Episode 28: Landscaping and Landscaping Design Costs with Elliott Owen of Hogue Landscape Services

Apr 11, 2023

In this episode:

Join us for a conversation between Curtis Lawson and Elliott Owen as they delve into the world of landscaping costs and design. Discover the secrets to successful budgeting for landscaping, as part of the overall project budget, and learn why involving a landscape designer early on in the project can save you money in the long run. Gain valuable insights on cost drivers, trending features, and tips for creating a cohesive and stunning home design.
Don’t miss out on this educational podcast – tune in now!

About our Guest: Elliott Owen is the Business Development Manager at Hogue Landscape Services. He has been in sales and business development for over a decade and since joining Hogue, he has teamed up with a company that he is very proud to be a part of and passionate about working with, especially with their community outreach and support initiatives.

Hogue Landscape Services is a full-service landscape firm specializing in design, installation, maintenance, and synthetic lawn. With over 18 years in the high-end design-build landscape architecture industry, Hogue Landscape Services is focused on providing the highest quality products and services in the market today.

Other services offered by Hogue Landscape Services include construction, irrigation system install and repairs, drainage systems, pools and spas, summer kitchens, concrete and masonry work, wood and iron fences, pergolas, arbors, mosquito systems, low voltage lighting, power washing, and fence staining. to name a few. Projects range from a few thousand dollars to well over one million. No project is too large or too small.

 

Guest: Elliott Owen
Business Title: Business Development Manager
Company: Hogue Landscape Services
Website: www.hoguels.com

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How to get in touch: Please let us know what questions you have and we will address those on our final episode of the season, Episode 32. You may email us at info@yourprojectshepherd.com.

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Full Transcript

 

CURTIS: You know, one of the things that we always talk about is involving all the right players in the process early on in the beginning. So, you know, how early do you guys like to be engaged? I mean, I’ll say I like to bring the landscape designer on, you know, at some point during the architectural design. Yes.
   
ELLIOTT: That would be that would be the case. I mean, it’s even getting to the point now where, you know, aside the American Association Society for Interior Design, right. They’ve got all their designers talking with landscape architects because the flow between the outside of the home and the inside of the home needs to be proper. And if you’re just designing the inside of the house and then landscaping is an afterthought, when we’re talking millions of dollars for homes, you know, these little details matter.
   
ELLIOTT: They matter to the clients whether they know it or not. You know, later on down the line, the last thing you want is a is a company or a custom builder is to have somebody have buyer’s remorse or not be completely happy with their purchase. And I think planning goes a long way to preventing those kind of issues.
   
ELLIOTT: You know, the earlier in the process that we can get involved, I think is the better.

 

(INTRO MUSIC & DESIGN)

CURTIS: Welcome back to the Your Project Shepherd Construction podcast. Today we are going to be talking about landscaping and what that costs and how that ties into successfully planning your project. And with us to talk about that today is our guest, Elliot Owen. He’s the business development manager with Home Landscaping. Elliot, thanks for being with us.
   
ELLIOTT:

First of all, thanks for inviting us out. And we appreciate being a part of this and, and getting to, you know, talk a little bit about ourselves and learn more about what you guys do as well. So HOGUE Landscape Services is a full-service landscape architecture design, installation and maintenance firm. So we have two licensed landscape architects on staff, and we also work with three or four other independent designers.

   
ELLIOTT: And then we have four full time installation crews and five full time maintenance crews. So you know, 26 trucks all over the city of Houston. And we can help you with as little or as much as your project at your home is as you’re looking to help.
   
CURTIS: Are you guys doing residential and commercial or are you doing big and small? Kind of what things joke over? Yeah, we.
   
ELLIOTT: Do a little bit of everything, but I would say our bread and butter, we’re 90% residential. I would say high end residential. But when it comes to the landscape architecture design, there really isn’t a low end, right? Anybody that’s paying for designs and installations is, is, you know, that’s kind of in a different realm.
   
CURTIS: Yeah. So, so before we get into our discussion, one thing that you and I were chatting about before we started recording was Hogue and what you guys support or how you support the community and how you support education. And I think this is fantastic. I just wanted to touch on a real quick recap, our previous discussion for our guests about, you know, your passion.
   
CURTIS: Matthew, the owners’ passion and how Hogue supports, you know, education and the community.
   
