Next Summer Starts Now

By Cla Allgood, ASLA

TownLoafer Magazine, August 2008

Extending your living space to the outdoors.

Most of us are still focusing on this summer, but our minds are beginning to transition to thoughts of school, fall, and cooler days. It goes against our common thought patterns to start thinking about next summer a year in advance, but if you want to enjoy life more on the outside of your backdoor next summer, then next summer starts now.

Most improvements in the landscape take some time to happen, whether it is the time it takes for a flowering plant to set buds or whether it is the amount of time it takes for the construction of a patio. However, we are typically motivated by what we see at that moment. Most garden magazines will premiere pictures of beautiful tulips and daffodils in the spring. These images can be very motivational, even if the articles are really four months too late for anyone to start enjoying such blooms in their garden. If the garden magazines really wanted to help their readers, they would publish those images in November, the time of year those bulbs should have been planted.

It is pretty easy to figure out when to enjoy the beauty of a flower in bloom, but to be successful in our landscapes we have to think about when to actually plant the flower. Let’s call this type of thinking “off-season thinking.” In fact, off-season thinking alone is why lawn fertilization companies are so successful. A lot of their success is not that they have any special type of fertilizers or herbicides, but rather that these professionals are thinking about weed control applications when the rest of us are thinking about Thanksgiving dinner. It is this off-season thinking that should take place with most landscape renovations.

I started my landscape architecture and contracting company, Allgood Outdoors, in 1981, and for over 25 years I have faced the challenge of waves of people waking up to the arrival of spring and realizing they have pent up landscape wants. They seem to have what is almost an emotional drive to get some outdoor enhancements completed right away. In the landscape, swimming pool, and garden businesses, we are very thankful for this wave. We refer to it as the “spring rush” and do what we can as a business group to try and provide excellent service to as many of these customers as possible. But every spring I cringe when I see people who are determined to rush a project that deserves better or could have been done more efficiently if enough time had been allotted. The point here is that for the value-conscious consumer, the process for enjoying an outdoor enhancement next season can and should start now.

Pete Wilkerson of Scapes Group out of Marietta agrees, “Most of the time, homeowners have regrets upon the final project completion [when a job is rushed]….Homeowners tend to overlook other outdoor living components in their rush to [install pools]. Many end up with a pool dominating their yard and realizing they want to use their backyard all year round so they should have incorporated other elements.”

The good news is that planning a project and doing a project are two different processes. If you start organizing your outdoor plans and goals now, you don’t have to pull the trigger to start construction until you are ready. You and your plans might wait for another year or longer, but when you do decide to make it happen, you will be ahead of the game, and hopefully ahead of the spring rush. “Educating and communicating to the public that the planning process is the most important part of any project [is imperative]. It is so much easier to change your mind on paper than after the project starts, and those changes cost real dollars,” says Wilkerson. “We try to explain that during the planning process some of their thoughts or priorities may change while they are investigating how the property can be developed.”

There is no element in the yard, in my opinion, that is as susceptible to rush hour planning as the swimming pool. Being one of the most expensive exterior items, the backyard with a pool deserves to be designed by a professional. Notice the phrase “a backyard with a pool.” In older times a square or oval swimming pool with an eight foot ring of concrete around it sitting in the center of the yard was tops. These pools often looked like they fell to the yard from a helicopter. Today’s pool is an important component of the yard and the overall look should be more dynamic. Minimally, the pool should blend in with the property, and it might also need to blend with additional elements such as a patio, outdoor kitchen, outdoor fireplace, sitting area, specialty garden, pond, waterfall, etc. That is why the design of the pool is now really the design of the total backyard. This type of focus takes a little more time and energy, but in the long run it can save money and add much value to your outdoor living effort.

In addition, swimming pools have the ultimate schedule. By that I mean, if you do not get your fireplace built or trees planted by summer, it may not be that significant. You can still enjoy these types of items during other seasons. But if you don’t have your pool open for summer, well let’s just say cool season swim parties are just not as thrilling as summer swim parties. So be sure not to short change your design and thought process only to become one of the “its-not-exactly-what-we-wanted-but-we-were-swimming-by-the-fourth-of-July-by-golly” crowd.

I am not saying you can’t get a good job in a hurry; you can. But it may come at an additional cost. Just remember this old construction saying, “As a rule you can have quality, you have good pricing, and you can have speed, but you can’t have all three.” While you can strive to be the exception to this rule, why take the risk? Speed is something you will not have to pay extra for if you start thinking about next year’s outdoor renovations now. If you can use a little “off season thinking” and start your landscape plans now, your process will be less stressful, your landscape professionals will thank you, and your friends and family will be eager to help you enjoy your outdoor improvements when next summer begins.

Here are some tips and suggestions to get you started on your outdoor improvements and renovations:

1. Think of things that will help you enjoy your outdoors. For some people outdoor furniture is a good start. Turning your outdoors into living space is a great home stretcher. No matter how much square footage you want inside your home’s walls, there are still many activities can only be enjoyed outdoors, such as cookouts, swimming, seeing the stars, listening to birds, frogs, and crickets, watching a fire on a summer night, and listening to a waterfall.

2. Work with a professional designer or a landscape architect. Let them help you prioritize your wish list and see what your yard can yield. Sign up for a consultation or hire a designer for a concept plan. Taking small initial steps with designers may be most comfortable for some people. You will learn something from every effort. Be prepared so you are efficient with the professional’s time and your money. Have copies of your plat, photographs of ideas you like, and sketches of your ideas. Make notes of the things you like about your yard as well as the problem areas. Include a plan of your septic system. All of these things will help speed up your designer. But never give out your only copies of anything!

3. Do not rush through the concept stage. This is where you encourage the most creativity. And if you want creativity, be prepared for creativity. You are not necessarily hiring someone to draft your exact thoughts. You have to challenge yourself to look for the good in new ideas.

4. If you are considering a pool, do not overlook building a smaller pool. Some people are calling small pools “spools” – the combination of a spa and pool. Also, a concrete or gunite pool will give you the most flexibility for a custom design. If you decide on a liner pool, do not discount the value of a designer because the predetermined pool shape may need extra help to look nestled into the yard.

5. There is nothing wrong with working in the winter in the North Georgia area. We are blessed with mild winters and unlike other areas of the country, outdoor construction is only slightly hampered by our winters. Because a landscape contractor’s work load is slower in the winter, off season pricing and service can be better.

6. Tell your designer your budget; whether it is tight or whether it might have some flexibility if you are wowed by something really cool. And don’t worry – everyone has a budget. If you do not want to limit your designer’s creativity early in the process, you can ask for two concepts: one concept that is in the budget and one concept that may be over the top.

7. Research companies and what their capabilities are. Pools are a significant investment, so make sure you have qualified people that have a track record of successful projects and pleased clients. Ask for a reference list, which is critical, and actually go see projects that the company has done. Remember, it’s not always about price, especially once problems may arise. You need to have a good rapport with who you are working with, for a pool project always takes longer than people anticipate with the coordination of different subs and trades and with the weather.

The value that outdoor living spaces can add to the value of a home is steadily increasing. Enjoying outdoor living is not a new concept; it was here before there was air conditioning! However, the biggest payoff from your outdoor improvements and renovations will be the everyday enjoyment they add to the quality of life for the homeowner, their family, and their friends.