Tips To Supercharge Your Productivity
Question: Who likes spending hours in front of the computer drafting a Landscape Concept Plan?
Answer: Not any small business owners that we know.
If you have a small Landscape Design or Design & Construct Business, chances are your time is best spent in front of your clients, on site or coming up with the designs. That is exactly where your true value lies, and it’s also probably what you are most passionate about.
So, any time saving tips in this area would be beneficial right?
The obvious move is to hire a junior team member to assist you with your Landscape Concept Plan. However, if you are like most small businesses, you have either attempted to hire junior staff unsuccessfully or the thought of it just makes you want to cringe.
This is where on-demand Design Support Services can help you get some time back and achieve those efficiencies without taking on risk and avoiding the headache of hiring and managing staff.
In this month’s blog we take you through our best time saving tips for 2D Landscape Concept Plans so you can supercharge your productivity.
Tip 1: Get All The Right Information From The Start
This sounds obvious but is often glossed over. The importance of this critical information cannot be overstated and it always saves time down the track. It can also become an important risk mitigation strategy. Good information discovered early on can help avoid expensive problems in the construction phase. The last thing you want is to start construction only to discover there is a sewer line running straight through where a pool is to be located. Or the boundary line is not exactly where it was noted on the Concept Plan.
So what do you need? Here’s our checklist:
- Detailed Client Brief / Scope (including inspo pics)
- Good quality Site Photos
- Your own Site Measurements
- Site Survey Plan
- House Plans
- Dial before you dig
Make sure you get a really detailed client brief so you know exactly what they want. Ask them for some inspo pics so you can get a good feel for the look they are after, plus you can use these in an inspiration palette on your plans.
When gathering and recording critical information about the site, the more you have the better the result. This includes lots of notes, site measurements, and most importantly, good quality site photos. When there is a team involved, one of the most critical elements for success is passing clear information down the line. Especially if you use outsourced support, photos can go a long way to help convey the message.
The next critical part is accurate documentation. Including House Plans and Elevations where possible, Site Surveys showing the Property Boundary, Contour Lines and Slope as well as Existing Levels. This is also where all the services information can be found, such as sewer lines and manholes. It’s not until you have all this information that the designing can begin.
Tip 2: Get a Head Start with a Base Plan
Rather than trying to sketch out the house footprint on graph paper or sketching over the top of a crowded site plan, we have a great time saving tip for you.
Get a Base Plan created, so you have a clean, scaled layout ready to sketch your design on.
The Base Plan is the start of the plan, showing only the house footprint, plus the property boundary and any other existing hardscapes that are likely to be retained (e.g. driveway, carport, retaining walls, water tanks). It can also show the service lines like the sewer and any manholes as these will often determine where certain elements of the design will be located. It can show whatever you want it to.
Pitch Box provides Base Plans for all 2D orders at no additional cost. We do this because it saves time not only for you but us as well.
Here is an example of a site survey that we turned into a Base Plan for a customer.
Tip 3: Break Up The Design Work Into Stages
Stage 1 – Landscape Concept Development
Sketch out your Landscape Concept Design directly onto the clean Base Plan.
Send it off to be drawn up in CAD and include the relevant inspo pics you may want to include as a materials palette.
Step 2 – Review & Revise
Once you receive the first draft, you can review the plan adding any necessary mark ups in red pen for fixing up or changing as it starts to come together.
Step 3 – Add-On Other Plans Later
Once the client has accepted the concept design, you can move onto the other plans. Use the Landscape Concept Plan to mark up the rest of the information required for any add-on plans.
This could be a set of drawings including;
- Planting Plan & Schedule
- Quantities Plan
- Lighting Plan
- Irrigation Plan
- Layout & Dimensions Plan
- Sections & Elevations
2D Landscape Concept Plan – This one shows a Materials & Finishes Palette but you could also include a Planting Palette or Mood Board with Inspirational Images.
Section & Elevation Drawings – You can choose to add these on later after the Concept Design has been finalised.
Level Up Tip: If you want to look like a real pro, you can get the project modeled in 3D for you.
Summary
Outsourcing the CAD drafting alone, can help increase your capacity without the financial risk that comes with hiring staff. You don’t need to move into a larger office or buy extra computers or expensive software. Plus it removes that pressure of having to keep work coming in consistently just to feed your staff work.
By following our tips on process you should increase your efficiency too and therefore save some valuable time.
Here’s a run down of the process again:
- Designer goes to site and gathers all the necessary information, including site photos and a site/survey plan.
- The site plan is sent to the drafter, with a request to complete a Base Plan.
- Base Plan is delivered back to the designer sometimes within 24 hours.
- Designer sketches out their Concept Design over the base plan in pencil and makes necessary notes and returns it to the drafter.
- The Concept Sketch is then replicated into CAD and the initial draft is then sent to the Designer for review.
- Any revisions or changes are marked up in red pen on the plan and sent back.
- Once the Concept Design is finalized, additional plans can be created, such as a separate Planting Plan, Lighting Plan or Sections & Elevations of required.
In this scenario, the Designer now has a professional set of CAD plans (and possibly a 3D presentation) ready to present to their client, but they have only been involved in the areas where their skill set lies. They have been meeting with their clients, creating designs, and making revisions but not sitting for hours in front of a computer.
If you can relate to this situation, then maybe outsourced design support could be a solution for you. By choosing an on-demand provider there’s also no risk, as you only pay for the support when you need it. If business is slow then your overheads remain low. On the other hand, when enquiries are high, you can potentially take on more work as your productivity goes up.
About Pitch Box
Pitch Box helps you increase your productivity without the need to hire staff.
Pitch Box delivers 3D Renders , SketchUp Models and a range of 2D Landscape Plans for Landscapers and Landscape Designers in the residential market. The company prides itself on exceptional customer service, with a dedicated customer support team based in Brisbane, Australia. Delivering high quality products with a guaranteed project completion turnaround timeframe in only 5 – 10 business days. Unlike many 2D and 3D external service providers, Pitch Box’s pricing is transparent and competitive. Customers know exactly what they are getting, every time they place an order. Discover more about how Pitch Box can support your business by visiting the Pitch Box website today!
