Question 1

Do I have to pay for a design before I know what it will cost to build?

Accepted Answer

No. The on-site design walk-through is free, and you leave it with a hand-drawn concept sketch and an honest read on the real costs, drainage, grading, and soil included, before you commit a dollar to the build.

Question 2

How long does a typical design-build project take from first walk-through to finished yard?

Accepted Answer

Most full design-builds run a few days to a few weeks of on-site work once the concept is approved, depending on hardscape, planting, and irrigation scope. We design over the winter and plant in spring whenever we can, since the best Portland yards are reserved in the off-season and planted the moment the ground is ready.

Question 3

Why do you keep talking about drainage and grading instead of plants?

Accepted Answer

Because Portland sits on heavy clay that holds water all winter and bakes hard in summer. If we don't grade for drainage and amend the soil first, even the right plants drown by January. We solve those boring problems before a single thing goes in the ground, which is what keeps a landscape looking intentional in year five.

Question 4

What kind of plants do you use, and will they survive our wet winters and dry August?

Accepted Answer

We plant Willamette Valley natives and proven performers chosen for heavy clay, wet winters, and a bone-dry late summer, never a catalog template. The goal is beds that read as full and intentional even in February and that come through August without you babying them daily.

Question 5

Is your stonework and hardscape guaranteed, or will the patio settle in a few years?

Accepted Answer

Our pavers and natural-stone walls are set on a properly compacted base and warranted against settling and heaving, so the hardscape still holds a Willamette Valley slope in year fifteen. If something we built fails because of our workmanship, we make it right.

Question 6

Will smart irrigation really lower my water bill?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We install zoned drip and smart controllers that water each bed to its actual need instead of soaking the whole yard on a timer, which typically trims summer water bills 30 to 40 percent while keeping new plantings alive through the dry stretch.

Question 7

Do you handle permits, tree codes, and HOA approvals?

Accepted Answer

We do. We work within Portland's tree codes and right-of-way rules, and we draw clean, approvable plans for the stricter Beaverton and Lake Oswego HOA review boards, so the project stays on the right side of the city and the neighborhood.

Question 8

Will the same crew be there the whole time, or do you sub the work out?

Accepted Answer

The same crew handles your yard from the first stake to the final mulch, and we never sub it out. Marcus draws the plan and grades for drainage himself, and once the build is done that same crew comes back to tend the landscape on a schedule through our Greenscape Care maintenance plans.

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