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Preparing for Our First Meeting
First Steps
Our first meeting is usually at your site, so that we can walk it over and see what it offers.
We will need from you:
- The street address
- An email address
- A phone number
We will pick a time to meet. Please plan to meet with me for an hour or so. I might be there for 2-3 hours.
Another Thing ...
Please look for any site plan, plat, survey or other drawing that shows your property boundaries and the main improvements (buildings, driveway, etc.), and email it to us. You can snap a photo from your phone or scan it with a scanner. We need it only to be legible, but perfect is good, too.
We can use this as a big head start for a base map for the plan.
A Few Questions
Before we meet, it will help if you think about a few things. This might look complicated, but we will walk through it together when we meet.
What do you know already?
- "We want a pool over here and a swing set over there."
Problem areas
- "When it rains, we get puddles at the front door."
Your Goals
- What is it that you really want to accomplish? Do you want a showpiece property, a comfy retreat, a backyard wildlife habitat, or what?
- Do you want more privacy, or to open up views?
Uses and Activities
- What do you plan to do there?
- Do you entertain? Who, and how many?
- Do you want play areas for kids?
Specific Features
- Maybe a deck or patio,
- An outdoor kitchen, a grill, or a fire pit
- A walkway from here to there
What do you like? Or dislike?
- Are there certain plants that you must have? Or that you cannot allow?
- Is there a style that you want to duplicate? Maybe a cottage garden or a formal parterre? Feel free to clip images out of magazines or print them from online sources.
Constraints
- Do you have an HOA with rules that will limit what you can do?
- Where are your utilities, like underground power, gas, and cable? Where are the septic field and well?
Our First Meeting
Our first meeting will usually include these pieces:
- Business: what services do you need and what products do you need? What will my fees be? We will have a Work Order for you to sign before we start work.
- Planning: we will talk about all those questions above.
- Walking: we will walk around your site together so that you can show me what it has and what you want.
- Thinking: I probably will want to walk the site alone to make some more observations, take some measurements, and do some sketching.
- Reviewing: I might have some sketch ideas to show you for your initial feedback.
Usually, I will take all this back to my office to refine, research, rethink, and develop a final sketch or plan.
And Finally ...
I will send you the final sketch, usually by email.
The final sketch will be a Conceptual Master Plan, not a complete set of working drawings ... unless, of course, that's what we agreed to. A Conceptual Master Plan will be marked "Not For Construction", because it will not have all the details necessary for construction. See:
So what's next? How do we get started?
That's easy, too:
Call or text: 540.589.1625.
Email: Halcyon.Planning@gmail.com
We will talk, and I will give you a quote for the specific help that you need. And THAT is when the fun begins!