[Matthew E Wilson]

Sure. Tell me a little more about your unique selling proposition that differentiates you from your competitors? Who is your target client? Why do your clients purchase your services? You get the idea. You cannot start an effective gorilla marketing campaign until the service that you offer and your ‘ideal’ client is understood completely.

[Matthew E Wilson]

To my knowledge there are no books presently published on this topic except for the booklet I wrote and sell to contractors. The cost is 55US$ if you are interested.

[Matthew E Wilson]

Tim, you might enjoy perusing the forum under ‘professional practice’ titled Sales & Marketing. You might get some new ideas.

[Matthew E Wilson]

Absolutely, we do it all the time out her on the West coast. It is so easy I am embarrassed sometimes to tell people that a very wealth homeowner paid me $20K to color all of the chipped boulders at his new estate. It took me and a helper 2 days with two tank sprayers. The secret concoction that my homeowner never saw the container of was
Scofield acid stain “BLACK) http://www.scofield.com/concretestain_colorchart.html

1 or 2 applications is all it takes. The black when applied to granite in one coat looks dirty brown which is exactly the color you are looking for. Don’t forget to use polypropylene tank sprayers or the acid will eat trough the steel type. Also price your coloring based on the alternative of removing the real rock. That is, don’t give it away based on the actual time and cost. Perception is reality – Good luck : ) Matt

[Matthew E Wilson]

I would like an opportunity to utilize the services of someone gifted in graphic presentation on a job-by-job basis to complete my design package. I would provide the full set of documents (Vectorworks) but need somebody to enhance and color the plot as well as create a colored perspective. Could I receive e mail from anybody interested in earning some extra money? My payment to you can be secured through paypal or other terms acceptable to you. Thanks for your time to reply. Matt mocroc@pacbell.net

[Matthew E Wilson]

Creating exceptional landscape design
. . . Matt Wilson

When really good design comes together there is an expression of feeling that captivates the participant and holds them in contemplation. When really well conceived design is implemented, it captures more than just visual beauty. It actually bonds you, on an inner core level of indescribable serenity and connectedness, to the space. One can actually “feel” good design as much as they can visualize it. And, why not? Design is very much like an orchestra. When all of the instruments are played at the correct time, at the correct volume, and the correct key under a skillful director, the transformation of the mass of individual components comes together to form a symphony. This symphony of sound has the ability to take you to another place and time and remind you of memories long ago. That same transforming feeling is created within the confines of your landscape space as well through creative design.

To assist your landscape designer in creating a magical space with your property a level of trust has to be established before the process can begin. Remember this is your space, your family’s space, and your feelings that you need to freely convey to your landscape designer. You need the ability to speak in terms of space and colors and leave the monotony of physical limitations to your professional. Your designer of choice would serve you better if you could express yourself from a level of feeling and not so much from an arbitrary check list of amenities that you want included in your design. What are you and your family about? How do you entertain? What excites you? What do you dislike about your neighbors? All of these questions play off of one another to create a profile of your minimal design requirements.

Too many landscape designers are simply filling your empty landscape spaces with tired repetitious design that has gotten them a paycheck in the past. To really be original and authentic to each new client a very detailed questionnaire should be implemented by the landscape designer for the clients review and input so that an accurate profile can be reached. I make a lot a clients cringe when I say to forget about the budget but at this point of the design process it is true. You cannot inspire to create a masterpiece if you are limited by monetary constraints, which we all have. You must first visualize all the possibilities and then go about the details of making them affordable. As an example if you were given a 100 set box of crayons, a metaphor for your arbitrary budget, and then told that you can only use 4 colors would that inspire your best efforts? You would quickly realize that your most creative work would not come forward with those restrictions. On the other hand if you were given a hundred colors of crayons and told that you can create anything utilizing each and every crayon, the design potential is limitless. The best possible design comes forward because it releases the landscape designer to truly imagine the endless possibilities for your space.

Now that an incredible design has come forward how do you go about implementing the creation of the space? You have the designer provide some rough estimates of the primary items that make up the design. Next, when you find that the costs are 2 to 3 times more than you could possibly imagine, you then begin to whittle away at the pieces to be installed at a later time. Not eliminated from the design altogether but rather delayed until further funding becomes available. A staged approach works for many clients and provides the best design, keeps enthusiasm high for all participants, and ultimately creates a space of indescribable serenity.

The old approach of “what can I get for this budget amount” doesn’t work for truly good design. If dollars are really driving the design process then maybe hiring a landscape contractor to create a design based on a previous project of theirs might be a viable alternative for you.

If you are planning on keeping your residence for the foreseeable future, appreciate art for art sake, and strive to set yourself apart from your neighbors, then maybe the expense of hiring a true professional in their field of expertise is exactly what you have been searching for.

Second Nature is the leading supplier of artificial rock in Northern California for 17 years. The company’s president, Matt Wilson, is also an outstanding landscape designer and artist in his own rite. Matt can be reached at (925) 943-6333 or at mocroc@pacbell.net. Visit the company’s website, http://www.2ndntr.com, or learn more about the company and to view Second Nature’s project gallery.

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