Our process starts with an in-home consultation where we discuss your needs, assess the site’s challenges and opportunities, explore design possibilities, and offer resources and strategies to help you progress. This consultation is billed hourly, typically lasting around two hours. Once the project scope is defined, we’ll provide you with a proposal outlining our services and fees. While the consultation doesn't commit you to continue with Intelli, we generally schedule consultations only for projects well-suited to our expertise, to respect your time and investment. To determine if a landscape design consultation is the right step for you, please review who achieves the best results working with Intelli.

During the crucial Predesign phase, we expand on the insights gathered during the consultation. This involves refining your design program, creating "idea books," and researching relevant town ordinances and requirements for your project. We'll collaborate with a surveyor to precisely measure and map your site, analyzing both neighboring and environmental conditions in relation to your intended uses. Ultimately, we'll develop a base plan of the existing landscape, which will serve as the groundwork for our conceptual design exploration.

If we're designing new outdoor living spaces for you, we’ll start by sketching several concepts to explore how these areas can best relate to each other and to your home. These schematic diagrams will outline the key features we propose, including circulation patterns and sightlines. Based on your feedback, we'll either create additional concepts or choose one direction to refine into the Preliminary Design.

The Preliminary Design captures our comprehensive vision for your landscape. This to-scale drawing includes all major hardscape and landscape elements, such as key features and plant types. Accompanied by additional drawings or images to illustrate the aesthetic we envision, you’ll gain a clear understanding of our design intent, along with enough detail for a landscape contractor to estimate installation costs.

Once you approve the Preliminary Design, Intelli will refine the plan's specifics and assist you in finding landscape contractors with the right expertise. We'll revise the Preliminary Design as necessary based on initial cost estimates, and select materials that align with your preferences and budget—covering everything from paving and plantings to fixtures, furnishings, lighting effects, and other details.

Intelli will create detailed installation drawings for you to submit for permits or to obtain bids from landscape contractors. These typically include a layout plan that specifies the locations and finishes of built features, a planting plan that details the locations, names, and quantities of all new plants (along with an irrigation plan if required to meet your local Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance (WELO) requirements), a landscape lighting plan, and any additional details such as furnishings, containers, or other accessories to complete the design.

Throughout the installation process, Intelli will be available to coordinate the project, address any questions, make necessary adjustments to our plans, and offer guidance to ensure your new landscape exceeds your expectations.

Even after your contractor's work is complete, ours continues: we can help you find a skilled maintenance gardener, source additional plants or accessories, and provide guidance on how your garden will evolve over time.