ELLIOTT: We are only here because the community supports us. And what better way to say thank you than give back to the community? I graduated from the University of Houston and so did Matthew, our owner, and use an education or two initiatives that are near and dear to Matthew and Laura Hogue. And, you know, there’s probably 100 different organizations that we donate to or sponsor or assist with.
   
ELLIOTT: But just all the Rodeo Houston Lifesaving Livestock Show and Rodeo, which just concluded and then the University of Houston, over the past three years, we’ve been able to donate almost just nearly $1,000,000 to youth and education initiatives. And that’s something that I’m very proud of, very proud to be a part of an organization that that cares about the community and is willing to give back.
   
ELLIOTT: Obviously, owners could take that money and go and buy him a new car or, you know, go on more vacations. But, you know, we try to invest our profits back into the company, you know, to our employees and then obviously into the community as well.
   
CURTIS: And it’s fantastic. Well, let’s get into our discussion about landscaping and kind of what that costs. You know, first of all, I’ve seen so many new homes that get built where they put so much money into designing the new home, building the new home, and then the landscaping is almost like an afterthought. Yeah, you’ll see, like this beautiful big home with just like a little row of shrubs in front.
   
CURTIS: Maybe a little, but. But colors and flowers and some sod. And that’s it. Right? Right. So they just totally skimp on the landscaping side. Why do you think this happens? Is it just because people don’t plan for it? Do they not value that during the design process? Or maybe just they just blow their whole budget on the House?
   
ELLIOTT: I mean, it could be all of those things. It could be none of those things. Right. But I think that sometimes it maybe it may just be that the designer and the architect wanted that simple, clean look that the client was requesting low maintenance or something to that effect. Or it could be that they, the builder, had overruns and landscaping is the last thing that happens.
   
ELLIOTT: And, you know, I went 25 grand or 50 grand over on my build. Where can I pull that out of? Well, we don’t have to have ten trees on site. We only have to have two per the you know, the guidance or the standards for the area. So let’s just do that. And I think not being involved, a lot of builders, they don’t necessarily bring landscape design or architecture into the process.
   
ELLIOTT: At the same time, they’re thinking about other design and when they’re talking about budgets and I think, you know, where we help bring value to custom builders specifically is we can educate the client, talk to them about what they’re wanting to do with their outdoor spaces, figure out what their budgets for those type of projects are, whether it’s a new build or a remodel.
   
ELLIOTT: And I think the earlier were brought into the process, the better we’re able to, you know, to help those things out.
   
CURTIS: You know, one of the things that we always talk about is involving all the right players in the process early on at the beginning. So, you know, how early do you guys like to be engaged? I mean, I’ll say I like to bring the landscape designer on, you know, at some point during the architectural design. Yes.
   
ELLIOTT: That would be that would be the case. I mean, it’s even getting to the point now where, you know, aside the American Association Society for Interior Design, right. They’ve got all their designers talking with landscape architects because the flow between the outside of the home and the inside of the home needs to be proper. And if you just design the inside of the house and then landscaping is an afterthought when we’re talking millions of dollars for homes, you know, these little details matter.
   
ELLIOTT: They matter to the clients whether they know it or not. You know, later on down the line, the last thing you want as a as a company, or a custom builder is to have somebody have buyer’s remorse or not be completely happy with their purchase. And I think planning goes a long way to preventing those kind of issues.
   
ELLIOTT: You know, the earlier in the process that we can get involved, I think is the better.
   
CURTIS: I think people want to have kind of an overall vision for the project they want to that the house, the landscape, everything to kind of be harmonious, to all work together. And that’s not going to happen unless all those parties are working together at the beginning. Yeah, well, I mean, I guess it can happen if you bring that in later on.
   
CURTIS: You have the most success by having all those parties at the table at the beginning.
   
ELLIOTT: Yeah. And I yeah, I agree 100%.
   
CURTIS: So here in Houston especially, we have this, this cheap labor market. And I think that people oftentimes will kind of skip the, the professional design professional installation because kind of everybody, at least here in our in our market kind of knows a guy. Everybody’s got like a yard guy who also can put some plants in for you, you know, hey, man, I, I got a discount at the nursery.
   
