Projects
We welcome inquiries concerning various types of projects. Jobs may be large or small, simple or complex. Our perennial interest is in creating well-crafted garden and living spaces, developing personal business relationships, and enjoying the process.
- Residential
- Commercial
- Site Repair
- Ecological Restoration
Specialties
Through many years of endeavor, we have sustained lively interests and gained mature capabilities in a number of landscape arts and building practices. Knowledge of timeless patterns of landscape and architecture combined with skill, technique and love of work, ready us to blend classic craftwork with fitting expressions of originality.
- Integrated Home and Garden Development
- Japanese Gardens
- Water, Boulders, and Sculptural Grading
- Land Development from an Ecological Perspective
- Native Plant Gardens
- Estate Gardens
- Small-scale Agricultural and Horticultural Construction and Development
Geographic Scope
Our work continues today on a local and regional basis, from Lake Tahoe to the San Francisco Bay Area, to Southern California and the western United States. Our services are available to clients worldwide.
Design/Build
To gain leverage for lifting and placing this boulder, we removed the bucket of the excavator.
—Tiburon, California
What is now called design/build is, in some ways, a return to what was for centuries the customary method of building. A chief or master builder is the literal root of the word architect. In some complex situations, clearly the modern method of separation between the designer, the client, and the builder is fitting. But in no way is this an absolute prescription. Not all contractors or builders are good designers and likewise, not all architects or designers understand the actualities of operating a construction business. Yet both of these attributes are imperatives for successful building projects.
Provided honest capabilities are put forward, there are in very many instances excellent reasons to conduct the design and construction the old way, under the guidance of a single company.
As the years have passed, we have found that our greatest service and, by extension, our greatest capability, is often in projects that we both design and build. The design/build process encourages elemental values and fosters an opportunity to establish a mutually rewarding business relationship. An early spirit of collaboration is a pathway that allows a careful back and forth between design and budget. This tailoring of design and budget is substantially beneficial and yet is too often overlooked.
The other great benefit of a design/build link is the smooth manner in which design issues may be managed during construction. Oftentimes what has been imagined on paper requires or suggests consideration in the field as work unfolds. When this occurs, as is likely on complex projects, the opportunity for creativity and economy is simplified by the direct connection established by the design/build relationship.
Build
Layout work for brick patterning, Meadow Vista, California
In creating gardens and landscapes, we also work as contractors directly with clients and owners, and with builders or developers who already have landscape plans. Additionally, we work through linkages with landscape architects, designers, and architects in collaboration with their clients. We continue to welcome these opportunities and relationships. These have been some of the most rewarding and enjoyable projects in many years of our practice.
