(We will be adding more information about our Design Office services in the coming months.  Be sure to send us your comments on how this website can better help you with your outdoor projects.)

Now is the time to start planning your spring/summer projects. By hiring Bushnell’s Landscape Creations, our design process will provide you a seamless and efficient way of taking your ideas, and making them a reality. With decades of experience and numerous designers holding degrees in Landscape Architecture from U.C. Davis, our design team has the ability to help you take your outdoor living space to the highest level. In being a design/build company, our designers can make sure your design is not only a one off creation, but value engineered to suite your budget. Once we have finalized your design, the designer will provide you with an estimate for BLC to install it. This same designer will also be in charge of the day-to-day development of your project once construction starts. This helps to ensure that the time you spend planning and designing you outdoor project does not change once it is time to build it.

Bushnell’s Landscape Creations Design Staff are certified and approved to design and build in the Serrano El Dorado Owners’ Association, El Dorado Irrigation District, and any other Home Owner’s Association in the greater Placer, El Dorado and Sacramento Counties. We have also done numerous projects in the Bay Area and Lake Tahoe Basin.  Whether it is a complete turn key project or designed to be installed in phases, BLC is the only company you should trust with such an important purchase.

The Typical BLC Design Process:

Client’s House During Initial Part of Design Process

Our design process starts off with a free consult, where a designer will come out and meet with you to discuss your project. Upon evaluating your project in terms of design services needed, you will be provided a design contract to start the process.  We have the ability to provide you with scaled, 2D drawings using AutoCAD. We generally start off with a Conceptual Layout Plan, which locates your project area in reference to your home and surrounding elements which are to remain. We use the Conceptual Layout Plan to then design all of your hardscape elements, i.e. patios, walkways, pools, water falls / features, structures, outdoor kitchen, fireplaces, turf areas, putting greens and locations of trees and planter beds, etc. This Conceptual Layout Plan will make sure that all of your use areas have the proper amount of space for moving around in to making sure that there is ample space for trees and plants to provide that natural transition or necessary screening. The first phase of the design process necessitates your input in the form of filling out our questionnaire and providing photos or magazine pictures that convey the direction you want your outdoor space to resemble. During this time, the designer will be generating a base plan of your outdoor space as it sits currently, taking notes of how your space is viewed from inside the home, from neighbors’ second floor windows and what existing elements will remain.

Conceptual Layout Plan

Once a base plan has been generated on AutoCAD, and you have turned in your questionnaire, the designer will start sketching up some solutions.  At this point, a meeting will be scheduled to review the preliminary sketches to allow you time to provide your input now that you are able to see your project begin to take shape.  After you have had ample time to review the preliminary sketches, the designer will then revise your design, taking into consideration all of your input, any new ideas from the meeting and produce a final plan. Upon completing the Conceptual Layout Plan, one more meeting will be held, generally in the design office, to finalize any details regarding concrete finishes and color, stone selections or pottery sizes.

After this meeting the designer will be able to provide you (3) copies of your final Conceptual Layout Plan and a Preliminary Estimate. If you are contracted to recieve an Irrigation Plan and/or a Planting Plan, you will be taken on a nursery tour, by the designer, to create a list of trees and plants that suite your taste.  The design process will be similar for a Planting Plan as it is for the Conceptual Layout Plan, in that the designer will sketch up a rough Planting Plan, then a meeting will be scheduled to discuss it, make changes, then a final Planting Plan would be generated.  Irrigation Plans can be provided once the Conceptual Layout Plan is finalized and you have discussed what type of irrigation (Drip and/or Spray) you would prefer to have.  Some homes in the El Dorado County have recycled water requirements, and we can help you with these processes as well.  Some properties have wells and ponds in which irrigation water can draw from. We also have a great deal experience with these types of systems.

When Your Design Becomes a Reality

Project/On-Site Consulting Services:

If a full design process is not what you need, our designers can also be hired to help consult with you on your project as you see fit.  Whether you need a BLC designer to help key out lawn lines, help locate where features should go or oversee your project develop on a daily basis, we can help you with our years of experience.  This process can go various directions, in that maybe you do not want to pay for a design, but you want to make sure you are not forgetting anything that may come up down the road.  Having a BLC designer to walk through your future plans, can provide you a list of items to remember that will help you from having to jack hammer out your new concrete patio because you forgot to install the necessary underground utilities for future phases.

Garden Consulting:

(Through the Retail Nursery)

If a full design process or on-site consulting is not what you need, but rather you just want some help picking out some plants for your front entry or back patio, see our Retail Nursery staff, and they will help you with any questions you may have.  Note: if you can bring in a sketch or picture of the area, they can probably send you home with the plants and answers you need to finish your area as you see fit.

Designing your Outdoor Living Space should be a fun and rewarding experience.  We want to remove any stress that people feel when they are unsure on where to even start.  With that being said, we want you to understand that it is not just about a beautiful design, but more importantly, a beautiful design that you can afford to build, uses your space wisely yet efficiently, screens what needs to be screened and finally a design that frames the reason why you choose this home in the first place.

Our Design Office is located inside the Retail Nursery, where we are able to show you various demonstration gardens to start generating ideas on how we can make your ideas become reality.