantings, patios, structural masonry features, carpentry, hot tubs/pools, outdoor roof living spaces, greenhouses, and just about everything else related to creating an exceptional landscape! Paul’s twenty-year background in the landscape industry includes not only working on the design/build end of the spectrum but also on the landscape material supplier side as well. His unique dual background makes him very knowledgeable and qualified to provide you with the best results possible when it comes to designing a beautiful and functional landscape for your home.

For Landscape Professionals, please CONTACT US to discuss your needs. We would love for you to utilize our design support!

For Homeowners, after you purchase your custom design package from LandscapeArchitectural.com, you will be sent a link in your email to a secured webpage (design questionnaire) that will allow you to give us some more information to help us design your landscape.

1 – When selecting the link that takes you to our questionnaire, we’ll ask you to provide us with your basic contact information including the property address you want to be designed.

2 – Next we will ask to write out and indicate exactly what you want for your space. We’ll also ask a few general questions regarding specifics on how and who intends to use the space, property details, and your maximum budget. Please see our “Budget” FAQ if you are unsure what landscaping generally can cost.

3 – Because everyone is unique, we want to get to know you even more! Complete our design questionnaire to help us better understand your style. You are also encouraged to upload example photos of styles and other designs that you hope to achieve or emulate. It doesn’t have to just be of other landscapes if you want to show something else to help inspire and understand you better, we’d love to see it!

4 – Finally, we’ll send you one more email with a link to join our file sharing portal so you can provide us with photos/video and/or documentation of your property. We’ll also be able to upload your design files as we finish them for you to view. The photos/video of your property can be taken with your phone and uploaded within the file share portal or emailed to us directly if you prefer. If you are able to provide a plat of survey or site/construction plans, that will greatly help us in accurately designing your space as well.

If you don’t have a plat of survey or site/construction plans, let us know a few measurements of a window, door, or wall on your house. These measurements are generally not required, but having a couple of them will certainly help us determine other measurements on your property. Using information provided, paired with satellite imagery and public records, we will be able to design your landscape! We’ll let you know if we need any additional information as we get into your project. We want to make the process as easy for you as we can. Providing us with as much information as possible will only make your design all the better.

Along with photos of your house and property, a short video clip of your space is helpful but not always necessary. This is where you can further explain exactly what you are looking to do. In addition to these media files, documents such as plat of surveys, site plans, grading plans, or construction documents are very helpful in obtaining specific measurements of your site.

A ‘plat of survey’ is something that is usually included in your closing documents, or if you’ve ever done construction or remodeling work at your home, your local building department will usually have a plan on file that you can request. If you do not have one or cannot find it, giving us a few measurements of your property or house will suffice. We’ll ask you about the measurements we need once we get started on your project or you can let us know upfront in the online design studio you can access after purchasing a landscape package from us.

In order to save you time and keep costs down, we kindly ask that you take at minimum 15 photos of your house and property so that we can properly design your landscape. If you are willing to take more, even better! The minimum shots we need are generally as follows:

• 3 to 4 photos of the front of your house in its entirety. Need to see roof lines as much as possible, need to see the yard.

• 2 side photos, one each side. This can be tricky depending how close you are to the house next to you, but do the best you can!

• 3 to 4 photos of the back of your house. Try to include the roof lines. Try to show details obstructed from overall view near the ground.

• 2 long shots of your back yard. Showing us where utilities are located is ideal.
• 1 or 2 shots of your detached garage if you have one.

On average, it can take approximately 20 to 30 photos to photograph your entire property and house to cover every detail. The more we can see, the more we can design! Since each house/property is unique, we’ll trust that you can provide us with what you think we’ll need. We won’t be shy though asking you for more if we need it.

If you can operate your smartphone and know how to upload or email photos, we know you’ll be just fine!

If you prefer or require, depending on location, we can send a photographer to your property to acquire these photos and to take a few measurements. This method, however, would require an additional fee and could potentially delay the process of your design by a couple weeks or more. Let us know if you’d like to use this service and we can quote you a price, depending on availability.