CURTIS: I have a good eye for doing this. And so people often are like, rely on this guy working out of his truck to do that. And, you know, and for certain, for a certain price range of homes. Of course, I think there’s a place for some of that. You know, not everybody can afford high end landscaping or high end custom home, right?
   
CURTIS: Sure. But sometimes that works out and sometimes it does not. So tell us, like what? You know, why should somebody collaborate with a company like Hoag? Why should somebody work with a professional landscape design and installation company?
   
ELLIOTT: So I think a value that working with a company like ours is and going through if you’re going through the design process, right? So we do straight to install projects, certain dollar values. If there’s things that don’t require a master plan, we have that option for people as well. But if you are going the design route, a little planning goes a long way.
   
ELLIOTT: And considering irrigation, we are licensed to irrigators, taking into account drainage, all your hardscape, you know, are you putting in sod synthetic turf the whole scope of the project when it’s being implemented or phased in. A client has a budget of a quarter million dollars, but they only want to spend $75,000 at a time or $50,000 a year for the next five years.
   
ELLIOTT: If you don’t plan that out properly and you put what should have gone in at year three, year one, then when you get to year two, now you’ve got to tear out your one and all that money you would have saved by going with some two guys in a truck or whatever it may be is already out the window.
   
ELLIOTT: And now you’re in the hole. Right? So a little bit of planning goes a long way. And I mean, our cost on a design, we’re talking 500 to $5000 depending on the size and scope, front yard, backyard, whole property, you know, what’s all involved. And when we’re talking tens of thousands of dollars or hundreds of thousands of dollars for landscaping, it’s really a drop in the bucket that, you know, a little bit of cost up front can save you a ton of money on the back end.
   
ELLIOTT: And I think that’s one of the main pieces of value that we bring to the market.
   
CURTIS: And a professional designer is going to know things about choosing the right plans for the soil type the climate zone, like how much, how much sun and shade you’re getting on your property.
   
ELLIOTT: Yeah, right. So it’s pretty crazy for me. I did not come from a landscaping background. I’ve got 12 years of sales and business development. But Houston, especially with, you know, the changing climate over the last several years, we’ve had, you know, hotter summers and more extreme freezes and winters. So now more than ever, is it important to have professionals who are conscious of those things and can plan for the right plant material?
   
ELLIOTT: I mean, we’re seeing more. Eagleston Hollys go in than ever before because they survive the freeze. You know, we’re moving away from a lot of people are moving away from Boxwood and they’re moving to dwarf pines because of blight and some of the sicknesses and illnesses that the boxwood is susceptible to. You know, there’s all different all different things to take into consideration and not just take a hole, throw a plant in the ground and, you know, let it rip.
   
ELLIOTT: It’s, you know, are we what are we doing to the soil? Are we adding compost or we’re using all, you know, micro life, organic fertilizer products? How are we helping to reintroduce organic material back into the soil that over the long term is going to help your garden thrive? Because the type of clients that we’re working with, you know, they have us come in, spend all this money on an installation, and a lot of times we’re maintaining it as well and we want to do it right because if something dies, we’re going to have to replace it, right?
   
ELLIOTT: Especially in that first year period. So the more the more effort and the more work that’s put in on the front end doing it the right way, long term, that’s going to have such a great effect on the look of your home.
   
CURTIS: That’s one of the things that I see quite often with kind of the cheaper guy or the guy working out of his truck or even builders who are often trying to do their own landscape work and not hire a professional, you’ll see people come in and just, you know, not prepare the soil. You’ll see like, you know, pallets of sod just get laid straight on top of the existing ground or the clay from the construction that got churned up or, you know, just dump a thin layer of topsoil on top of the ground, drop the plants in there and call it a day.
   
CURTIS: That’s the M.O. for a lot of a lot of builders that sort.
   
ELLIOTT: Certificate of occupancy. That’s what they’re after. Right?
   
CURTIS: Right. And then three months later, the property looks like crap.
   
ELLIOTT: Yeah. And I mean, if you’re buying a multimillion dollar home, if you can afford that, you can afford a little planning and forethought so that your property looks like it should. I mean, it’s a beautiful home. Make sure it looks like a beautiful home. Now, unless you’re going for some kind of, like minimalistic zero escape design. But again, that’s not usually the reason that that kind of thing is happening.
   
