"Get Landscaped"

There's more to landscape design than just drawing graphics and lines. 

Join us for a conversation with Jeremy - our landscape designer as we break down the start to finish process of a landscape transformation with The Yard Stop. 

https://youtu.be/bQCObBXCRW4https://yardstopgardencenter.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

What's up guys? Thanks for joining the Yard Stop Garden Center podcast. Today our guest speaker is Jeremy. Jeremy is a landscape designer for the Yard Stop, and today that's what we're gonna be talking about. So welcome to the podcast, Jeremy.

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Thanks for having me. Of course.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Can you tell us a little bit more about what it is that you do as a landscape designer?

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Sure. Well, my job as a landscape designer is to talk to the customers and figure out what it is their needs are, whether it be a re-landscape or a new home or a new commercial building, and then help them create that vision and make it come to life.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

So it sounds pretty simple, but there's there's a lot more to it than just drawing graphics.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Um and getting people, you know, like quotes and stuff like that. So can you give us a more in-depth view into the start-to-finish process?

SPEAKER_00 0:59

Sure. Um, so typically speaking, you know, first things first, you know, we have a general discussion and sort of get a feel for what that vision is that the customer has. Um sometimes the customer has no real vision, they just look to have me or another designer get you know help them create that vision and help them discover what it is they like. Um, sometimes they have a pretty good idea what they like, and then it's my job to help implement those pieces of what they like into a design that works. So it could be either way, um, but on a grand scale, it's a matter of um seeing the project in person, um to the drawing board, if you will, and then starting to draw that vision out on paper. And uh once that's done, and you send it over to the customer to sort of get on the same page. And sometimes that's two to three back and forth visits, uh, either by email and telephone or sometimes in person here in our design center, and uh and then uh we go from there. And after that, once that once we do that, a lot of times we end up taking a walk through the garden center here, you know, where we have nearly seven acres of foliage to to look at. Yeah. And that really helps the customer many times once we fleshed it out on paper and we have a drawing, um, whether it be a 3D or a CAD or a hand drawing, we do them all. Um it's it's just nice for the customer many times to walk through the garden center, which I do often with them to to kind of show them the plants in person and how they look together to sort of put it to you know, put all the pieces together.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

Yeah. That's a great place to do it. Yeah. I mean, especially spring is so beautiful now.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

Yeah, right now. We're rolling into it, we're past the cold.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

Thank goodness. Oh my gosh, I love spring. So you were talking about bringing customers in and sometimes they know what they want, sometimes they don't. Can you go a little more in depth with that? So, as far as like if they know what they want, how do you help them decide that it's the right thing for them if they don't have the kind of knowledge that you have when it comes to layout design, plants, what's gonna work well in the shade versus the sun, things like that?

SPEAKER_00 3:19

Sure, there's there's definitely a lot of variables there. Um in some cases, like like you mentioned, the customer kind of knows what they want from a color perspective. You know, they may know they want certain colors that they like and dislike. In other words, they may say we love reds, you know, we hate yellows, or you know, or we just want greens, whatever, yeah. Or sometimes they just want a lot of green foliage. And um in some cases they want specific type of plants. So my job at that point is to let them know whether those plants work in that environment because certain plants don't thrive in full sun, certain plants thrive in full sun, certain plants thrive in shade, others don't thrive in shade. Right. And then you have the different soils and temperatures and zones of the state, depending on where we're at. And um so my job is to educate them if they're not sure. Um, and but but at the end of the day, I want to make sure that I'm giving them you know the colors and the sizing and the the overall look that they want. Some people want a southern architecture, or they want a more modern look, or they want a tropical look, or so on and so forth. So uh there's a lot of variables, and and that's why sometimes it takes two or three shots to get that that nailed down. Um sometimes it's a one-shot deal, depending on you know how big the project is. But yeah, um, we certainly do our best to to make that happen as quick and painless as possible.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

Yeah, for sure. On both ends. I think everyone's eager to get their yards finished the quicker the better. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

And that is that's one of our objectives, is you know, my role is not only just to get them through the design phase, is once we are through the design phase and we have that project nailed down and the customer's happy with the presentation and the pricing and everything, then we have to move on. And so my role then becomes uh sort of a a foreman to make sure that the landscape crews are up to speed on what the what the plan is, you know, what the what is the plan and how do we implement that plan to get the job done.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

