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[quote=Anonymous]We are completely redoing our yard, including adding a small guesthouse, jacuzzi, fire pit etc.  This is our first major renovation and hiring of a contractor for a project this big.  I’ve interviewed several professionals and have narrowed it down to two.  They have overlapping but not identical strengths and weaknesses, and I don’t know who to pick.  Here are their profiles, in brief:

Person #1 - landscape designer/architect.  He designs only, then I’d submit his plans to multiple builders for bids.  I’ve heard in this scenario the designer & builder end up blaming each other when something goes wrong, but I got his info from a reputable construction company that I might hire, and I don’t see these two pointing fingers at each other.  He is on the younger side (mid 30s), but seems to have a lot of projects under his belt and has many positive reviews (no negs) on houzz.  He has done projects in my city, and our project size is in his wheelhouse.  He seems quite creative, and I believe he is more likely to present design/layout ideas that are more out of the box but that really work for us.  One negative is that he can do a preliminary design for the guesthouse, but I ultimately would have to hire an architect (whom he can refer) for this.  Since I’d be working with him and multiple other professionals (architect for guesthouse, construction company), I should expect completion to take longer.

Person #2 - landscape design & build firm.  The company head is the designer and he has a deep background in landscape, but more as a builder than a creative type.  He does seem to have good vision and I believe he would come up with a great design, but he’s more likely to come up with something “standard” based on his prior work than person #1.  His company would handle both the design and build, so the process is more streamlined and faster.  I’ve heard that D&B firms tend to make design choices that suit the builder over the client, but this can be both a positive and negative.  He also has many positive reviews on houzz, but after digging some more, I found several very negative reviews from 12 years ago.  However, he was working in the family business back then, and has since started working on his own.  He says he can do everything, including designing the guesthouse, but that he’s not licensed as a home builder, so would have to bring in an architect to communicate with the city.  He assures me though that he has worked on many guesthouses and home construction, but he prefers to specialize in outdoor spaces.

I’ve spoken with referrals for both professionals and naturally they’re all glowing.  Both are good communicators and seem like decent people who would be easy to work with.  I like that our project would probably go much faster with person#2 and that he would be the point person from start to finish.  I like that person #1 is more likely to exercise his brain cells and creative juices in coming up with ideas and perhaps a design person #1 wouldn’t consider.

Who would you go with?  What other factors would you look out for? [/quote]

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