seeking landscape architect in boston area

[Doug]

Hi, guys.

I recently purchased a house and have some short and long term
projects I would like to do to the outside, including:

- widening a driveway
- building a retaining wall
- rebuilding the front walkway
- fixing some site drainage issue
- sprucing up my hillside garden
- building a porch or patio
- getting my grass to actually grow
- plant flowers/plants/bushes/trees
- maybe an inground sprinkler system.
- outdoor lighting

While most of these projects can be done individually, and some done
by me rather than a contractor, I figured its best to start with a
master plan that incorporates all of these changes into a long term
design. I would love to sit down with someone for some time, and then
walk them around my property showing them what I currently have, my
budget, what I like, don't like, and what I want in the future. Then
I'm hoping they can come back with a few detailed drawings with
proposals for me. From there, I can pick and chose pieces to
implement right away, and have the chose to work with them on the
implementation, do it myself, or choose a different contractor.

Because I live towards the bottom of a hill and have drainage issues
and have to deal with retaining walls, I'm more inclined to seek out
an architect who might have more formal training in these areas. My
one phonecall with an architect suggested the cost of drawing up these
plans might run 5k. I only have 1/4 acre of property and hoping to
find this service cheaper. The architect suggest I find something
doing this on the side instead of through a firm, and then the price
would probably be sliced in half.

Some landscape designers I've talked with are only interested in
working on a design if they do the work as well. I guess I'ld
consider that option to if I can find a landscape architect I can
afford.

Does anyone have any recommendations of someone I might be able to
contact for this?

Thanks much in advance.

Doug

[Alan Sung]

What sort of budget do you have for these projects?
Are you looking for high-end work or just something functional? In other
words a walkway can be anything from a few pieces of fieldstone or slate,
blacktop, concrete, pavers, brick or bluestone depending upon what you want
to spend.

Where in Boston?

For high-end work, you can try either R.L Stevens Landscape, Weston
Nurseries or New View (they did Drew Bledsoe's house a few years back). All
of them have design services and are located in Hopkinton, MA.

-al sung
Rapid Realm Technology, Inc.
Hopkinton, MA

"Doug" <dgg...@velvetbuzzsaw.com> wrote in message
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