Are you planning a new home? Have you considered the best spot on your lot for your home?  Have you thought about site drainage, light patterns, best views, how your house will be approached, orientation of walls, fences, driveways, a pool, optimum location of surrounding structures, how to take advantage of existing trees? Kersey Wike Associates specializes in custom land planning and site development that suits your lifestyle and personal preferences for privacy, recreation and entertainment.  An immediate or long term plan for your lawn and gardens can be developed.

We welcome the opportunity to work in partnership with you and your architect to maximize your dollars, your time and your expectations.

Kersey/Wike offers a full range of design services for the home owner. We have outlined what each means below.

Site Planning
If you are planning to build we can help you think about how your new home might best fit the land. We consider such factors as site drainage, light patterns, any surrounding structures and their orientation, existing trees, views and how one approaches the house from the street. We will discuss your desires for privacy, entertainment, and generally how you envision engaging with the outdoors. Even if you are thinking about developing your gardens over a period of time, it is good to think about how future construction will impact present improvements. This exercise can also inform discussions with your architect. We can assist you with those initial discussions if desired.

Master Planning                                                                                                                                                         Perhaps you have recently moved or it is time to re-evaluate your yard.  A master planning exercise can help you sort out what to retain and what to change.  We can discuss your thoughts on your existing landscape and how your current lifestyle fits in.  You may be thinking about a different way of approaching the house, whether you need more or less parking, a pool or spa, an entertainment or private garden, play area, produce garden, extra storage area, outdoor cooking area or any number of related items.  We will incorporate those thoughts into a program and develop a plan for implimentation. The plan is drawn to scale, generally notes or describes materials and usually notes critical overall dimensions.  Generally these plans are not intended to be used to solicit competitive bids but you may choose at this point to start a relationship with a quality landscape contractor to impliment the plan over a period of time or do the work yourself.

If you desire a series of drawings that you can ask several contractors to submit competitive bids from, generally more information than a master plan is needed.

Planting Plans
Based on the microclimate, physical inventory of the property, design program, budget and architectural styles of existing or future structures we can provide plans showing all plants to be installed. The plan will provide location, type and quantities of proposed plant material. A schedule specifies the number of plants required and the size of the plant to be installed, listing them by both common and botanical names. Additionally, notes describing technical aspects of planting and details for proper planting are also provided.

Hardscape Plans
Hardscape refers to constructed items in the landscape. This could include driveway or patio paving, walls and fences and/or garden structures such as arbors, pools or water features. This effort, similar to the development of planting plans, becomes a design exercise in itself. Preliminary designs will be presented, adjustments made, and construction drawings will be developed. Final drawings typically show materials, finishes, dimensions, fasteners and other information needed for construction.

Landscape Observation Services
Once construction of your project is ready to begin you have invested a lot of time and effort working to achieve a quality design solution. It can be very helpful to have one of the members of Kersey/Wike – almost always the designer – make periodic visits to the site to review the work for compliance with the design intent. It is not uncommon for site conditions to change once construction is underway, especially if it is new home construction. It can be very helpful to have input from the designer so that any necessary adjustments can be made with the overall design concept in mind.