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The Landscape Architecture Design Process: Concept to Completion By Joshua Tripp, Landscape Architect, ASLA — PLACE Landscape ArchitectureLast updated: June 2026 Most people hire a landscape architect picturing the end: a finished terrace, a planted slope, a driveway that finally makes sense. What they rarely picture is the path that gets them there — and that path, not the final rendering, is where a project succeeds or fails. After three decades of work across the Inland No

By Joshua Tripp, Landscape Architect, ASLA — PLACE Landscape Architecture Last updated: June 2026 A lakefront property in North Idaho is one of the most rewarding — and most regulated — landscapes you can design. From our Sandpoint office, we work on shorelines along Lake Pend Oreille, Lake Coeur d'Alene, Hayden Lake, and the smaller lakes that make this region what it is. And the first thing we tell every lakefront client is the thing they least expect to hear: your shorelin

Designing a Mountain Home Landscape: A Pacific Northwest Guide By Joshua Tripp, Landscape Architect, ASLA — PLACE Landscape ArchitectureLast updated: June 2026 A mountain home in the Inland Northwest sits on land that does most of the talking. Slope, soil, sun angle, the line of the trees, the way snowmelt moves across the property in April — these decide what a landscape can become long before anyone picks a single plant. We've designed grounds for homes on Hayden Lake, abov

By Joshua Tripp, Landscape Architect, ASLA Last updated: June 2026 If you ask the internet how much a landscape architect costs, you'll get the same recycled answer everywhere: $70–$200 per hour, $1,000–$6,000 for design plans, or 5–15% of construction cost. Those numbers aren't wrong, exactly — they're just useless. They average a backyard planting plan in Ohio together with a shoreline master plan on Lake Pend Oreille, and neither client learns anything. Here's the honest v

By Joshua Tripp, Landscape Architect, ASLA — PLACE Landscape ArchitectureLast updated: May 2026 Hiring a landscape architect is not like hiring a landscaper. You are bringing on a licensed design professional who will shape how your site drains, how your home meets its grade, what gets permitted, and what your outdoor space looks like for the next thirty years. Get the hire right and the rest of the project gets easier. Get it wrong and you pay for it in redrawn plans, permit