CURTIS: But even that stuff takes a lot of proper planning to execute. You know, it’s like building a modern home. Same thing. It’s like the modern home might have way less in the way of trim details and clean walls and less ornamentation. But the work it takes to achieve that is significant. And the same thing with the minimalistic landscaping.
   
CURTIS: You know, your drainage has to be planned out. You have to choose the right plants for the ones that you’re installing that aren’t going to die on you.
   
ELLIOTT: So yeah, no, I agree. And those kind of designs, like a super modern home or a minimalistic landscaping design, when there are mistakes, stick out even more because there’s not all this material there to hide the imbalances or hide the inaccuracies. And so, again, it goes back to planning, really.
   
CURTIS: Does is there any kind of like guideline cost that people should have in mind when they are planning landscaping for a project like a percentage of the total value of the house or a cost per acre or per square foot of land or any kind of guideline number that that you can use for planning.
   
ELLIOTT: I would say usually what we say is about 10%. Now that’s going to include irrigation. You’re drainage, your landscaping. If you want to throw a pool in there, maybe ten to maybe 10 to 15%, because pools are, you know, going through.
   
CURTIS: The roof could be 10% or more on their own.
   
ELLIOTT: Exactly right. So but from a landscaping only perspective sans pool, I would say about 10%. Now, obviously, there’s some talk of course, there’s a wiggle room there. You can do less. You can do more. But generally 10% is kind of what we what we advise clients on. I mean, our average front yard total redo is about $50,000 and same for a back your backyard 50 to $75000.
   
ELLIOTT: But we do projects from a few thousand dollars all the way up to – we had one home last year. We did $2.2 million installation at one property here in Houston on four acres. Oh yeah, that was pretty special.
   
CURTIS: In those budgets. What are the big cost drivers? You know, I think I think labor is always going to be a big component of that, right? It’s probably our biggest expense in any construction project. But you know, on a let’s just use $1,000,000 property for an example, using your 10%, $100,000 worth of landscaping budget. What are the big cost drivers on spending $100,000.
   
ELLIOTT: I mean it really depends on the project. I mean, it’s very it’s very similar to somebody that comes to a custom home builder and says how much does it cost per square foot to build a house? Exactly what kind of house do you want? What, you know, how big a house? So what kind of finishes do you want?
   
ELLIOTT: And landscaping the same way. Do you want $100,000 worth of plant material and, you know, fancy trees and that some you know, you can get trees from 50 bucks all the way to tens of thousands of dollars, right. Or is it a majority of your budget is going to be eaten up because you want a concrete pad and a covered pergola, and you want to do an outdoor kitchen with an entertainment space and a Jumbotron television?
   
ELLIOTT: Right. It really all depends on what the client is trying to achieve, which again, goes back to what’s so important about planning things out, talking with the clients about what is it, what is it that you want to utilize this space for? You know, when you come home and you want to go in the backyard, which we’re seeing now more than any time you know, that I’ve experienced, especially post-COVID, when everybody was home and they had to start living at home and enjoying these spaces, they realized, oh, man, I want to I want to do something different here.
   
ELLIOTT: I don’t really enjoy it. I want to be out here, but I don’t really enjoy it. So they put a lot more thought into that. But everybody’s so different, especially in a city like Houston. I mean, we’ve got people from all over, all different backgrounds and cultures and preferences and, you know, whatever else it is. So I, you know, I want to answer the question, but I think it really just depends on what somebody is trying to achieve.
   
ELLIOTT: Because if you’re going to turf the whole back yard and put in a couple of sports courts, well, irrigation is not a big consideration. But if we’re going to be creating, you know, tons of bed areas with groundcover and, you know, seasonal color and shrubbery and trees and IVs and vines, irrigation is obviously going to play a huge factor in that.
   
ELLIOTT: And then the drainage for all the irrigation runoff and the plant material, you know, everything that else is created. So it’s really again, I think it really comes down to the clients specific needs.
   
CURTIS: Now because if you’re going to have a Zen garden in the backyard where you’re to kind of go meditate and sit versus maybe you may be really into gardening and you want to spend a lot of time pruning roses and all that kind of stuff, that’s that that looks a lot different than somebody who just wants a place to hang out, watch football games and.
   
ELLIOTT: 100%.
   
CURTIS: And also how much do you want to touch it yourself? Do you do you want to maintain that stuff, or do you want very low maintenance?
   