Right.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

I'm with the customer from start to finish.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Start to finish and more.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

That's right, and even after, yeah. Usually after, you know, sometimes they come up with other ideas and we go back and maybe add and tweak a few things, um, or hopefully we get called later down the road for another project or a referral you know, from a to a friend or a family member or something. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

I'm sure you end up forming a little bit more like of a relationship with the customers.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

Yes, that's probably one of my favorite parts of what I do is is that um making it personal. I tend uh tend to believe that I have um a pretty good following customer base of you know, customers that you know, my my goal is to not just get the job done and and shake hands and walk away. It's right that I hope that when we leave and the project's finished, that they trust in me and they trust in us enough that when they're ready for something else or they have a friend or family member that's ready for a project that they will remember to to call us first.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

Yeah. So you've made a connection and not just you're not just doing a transaction, you're that's always the goal. Making a connection to keep it personal, which I think that's what Yard Stop is all about personal customer service and doing more, going the second mile.

SPEAKER_00 6:43

Yeah, a lot of people, you know, come here to our garden center, which obviously is a a great place if you are into landscaping outdoors, you know, stuff for your home or your commercial building or whatever. Um, you know, and they think that's all we do is sell items for those purposes, and then they get here and realize that we can help you create the vision with everything that's here as well.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

Yeah. And we're more than just design a paver walkway and do landscape. We do everything. Is that right?

unknown 7:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

What does everything include?

SPEAKER_00 7:17

So everything is a very broad picture.

SPEAKER_01 7:20

Narrow it down a little bit then.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

So um, you know, we do a lot of outdoor kitchen spaces, um, we do a lot of lighting, we do, you know, anything and everything in the landscape world as far as trees and bushes and shrubs and mulch and rock and you know, boulders and um flagstone walkways and turf. Um yeah, artificial turf is become has become super popular. Yeah, you know, putting greens, uh retaining walls, um, you know, gosh, anything you can think of. We work with pool companies to help them provide everything but the pool. Um the list the list goes on and on. We even get into some fencing and um sod, a lot of sod work. Um we do you know leveling of sometimes people will call us and their yard has holes in it from some sort of a natural sinkhole or they had a big tree removed and we go out and cut it out and grade it for them. And yeah, um, so there's it's a large scope that we cover.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

Yeah. So if I'm a customer, let's just say I'm looking to get my yard landscaped in no matter the size. Um, there's lots of other landscape designers out there. Why would I choose the yard stop?

SPEAKER_00 8:39

Well, um, because we're the total package. Um and and that's that's just the the most frank way to say it is that um we we offer everything start to finish. You don't have to go anywhere else to get your irrigation, your tree work, your landscape, your you know, we can handle it all. Um and we can handle all of it with one person, and that in in this case, if it was working through me as the designer, I handle everything start to finish. So, you know, the customer can can talk to me about every part of that job all the way through, and I can get it done, and the yard stop completes the job, right? You know, start to finish.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

On average, what's how long does it take to complete a start to finish from the ground from scratch, landscape job?

SPEAKER_00 9:29

Yeah, so that's uh that is a that again, that's a very uh broad question, but but I'll give you a couple examples. Um, you know, with the recent freeze, a lot of people lost a lot of foliage, and so now a lot of people are in the mode of you know, let's remove you know the landscaping that was bad, freshen it up. You know, a job like that for most homes would be a one-day project. We would come in with a crew of three to four guys, even more if we needed to, and they would be fully equipped with all the right tools. They would show up first thing in the morning, you know, do all the demolition and the and the grade work and getting everything prepped, and in the afternoon it would be landscaping and getting it freshened up with new foliage and new mulch or rock or whatever it may be. And we would try to complete a job like that in a day. Um, right before the podcast this morning, I got a call from a customer that's wanting to move forward on a job that is is a complete ripping out an old concrete driveway, removing a couple trees, old landscape foliage on an older home that they renovated. And the question he asked me right before we hung up the phone um before I sat down here was how long do you think this is going to take? And our our goal on that project is gonna be we're gonna start on a Monday morning and hope to be out by Friday evening that way, you know.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

Which is really fast for a whole like demo. It is even a driveway that's not huge, but you know.

