Jardines de secano en Clayton, CA

“They do amazing and detailed work. They did exactly what I requested, and at a reasonable price. They have friendly and hard working staff, which is hard to come by these days. Highly recommend!”

“I am a Landscape Contractor and have installed many of John's designs. His plans are detailed and easy to follow. He is one of the few Landscape Architects that designs to a budget. The client will know the construction costs prior to receiving my written proposal. I enjoy working with John and his staff. Very professional and talented One of the best custom residential Landscape Architectural firms in the East Bay.”

“Rafat was a pleasure to work with and is not only very knowledgeable but has wonderful taste in design. We are delighted with our garden.”

“Monica Perrone was wonderful to work with. She helped our group from start to finish in achieving our landscape goals. Monica drew out samples and explained in detail what our thoughts would look like in reality. She made knowledgeable suggestions of what types of plants would work best for our project and the reasons for these ideas. The plan even detailed the projection of long term water use needed for the area and the plants. Our project looks beautiful and we are very happy with the end result, all thanks to Monica Perrone's expertise.”

“Past the Gate did a beautiful job with a new patio I purchased as a gift for my daughter at her home. Greg and his staff were friendly and very professional and I would use them again in an instant (in fact, I have now used them two years in a row for improvements to my daughter's property in Berkeley!)”

“My husband and I hired Inside Out Design to come up with designs for the back yard of our new home. After interviewing us for our preferences, Penn delivered five very interesting designs which required little maintenance on our part. The yard is now seven years old and we're thrilled with it. He was very prompt, knowledge and creative. We highly recommend him.”

“Colin and his firm Envision have now done two landscape design and build projects for us. It was an experience so different than other construction jobs we have endured. Colin communicated each step of the way, he was creative in taking our ideas and offering creative solutions, alternatives and even cost savings. He was always on schedule and employs a great crew with an eye for detail. The stack rock retaining wall is amazing how it all fits perfectly and actually saved us money versus and plain wood wall. I never knew that native plants could have so much color and visual interest for so much of the year. His design and construction project for a duplex we own was even more creative as he took one plain backyard shared by two tenants a turned it into two separate peaceful low maintenance yards using clump bamboo and natives. Envision’s start to finish philosophy made it easy! (I'll upload some pics soon)”

“Sarah Ray and her design build firm are nothing short of exceptional. Sarah and her crew restored our trust in the home service industry after experiencing a botched home interior addition & remodel seven years ago. Our experience with Sarah now sets the gold standard for any home service provider we hire in the future. We spent a month carefully interviewing 6 landscape designers, architects, and design-build firms. Sarah was always the front runner and knew the second we hired her that we initiated a great partnership and were embarking on an awesome ride! And it was, on every front. Sarah is not only a talented visionary, designer and expert in her field, but a great listener, collaborator and partner. We have a large flat backyard (about 5000 sq. ft.) that was overgrown and neglected. We had ideas of the style and design elements that we liked, but it was overwhelming to think of how to get there! Having Sarah shepherd us through the design to build process was a privilege and an experience I will always treasure. She is extremely approachable, upbeat, patient, and easy to work with. She was very open to listening to our ideas and iterating on design options together. We also hired Sarah to build/implement our master design plan. A full design-build firm appealed to us because of the seamless and efficient implementation of the design. Sarah is also very available throughout the build process and was onsite nearly every day, as was her foreman. Sarah also met us countless times at various suppliers so that we could carefully select our materials. Her build crew is talented and very hard working. They started at 7:30am and worked for 7-8 hours/day, sweltering hot conditions or not. We really appreciated the undivided attention and the integrity and all-around work ethic displayed by Sarah and her crew. You will also find Sarah to be very transparent. Her billing system is the most logical and straight forward approach I have experienced in the home service industry. The invoice is directly tied to our contracted line items whereby charges reflect only percentages completed on a weekly basis. All change orders were at my request, and were only represented in the invoice if we agreed to it prior. There were no hidden costs or surprises. So, aside from my change orders, the project cost aligned with the signed contracted budget. Sarah created a gorgeous garden space that is everything we ever dreamed of and much more. Our family is looking forward to enjoying this beautiful extension of our home, our new found sanctuary, for years to come. Sarah Ray Design comes highly recommended for any size project. Thanks a million, Sarah!”