ELLIOTT: We a lot of times try well, one, we try to design to a budget for a client because you’ll see clients, we get people that come in and say, oh, I have a design, can you bid it? Sure, of course. We’d be happy to. We’d be happy to bid this design that you’ve gotten from a, you know, a pure design firm that doesn’t do installation.
   
ELLIOTT: They don’t do maintenance. They’re just, you know, they’re a landscape architect or an independent designer, and we price it out and it’s like, hey, this is going to be $150,000. Oh, well, I was thinking more like 25 to 30000. And I’ll ask people, well, what was the budget that you gave your designer? And they’re like, well, I didn’t give them a budget.
   
ELLIOTT: I just told them I wanted a really cool backyard. And I’m like, well, they made you a really cool backyard. It just happens to be a really cool backyard that costs $100,000. So then we go from there and we can try to work with someone to, you know, value engineer. Do we go from 100 gallon trees down to 65 or 30 gallons knowing that it’s going to take so many years for them to achieve the look that you were planning for initially?
   
ELLIOTT: Or do we not plant things maybe as densely or we remove this section over here? I mean, there’s things we can do to work with that. But again, could have saved a lot of time and effort and money by planning that out properly. And I think that’s where a company like ours with since we’re involved in every step of the process when we’re designing something, we’re not only thinking about the installation, but we’re thinking about how maintainable is this, you know, if we’re going to have to maintain it and we’re creating problems for ourselves, that’s a that’s a whole separate issue.
   
ELLIOTT: So if it were if we’re creating a garden that we’re going to maintain, we may design that a little differently than, like you said, if somebody has a green thumb and they just want to spend time pruning roses, you know, there’s differences there.
   
CURTIS: Yeah. So I think a lot of that budget can also get eaten up by the things that I call the non-sexy stuff. Like, you know, you’re your drainage, your irrigation. A big issue that we’re having in Houston right now is underground detention, a storage. So a lot of it, $100,000 budget can get sucked up just in the stuff that you’re never going to see, but you’re not going to get to enjoy it, right?
   
ELLIOTT: Yeah. I mean, let’s talk about underground detention. Detention. The city is becoming so much stricter with that. And I think that working with a company like ours that knows all the requirements, like what Roper wants and what West you require, and, you know, you could spend a quarter million dollars on a storm tech system for underground retention, detention.
   
ELLIOTT: And, you know, if you if you come into a project thinking, well, I want to do all this for X amount of money, you could blow through it just on the retention detention, because the costs for these are chamber systems. Now what other option do you have other than putting in what like corrugated metal pipe? But I mean, you know, there’s just there’s just so many things that so many variable factors that go into these designs that the unsexy things, as you say, they can eat up a lot of the budget for sure.
   
CURTIS: Talk about how the existing conditions of the property can also affect cost. Um, I think people have a misconception where they’re like, well, I already have. I already have some landscaping in place.
   
ELLIOTT: They’re like, I already have a flower bed. Why do you need to bring in soil? I’m like, have you seen the soil in Houston? It’s basically clay. Yeah. I think that existing condition a lot of time there’s a very rarely do we come in and somebody has immaculate soil that’s been, you know, utilizing organic fertilizers for the past ten years in their composting and adding top soils.
   
ELLIOTT: And a lot of time that’s what we’re having to do is really overhaul the, the flower beds or the landscaping to prepare it for all of this new growth and, you know, long term success. And when we’re not just coming in to drop things in and leave, we want to help people transform their landscape, transform their homes and make a plan for the, you know, for the long term, as long as they’re going to be in that home and enjoy that space.
   
CURTIS: I think a lot of times what we see is especially like 1950s homes where nothing major has been done with the yard and 50, 50, 70 years, whatever. Um, is that that soil has just been well, first of all, it was late to begin with. It was never prepared 50 or 70 years ago. And then it’s just been compacted and compacted over the years.
   
CURTIS: You’ll see yards with a lot of bare spots and the soil is just not it’s not getting any air, it’s not breathing, it’s not getting good drainage. And so really you have to kind of strip off that whole top, top layer before you can even start go back, place the right kind of soil, mix it in, right?
   
ELLIOTT: Yeah. I mean, when we go too late, you know, we get calls all the time from companies that say, hey, I want you to come out and do my new commercial property and I want you to lay the grass. And I’m like, Look, man, I’m happy to do it, but you’re not going to want to pay what it costs because what it paid is what it costs.
   