SPEAKER_00 10:52

I feel like I feel like that the yard stop has a pretty good reputation for you know, we get in and get out, we don't leave jobs hanging.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

You know, once we start a job, we stick with the job until it's done.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

Yeah. Yeah. I do have a funny question though. Um, what kind of math is involved with landscape design? You have to go out and draw the lines on the property, give the customer a visual, know how far paperwall is gonna come out. Um I'm I'm guessing geography.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

No, it's just Did I just say geography?

SPEAKER_01 11:22

Geometry.

unknown 11:23

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 11:25

I promise when I graduated. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

It's all basic math, but we do a lot of math. You know, there's a lot of math involved in the case.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

I am always curious, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

Yeah, I mean you have plant spacing, and that plant spacing changes based on the type of plants you're using.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

And so, you know, we have to calculate the plants, we have to calculate measurements uh when we're pulling square footages for pavers or sod, um, and square footages for retaining walls, and um, you know, there's a lot of a lot of measuring and a lot of uh basic mathematical things that are you know equations that are done during this process, but um it's all part of the job.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

That's fun. Do you really enjoy what you do?

SPEAKER_00 12:10

I do, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

Are you committed till till the end for the rest of your retirement years?

SPEAKER_00 12:14

Yeah, I I would think so. I mean I enjoy it.

SPEAKER_01 12:16

You don't have to commit to that on camera, just FYI.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

But I enjoy what I do, you know, and again, going back to uh earlier conversation here is that you know, I enjoy the customer relation part of it. Right. It's gratifying when you you know work with a customer that has invested um and many t many times, you know, hard-earned money that they've saved a long time to do this project. It's expensive. And it's very gratifying when you can help them bring that that vision to life, yeah, especially when they're happy. You know, when when you finish and they they part ways with a smile, and um you know my job's done.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

Yeah, that's awesome. It is really cool seeing nothing or something old come to life. And I go out to a lot of the jobs. Some of them I catch the before and do like, you know, I'll do a before and after video, but to see the before and after, especially the paper jobs and the pools, right? Artificial turf, it's like it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

You know, it's uh we do a lot of new homes, a lot new, a lot of new residential and commercial projects. Um, I think I enjoy the renovation jobs more than I do the new projects, yeah, a lot of times, because you know, with a new project, you know, you expect a new commercial building or a new home to have you know nice landscaping and things because it's brand new. Yeah. Um but when you go to an older, let's just say an older home that's been you know the same for the last 30, 35 years or something, and you have the opportunity to wipe the slate clean and then truly change it up, when you finish, if the house didn't get any renovations itself, what we do makes the place look different. Yeah, you know. So it's very satisfying. I enjoy those more than new new projects. Oh, that's cool.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

Um, so for those listening on the podcast, for those who are considering getting their yards done and looking for landscape designers, um, what's the best next step for them?

SPEAKER_00 14:23

So the best next step is to really just sit down and talk to one of us. You know, of course I'm always happy to do that, but you know, if uh for some reason I'm not available, we have other ones available here at Yard Stop, and you simply call the Yard Stop and you tell them that you want to do a project and that you would like to have a discussion, and we're happy to uh most oftentimes what happens is we get those phone calls and we go to the customer's project location and visit with them so that we can get a an eye on the situation and kind of see it for ourselves, and that's where it all begins.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

Can you also tell our listeners about our free estimates and how that can be a good way to get started?

SPEAKER_00 15:05

Sure. Yeah, well again it goes back to you just call the yard stop and set up a um set up a a meeting with one of us and you know the the time that we we we're willing to invest the time for free, um free of charge, to come out and talk with any customer to see you know what it is they want to do and um and try to help them bring that to to life. That's that's just where it starts.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

Yeah. Well that's exciting. Maybe one day I'll uh I can afford to get my hair done. That's like my dream to have put on like a paver walkway and like that'll be cool.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

If it's like me, I'm five years in, I'm still doing stuff on my own home.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

That's okay. Well, I guess we should close this thing out. Unless you have anything else to add to this podcast.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

We covered a lot.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

We did. I guess that's it. We should wrap it up, yeah?

SPEAKER_00 15:56

Sounds good.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

All right. Guys, thanks so much for tuning in to this episode. If you're interested in getting a free quote, you can go visit our website, the Yardstop Garden Center, and fill out the form on there with your information. We'll get it done.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

Let's go. Let's go. Kitchy landscapes.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

See you guys next time. Bye.