Here is a testimonial that my husband wrote. I’d like to share this with you in case you are interested in hiring a landscape designer in the Seattle area in the near future. We highly recommend them!
I was very frustrated after years of trying to get anything to work in my yard. Each year I would experiment with new plants and ideas that would only work marginally at best and usually ended with removal of the dead or diseased plant only to try again next year. My lawn was always a disaster not having been planted properly by the house builder, and I had given up on it. My wife and I needed to overhaul our entire front and back yards. It was going to involve a lot of work that I no longer had the time (or the back) to do myself. We called Sublime in for a consultation. It was the best thing we could have done. I provide some examples below of what you can expect from Sublime, how they work, and why you should consider using them for your landscaping needs.
Landscape design:
It all starts with a well thought out, detailed, and professionally drafted design of the desired landscape result. I learned this is a crucial step for the dimensional aspects that need to come together, spacing, and to have a visual of what you can expect the final result to look like. I liked that Sublime really took the time to listen to what we wanted, consulted with us on various options, and provided us with multiple drawings for us to narrow down to the configuration we liked best. Sublime provided color photos and full descriptions of all the plants and trees proposed for our landscape. We also received pictures of the other items such as the shed, planter boxes, stone, arbor, etc. so that we always knew exactly what was being discussed and proposed. They really worked with us and made it a pleasant experience.
Plant selection:
We were very impressed with the botanical knowledge Sublime could offer, not only with a complete in depth command of the types of plants, trees, shrubs, etc, but also with the insight for how the plants would work in our environment and to our expectations. We really felt a peace of mind knowing that Sublime was actually purchasing the plants on our behalf and hand selecting only the healthy, quality specimens and guaranteeing the health of the plant for the first three years. Sublime also will visit at 6 months and at one year to make sure the vegetation is holding up and to consult with us on how to best maintain them (water, prune, fertilize, etc).
Landscape contractor selection:
Sublime has a history with a variety of different landscape contractors. Because of this it removed the risk from us to try to find a quality and reliable outfit to work with. In fact, Sublime presented to us live interviews with a handful of contractors allowing us to be part of the process and to make sure we were comfortable with the final selection before moving forward. Sublime definitely steered us in the right direction that once again brought us peace of mind so important in an investment like this. Note: we had an interesting situation where Sublime really showed why they are a successful business that will be around a long time. Long story short, after we selected a contractor and an agreed price, Sublime was not comfortable with the bandwidth of this contractor to be able to adequately do the work in the time period we required. Sublime found another group on our behalf and even got them to agree to the original price and schedule we had with the first contractor. We are so grateful that sublime was watching out for us. It really showed their professionalism and their concern for their customer.
Quotation Process:
Mentioned above, Sublime arranged for us to receive multiple quotations on the final design we chose. What we loved was that each quotation was itemized line by line of all the work to be done: removal, preparation, material, equipment, labor, etc that we could compare side by side. Not only that, but we also had the option to take on any item ourselves to save or cut costs. It was very open and very flexible with nothing hidden or questionable.
On site supervision:
Sublime was on site every day to oversee that the work in progress was meeting the design and Sublime’s high expectations. Once again, we were relieved that we did not have to worry about this. I was also incredibly impressed by the landscape contractor. The crew showed up every morning on time, worked very hard, and always cleaned up after themselves daily so that there was no mess anywhere. They knocked all the work out in just over 5 days – incredible considering it included removing an old lawn, bringing in 24 yards of topsoil, rototilling, moving in a number of 2 man rocks, planting 98 plants/trees, and putting in a stone patio and walkway. This would have taken me a couple of years to do by myself…..
End result:
Our yard looked exactly like the drawing and pictures that Sublime created early in the process. It was amazing how well and quickly it all worked out. It is a night and day difference and we could not be happier with the results. Sublime is a great investment. They are very professional, friendly, knowledgeable, open, fair, and have their customer’s best interest at heart. I cannot recommend this company enough.