“It’s been a little over two years since Christine and Sonya came into our lives and transformed our entire property to the zen-like oasis we wanted. In short, GardenWise did an incredible job for our outdoor project from conceptual design, detail design, materials and color consultation, to planting selection and oversight of project implementation through completion. We wanted to create an outdoor space that melded two different personality types into a space we would both love....NAILED IT! Christine quickly grasped the challenges of blending a very traditional exterior home with the contemporary art and look we wanted to achieve, addressing limitations by our city’s very strict low tolerant plant guidelines, and while also incorporating privacy. We were very specific in the type of design and plants we wanted in our project. Christine took it from there and was back to us shortly with a rough conceptual we found amazingly responsive to our tastes. While we had a very different budget at the onset, the vision we had would not have been accomplished. In the end, we were well-over our planned budget but through the entire process, Christine was transparent and offered many alternative ideas to reduce cost. In the end, can you really put a price on art? We would recommend GardenWise to anyone without hesitation. In the process of detail design, we collaborated well together and Christine was always professionally polite, yet sensitive to any views we had on colors and material options. She recommended many choices of materials to choose from, and arranged for us to have samples we could hold onto for a few days to think about so that make our selections, yet politely opining if she thought our choice would not work. Her planting design and selection was even more difficult for us to fully grasp yet she led us through this with aplomb and we bought into the flow and form nicely. Throughout the construction process, Christine remained actively involved to ensure that the design in its reality would meet our expectations. As in any project, there arose issues that she made sure were addressed to our satisfaction. From a brief first meeting, tour of our yard, and regular access to our online inspiration photos folder, Christine created for us an oasis of outdoor space and architecture that transitioned so well from the traditional exterior to our more contemporary style. Not having met Christine before this project, today we hold her personally and professionally in the highest regard. She truly creates artistry in her design. What more can we say? Thank you so much for transforming our property into the beautiful space it is today. We believe our front yard is the neighborhood favorite (if they could only see the backyard!) but certainly to all our friends and immediate neighbors. I’m glad we took the time to research local and accredited landscapers and that you were willing to take us on as clients.”

“We heard about Susan’s work from our son. He had hired her to do the landscaping for his front and back yards and was very pleased with her work. We met with Susan in October of 2011 and found her to be a wonderful, easy going and a comfortable person to be around so we moved forward with asking her to design our front yard. We didn’t have a specific plan in mind but we did want a front yard without have any grass. We wanted a low maintenance yard with drought resistance plants. Beyond that, we weren’t really sure what we wanted. Susan didn’t ask many questions but through conversations with us, she came up with a concept that was fantastic. As an example my husband mentioned that as a child he remembered homes that had front porches and neighbors sat on their porches and watched the world go by. I mentioned I liked places that were serene. From those conversations, Susan came up with a beautiful design that had a front porch and a fountain. We had never considered either of those items but were tremendously pleased with the idea. We didn’t change a thing in Susan’s final design and we couldn’t be more pleased. We love our front yard and neighbors have stopped by to admire Susan’s work As the work began, Susan frequently checked in with the landscape owner and crew to ensure they were following through with her design. When the landscape owner went on vacation, Susan was here daily to check on the crew. Susan was very fast to respond to questions or concerns we had and she was available to assist us with picking out the pavers for our driveway as well as the tiles for the walkway leading to the front door. She was extremely patient as we took forever to make a decision I would highly recommend Susan to anyone looking for a landscape architect. She is extremely easy to work with; has a lot of patience and comes up with beautiful designs incorporating childhood memories and lifestyle choices. When we are ready to start on our backyard Susan will definitely be the person we hire to work on a design for that.”