Generally, within three weeks or less, we’ll let you know early on in the process if it will be shorter or a little longer. We don’t work around the clock and depending on workload, times may be extended or shortened from time to time. We strive to complete these designs as quickly as we can, but we do not like to stifle creativity or sacrifice quality for any of the projects we work on. We will certainly keep you in the loop throughout our process. If you are in a rush for a design, please let us know and we’ll do everything we can to accommodate. Please contact us before purchasing a package if you have any hesitations on timeframe and need to know how far out we are running.

We will discuss your budget at the very beginning of the design process. As every project is unique and depending on what part of the country you reside in, prices can range greatly. The American Society of Landscape Architects suggests investing 10% of your home’s value into your landscape. We have seen great designs built for less and next-level designs built for more. It all depends on your wishes, needs, and comfort level. Whatever level you choose, our first-hand experience with hardscape and planting material suppliers, knowledge of construction and labor costs, and our understanding of how to value engineer your project will all lead to providing you with a thoughtful working landscape plan that will absolutely delight you!

To give you a better understanding of overall costs we’ll give you a general rundown of what certain features can cost when hiring a qualified contractor to install your design. Keep in mind all projects are unique and the price will largely depend on a number of factors including ease of site access and where you live. READ MORE

No, we do not offer this service. Our focus is simply to provide you with a clear and concise scaled plan for you to install yourself, or to take to a contractor of your choice to have it installed for you.

Part of the service we can provide at an additional fee will be to locate a qualified, fully insured, local contractor, as available, who is responsive and capable of building/installing what we’ve designed. If you would like to confer with us regarding the quote you receive we’ll be happy to look everything over for you and make sure you are getting a fair price. We’ve got your back!

At this time we do not offer traditional onsite project management or consultation. We are happy to speak with you or your contractor if any questions arise along the way during construction. If all you need is landscape consultation, CONTACT US and we can provide you with a quote for landscape advice via email, screen share, face to face video, or a good old fashioned phone call!

You are always welcome and encouraged to email us your questions and we will get back to you ASAP. If extra measures need to be taken we you can schedule a phone call or video chat if needed.

All custom design packages include a preview of your design in process before we finalize it and send it to you. During this time you can have us make any changes you need to better suit your tastes. The quicker you can get back to us the faster we will be able to complete your design. Upon completion of the design, we will offer you one complimentary revision if you are not satisfied with the final product. Additional revisions past this point would require additional charges based on how much needs to be revised. We will let you know the additional costs for this on a case by case basis.

Because of the nature of this product, generally, we do not offer refunds for this service. If you are completely unsatisfied and feel we did not fulfill your needs, we will try and work with you to do the best that we can and will decide on a case-by-case basis. We are good people, and, ultimately, we just want to make you happy with the work you received. However, we humbly request that you are reasonable, respectful, and fair when letting us know about your issues. We will be reasonable, respectful, and fair to you as well and do our best to address those issues.

Please be sure to see all of the examples of our work in our gallery page, so that you know what to expect when working with us!

Having over twenty years of experience in the landscape industry, we know what to look for when carefully choosing who we want to contact to potentially build your project. Our selection is based on your location, quality of craftsmanship, ability to build what we design, quality of client reviews, responsiveness from the company, having licenses and insurance, and overall company philosophy.

We love to hear from contractors! Having worked in your shoes, we know exactly the long hours you put in, never having enough time to meet the demand of all that you do. Let us help you! We can take your ideas and turn them into beautiful, realistic model renderings at contractor pricing, please Contact Us!

Also please contact us directly to tell us a little more about your company and see if we are a good fit for you and vice versa. If all lines up, we would be honored to also include you on our network of preferred installers.

It all depends on the project. Please contact us to discuss your needs and we can determine if we can assist you.

Please visit our Careers page for more information. In short: we currently are looking for positive, passionate, and talented Landscape Architects with at least 10 years of experience designing and project managing landscape construction projects in the United States to come design with us. Work remotely from where you are and set your own schedule!

LandscapeArchitectural.com is open Monday through Friday from 8am until 6pm U.S. Central Time. Our correspondence with you will generally occur between these days and hours. We do observe all U.S. National Holidays and will update and announce on the website for periods of site maintenance and/or vacation time.