The Landscape Design Process, Step by Step: What to Expect

What are the steps in a landscape design?

The USDA NRCS booklet Creating Native Landscapes in the Northern Great Plains and Rocky Mountains describes landscape design as a problem-solving, step-by-step process: research and analysis of the site, plans and diagrams for function and appearance, construction, and maintenance. Its planning steps are: consider family interests and needs, analyze the site, develop and evaluate alternatives, set a budget and timetable, solve the problems found in the site analysis, save or remove existing landscaping, implement the plan, and monitor and maintain.

On a residential job that becomes roughly six stages: a conversation about goals, a site visit with measurements, a concept, an itemized estimate, approval and adjustments, and installation in a fixed order. This guide is part of our Montana Landscaping, Lawn & Irrigation Guide.

What should you think about before the first meeting?

How you actually use the outside. NRCS suggests listing the outdoor activities and interests of every family member, pets included. Where do you sit in the evening? Where does the dog run? Do you want a vegetable bed, a fire pit area, a play space, privacy from the road, less mowing? Photos of yards you like help, and so do photos of what you dislike about yours.

It also helps to know the constraints you already live with: where water stands in spring, where snow piles up, which beds the deer clean out, whether you are on city water, a well or a ditch, and any HOA covenants. See HOA landscape approval if that applies.

What happens during the site visit?

Measurements and a site inventory. NRCS lists what to look at: soil texture, depth, pH and stability; current and past land use; slope, aspect and exposure; climate factors such as wind; existing plants and weeds; and the location of power, gas and phone lines, septic leach fields, sidewalks and structures. MSU Extension's 2025 native plant MontGuide adds mapping sun and shade areas and getting a soil test as the starting point for any planting project.

For a western Montana property we add drainage paths and where snowmelt goes, the first five feet around the house for fire, irrigation source and pressure, and access for equipment. The service description for our own landscaping design work starts the same way: a property overview and measurements.

Why does drainage come first?

Because everything else sits on top of it. Water has to be settled first: where it arrives, where it goes now and where it needs to go. A bed built across a drainage path stays wet whatever is planted in it, and a patio laid without accounting for runoff can send water toward the foundation for its whole life. Grading decisions are inexpensive on paper and very expensive after installation.

See grading away from the foundation, yard drainage in spring melt and French drains.

What does a concept plan include?

A drawing that shows use areas (lawn, beds, patio, paths, play, storage), hardscape footprints, major plants, irrigation zones and grade changes. NRCS notes that the number of preliminary drawings depends on the size and scale of the project. For a small front yard it may be one marked-up plan; for a full property with walls and patios it may take several rounds.

This is the stage to push back. Moving a patio on paper costs nothing. Ask how each area will be watered, where the snow goes, what the beds look like in March, and what is still being maintained in five years. Our guides to xeriscaping, low-maintenance landscaping and irrigation zone layout are good preparation.

What should the estimate show?

Itemized scope, not a single number. You should be able to see each element (grading and drainage, hardscape, walls, irrigation, soil preparation, plants, mulch, cleanup) with quantities and materials named, so you can compare bids and cut or phase items intelligently. Our service starts with a detailed cost breakdown for exactly that reason. Our guide to landscaping cost factors explains what moves the total.

Ask what is excluded: permits, engineering, utility relocation, haul-off of existing material, and irrigation repairs found once digging starts are common gaps. If the budget will not cover everything at once, the plan should be built to phase; see phasing a landscape project.

Who designs the landscape: a designer, contractor or landscape architect?

Any of them, depending on the job. In Montana, the landscape architecture licensing law exempts businesses run by horticulturists, nursery operators, gardeners, landscape designers and landscape contractors, as those terms are generally used, but says an unlicensed person may not use the title landscape architect or imply they are licensed. It also says the chapter does not require anyone to hire a landscape architect.

For most residential yards a design-build landscaper is the usual route. A licensed landscape architect or engineer makes sense for complex grading, large commercial sites and anything with permits that require stamped drawings, such as some retaining walls. See when a retaining wall needs a permit or engineer, how to choose a landscaper and contractor registration and insurance.

What happens between approval and the first day of work?

Final plan and adjustments, scheduling, material orders, and utility locates. Montana law requires an excavator to notify the one-call center before beginning an excavation, and facility owners then have 2 business days to mark their lines; locate notices cover work intended to start within 10 days and be completed within 30. Montana811 notes that private underground facilities, which on a residential lot often include irrigation lines, lighting wire and lines to outbuildings, may not be located through the system, so those need to be found and flagged separately.

This is also when plants are reserved and long-lead items such as specific stone or large trees are ordered.

In what order is a landscape built?

Grading and drainage, then hardscape, then irrigation, then soil preparation and planting, then finish work such as mulch and cleanup. Doing it out of order means driving equipment and hauling material across finished beds, or trenching through a new lawn to add a sprinkler line. We do all of those stages in-house, which keeps the sequence intact instead of coordinating separate trades who each want to be first on site.

Soil preparation is the step most often trimmed and the one that most decides how the planting looks in five years. MSU's perennials MontGuide warns that many perennials will not survive past the first year if the soil is not properly prepared. Our guide to what to expect during installation covers the day-to-day.

When is the best time of year to build in western Montana?

Hardscape and grading run from when the ground thaws and dries until it freezes. Planting is best in spring and early fall: MSU's 2025 native plant MontGuide says nursery plants transplant well in spring before heat and dry soil, and in fall after summer heat while the soil is still warm, and that bare-root stock goes in dormant in early spring. Late fall is often the best time to seed many natives. Booking design work in winter is the easiest way to get on a spring schedule. See frost dates for Missoula and the Bitterroot.

What happens in the first season after installation?

Establishment. New plants, including drought-tolerant natives, need regular water until they root in; MSU warns that failing to water young natives because they are drought tolerant is a common mistake, and that trees and shrubs may take a growing season or longer. Expect to adjust the irrigation controller through the first summer, weed beds until plants fill in, and replace the odd plant that did not suit its spot.

A good installer leaves a written watering and maintenance plan. Our Montana landscape maintenance calendar and lawn care service cover the ongoing work.

What questions should you ask during the design process?

A short list covers most of what goes wrong later. How will each area be watered, and which plants share a zone? Where does roof and driveway water go, and where does plowed snow go? What does the yard look like in March and in August, not just in June? Which plants will outgrow their spot, and when? What is the maintenance plan for the first year and after? What is in the estimate, what is excluded, and what happens if the crew finds a buried irrigation line or a boulder? Who calls in the utility locates?

If the answers are vague, the plan is not finished. Our guide to how to choose a landscaping company has more questions for comparing bids.

Ready to start a design with HJ?

Our landscaping design process follows these steps: property overview and measurements, a detailed cost breakdown, your approval with adjustments, then installation of grading, hardscaping, retaining walls, irrigation, sod, plants and mulch, in that order. Estimates are free, and we work across Missoula and Ravalli counties.

Call HJ Property Care & Tree Service at (406) 215-7319 or request a free estimate and we will walk the property with you.

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