ELLIOTT: To do it the right way is not what companies are charging from a commercial perspective to lay grass. They do. What you said is there’s clay on the ground and they literally just go out and drop it on the ground. Well, yeah, anybody with a truck can just take sod and throw it on the floor. But is it going to survive?
   
ELLIOTT: Is it going to thrive? Is it going to look beautiful? No, no, it’s not. It’s coming in and scraping off, you know, one or two inches of topsoil and then backfilling with a compost and a and a and a fertilizer, you know, organic fertilizer, putting the grass down, rolling over the top of it. I mean, there’s like a multistep process, and that’s just for it’s just for laying sod.
   
ELLIOTT: And it’s the same across the board for plant materials. Okay. Are you planting that type of plant at the right height? Are you covering up the root ball? Is your mulch right against the, the trunk of the tree or are we creating issues where illnesses and bacteria and different fungus fungi can get into the trees? You know, there’s all these different things that most people just don’t think of.
   
ELLIOTT: Heck, I didn’t think about it a year ago when I wasn’t in this space. I didn’t know about any of those things. But the longer I’m in this this field, the more I realize working with somebody who is truly an expert and has, you know, years and years of knowledge to draw from, and it adds a lot of benefit.
   
ELLIOTT: I mean, me personally, I don’t have years of knowledge, but Matthew, our owner, he’s been in this business 20 years, one of our staff members, Karl, he’s been in this business for 40 years. Jody, who is our director of maintenance, runs our entire maintenance program in all of our irrigation departments. She’s been in this industry for 25 years.
   
ELLIOTT: A former president of the T in L.A. and in a certain region. And so we have a wealth of knowledge base to draw from as a company. And I think that brings a lot of value.
   
CURTIS: So let’s change gears just a little bit. What are some landscaping and outdoor living features today that are popular that you guys are seeing a lot? And what are some also what do some easy kind of value add on items that people might not think about?
   
ELLIOTT: Well, one, especially in the city of Houston, you know, last year we had the drought and the city told people, hey, you got to stop watering or your grass dies. And after two or three times of replacing saw it. A lot of people are like, man, I don’t want to do this anymore. So synthetic turf is something that we’re seeing a huge, huge growth.
   
ELLIOTT: And for demand in now within that with that within that area, pavers, you know people want the synthetic turf, but then they also want to a patio. But they don’t want a fully concrete floor patio. So they will do two by two or three by three pavers in a like a diamond pattern or a checkerboard pattern with the synthetic turf.
   
ELLIOTT: And we see that a lot lately. And same you could do the same thing with black star gravel or silver. Some type of gravel with pavers in between. But that that paver look is very, very popular right now.
   
CURTIS: What are some easy things that the people can add-on to a project that add a lot of value? You know, I think the turf is a great thing. I mean, that’s something that’s going to cost you more upfront to do, but it might save you in the long run not having to replace, right?
   
ELLIOTT: Yeah. I mean, well, one, you’re not watering it too. You’re not mowing it. So those are two cost savings right there. Now people say, oh, it’s maintenance free. That’s not true. There is an enviro feel is like an anti-microbial polymer sand that gets added into the turf after it’s brushed up. That serves a few purposes. One, it helps to weigh down the turf because it’s effectively carpet, and it helps to support the blades within the turf.
   
ELLIOTT: And then also it is anti-microbial. So when you have pets going to the bathroom or you know, it is a plastic product that’s outdoors and there’s humidity. So there is a potentiality for bacteria. This helps to mitigate all of those things that you add in maybe once a year, you know, you backfill it a little bit, but again, that’s about the extent of the maintenance on something like that.
   
ELLIOTT: And your cost up front, you’re looking at maybe three, 3 to 4 times the initial investment. But after about a five year period, you’re at the break-even point and then the turf itself is warranted for like 15 or 16 years, depending on the manufacturer against like sun fading and things like that. So long term, yeah, you’re looking at significant cost savings in the long term.
   
CURTIS: What other items are, again, kind of by popular add-ons or things that are in vogue right now that you that you guys are seeing a lot of?
   
ELLIOTT: I mean, we see all kinds of crazy things. I’ve got a house right now in West Shoe that we’re putting in a six person barrel sauna. It’s a nine foot by seven foot barrel sauna, and then they have an I ice bath like a plunge tank that generates its own ice. Obviously, outdoor kitchens pergolas are huge right now.
   
ELLIOTT: You know whether it’s a wooden pergola or an aluminum prefabricated pergolas just really again, it depends on what the client wants. We’re seeing a lot of different pickleball courts. We used to have a lot more basketball courts. Now we’ve had three or four pickleball courts, I think in the last in the last 6 to 9 months that seems to be very popular.
   
ELLIOTT: Pickleball is very trendy. These days. Mhm.
   
CURTIS: So I think the that the multi-use sport courts are popular too or making a basketball goal for the kids. They can put a put up the pickleball net for, for mom and dad or badminton or whatever.
   
ELLIOTT: Yeah. We’re seeing a lot of conversions to where people they’re going to resurface their basketball court, or they have the there’s like a modular tile system that kind of raises the court up from the concrete and they’re tearing that out and they’re turning it into like a multi court surface. So we’re seeing that as well.
   
CURTIS: People actually play badminton anymore. I’m not sure why I said badminton.
   
ELLIOTT: Best way to date yourself.
   
CURTIS: So what does it cost for somebody to work with Hogue on doing their design side of things? What do you all charge for design?
   
ELLIOTT: Yeah, and of course that depends on what’s the scope of the project. But I would say anywhere from $500 to $5000. And that’s not including KD’s construction drawing. If there’s construction drawings that are needed, we usually charge like 5 to 10% of the cost of the, the proposal for the creation of those engineer drawings. But yeah, no, from a purely a design perspective, we’re talking 500 to $5000.
   
ELLIOTT: And you know that that depends again on scope.
   
CURTIS: I think like with all other professional design services in this, this conversation has a great parallel with our other architects and interior designers that we’ve had on the show. You know, spending that money upfront is going to come back to you. In the long run. It can actually save you money in the long run easily. As we talked about choosing something that’s going to last and work in our climate zone or coming up with a plan that can be phased out with, you know, with a you know, a two, five, ten year plan as you have the funds available or just by making sure that you have the best looking yard the neighborhood and winning
   
CURTIS: yard of the month.
   
ELLIOTT: Yeah. Yeah. Like you said, a little planning goes a long way. Just with something as simple as planting an irrigation, taking everything else out of the equation. You put your irrigation in first and then you go into a plant and it’s not exactly where everything needs to be. Now you’ve got to go back and make modifications. If you’re working with a licensed irrigators, they’re not cheap.
   
ELLIOTT: They’re, you know, they’re licensed professionals. It takes time to earn that licensing and they charge accordingly. And so again, a little planning goes a long way. And usually if somebody apprehends serve, I mean we get it like, why should I have to pay for a design? Well, I mean, we’re professionals. We’re helping you through this process. We’re going to help you create a plan of action because we don’t want to double spend your money.
   
ELLIOTT: You know, we tell people that all the time. We want to spend your money like it’s our money. And I like spending my money once. I don’t like spending it twice. So whatever we can do to help people through the process and make sure it’s a smooth one, an enjoyable experience. Yeah.
   
CURTIS: All right. Well, I think we’re going to wrap it up there. Tell us if people want to work with you guys, how they get in touch with Hogue and, you know, so give us your website and social media and all that kind of stuff.
   
ELLIOTT: Sure. So our website is www.hoguels.com You can call our office 7133606924. And also, we’re on pretty much every social media platform Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn. We post like five times a week on Instagram, five times a week on Facebook, and three or four times a week on Instagram.
   
ELLIOTT: That’s at Hope Landscape. We would love to love to have people reach out and help them with their landscaping.
   
CURTIS: Nate Awesome. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. It has been it’s been great talking to you.
   
ELLIOTT: Yeah, man, I’ve really enjoyed it. Thanks so much for having us out.
   
CURTIS: And thank you all for watching and listening to us on your Project Shepherd podcast. Good landscape design fits right in with our house diagram that we always talk about on the show, and we’ll share that for you on the screen. If you’re watching that foundation is proper planning of the left wall is your team the right wall is communication and the roof protecting it all is proper execution.
   
CURTIS: Have all four of those components in place and your project is going to succeed. We’ll see you next time on the Your Project Shepherd podcast.