A design from us is not a plant list. It is a scaled plan of your property showing grade changes, bed lines, hardscape footprints, plant placement at mature size, and where the downspouts actually discharge. You see it before you commit to it, and you can build it in one season or in three.
We install what we draw. That matters more than it sounds — when the same crew that designed the drainage swale is the one cutting it, nothing gets value-engineered out of the plan on a Tuesday morning without you knowing.
Signs your yard needs a plan, not just more plants
Homeowners usually call us after buying plants twice. Here is what tells us the property needs a design first.
Shrubs planted too close to the foundation
Builder landscaping puts one-gallon shrubs eighteen inches off the brick because it looks tidy on move-in day. Eight years later the same plant is a six-foot mass shoving mulch against your siding and holding moisture on the block. A design places plants at mature width, not nursery-pot width.
Beds that end wherever the mower stopped
Bed lines that follow no logic make a property read as unfinished no matter how healthy the plants are. Deliberate curves, consistent depth, and a defined edge do more visual work than another flat of annuals.
Nothing to look at from November to April
Ohio gives you roughly twenty-two weeks of bloom and thirty weeks of structure. If a landscape has no evergreen mass, no ornamental grass left standing, and no bark or berry interest, half the year it is a mulch field. We design the winter view first and let the summer take care of itself.
Water that decides the layout for you
If the low corner of the yard stays soft into June, that is the design constraint — not the plant palette. Grading and drainage get solved on paper before we pick a single perennial.
What a Fadley's design and installation includes
On-site consultation and measure
We walk the property with you, note sun and shade through the day, find the downspouts, probe the soil, and get real measurements. We ask how you actually use the yard — dogs, kids, grill, garden, the path everybody cuts across the corner.
Scaled plan with plant schedule
You receive a plan view drawn to scale with a plant schedule listing species, size at install, quantity, and mature dimensions. No mystery "assorted shrubs" line items.
Soil correction before planting
Northwest Ohio sits on heavy lake-plain clay. We amend beds with compost worked into the top ten to twelve inches, and where drainage is marginal we build beds up rather than digging holes that hold water like a bucket.
Bed construction and edging
Sod stripped, beds cut with a defined spade edge or steel edging, weed barrier used only where it belongs (under stone, never under mulch beds you intend to keep planting in), then two to three inches of hardwood mulch.
Plant installation with establishment guidance
Trees staked only when the site demands it, root flares set at grade, and a written watering schedule for the first two seasons. Most plant losses we get called about are watering losses, not plant-choice losses.
Phased build option
If the full plan is more than this year's budget, we sequence it: drainage and hardscape first, then structural plantings, then lighting and finish details. The plan does not change — only the calendar does.
How the design process runs
1. Free on-site consultation
Usually forty-five minutes to an hour. We walk it, you talk, we take photos and measurements. No charge and no obligation.
2. Design development
We draft the plan, source plant availability with our growers, and price the build. Turnaround is typically one to two weeks depending on season.
3. Plan review and revisions
We sit down and go through the drawing together. Nearly every plan gets adjusted at this stage — that is the point of doing it on paper.
4. Written scope and schedule
You get an itemized scope, material specifications, and a start window. Nothing gets ordered until you approve it.
5. Installation
Grading and drainage, then hardscape, then soil prep, then plants, then mulch and cleanup. Crews work clean and haul debris daily.
6. Walkthrough and follow-up
We walk the finished job with you, hand off care instructions, and check back during the first season to see how things are establishing.
What drives the cost of a landscape project in Ohio
We do not publish flat prices, because two front yards on the same street can differ by half depending on access and grade. These are the factors that actually move the number on your estimate.
- Square footage and plant size at install
- Bed area sets material volume. Plant caliper sets cost per unit — a two-inch shade tree costs several times a whip, and buying larger buys you years, not just size.
- Site access
- If a skid steer can reach the back yard, soil and stone move in minutes. If everything goes by wheelbarrow through a gate, the same work takes days. This is the single most underestimated cost factor on residential jobs.
- Existing conditions
- Removing overgrown junipers, grinding stumps, or hauling out builder-grade clay fill is real labor before the new landscape starts.
- Drainage and grading work
- If water has to be solved first, that is its own scope. It is also the scope that protects everything installed after it.
- Hardscape included in the plan
- Patios, walls and walkways carry excavation, base stone and compaction costs that planting beds do not.
You get a written, itemized number before any work starts. If the total is beyond this season, we will tell you honestly which phase gives you the most return first — and it is almost never the plants.
Why Ohio homeowners have us design it
We install what we draw
The same crew that designed the drainage swale is the one cutting it. Nothing gets quietly value-engineered out of the plan on a Tuesday morning without you knowing about it.
Three soils inside one service area
Black Swamp clay, Williams County glacial till and Oak Openings sand all sit inside our territory, and each demands a different plant list and a different bed preparation. We work all three every week.
46 Google reviews from real neighbours
Verbatim reviews on our Google Business Profile from homeowners across Northwest Ohio, including planting and fire pit projects people are still using years later.
Licensed, insured, financing available
Full coverage on every crew and machine, and financing so the full plan can be built in one season instead of stretched across three.
Where we provide landscape design
We design and install landscapes throughout Northwest Ohio from our shop on OH-249. Core coverage runs across Defiance, Williams, Paulding, Henry, Fulton, Putnam, Van Wert, Allen, Lucas, Wood and Hancock counties — including landscape design in Hicksville, Defiance, Bryan, Napoleon, Wauseon and Van Wert. We take larger design and installation projects across the rest of the state as well; the full service-area directory and your county page cover the soil and drainage specifics where you live.
What customers said about this work
Verbatim from our Google Business Profile — these reviews describe this service specifically, not the company in general.
Highly recommend Fadley’s Landscaping! Carson & his team did an outstanding job transforming our fire pit area into a beautiful space that we will enjoy for years to come. Carson went out of his way to ensure that our expectations were met and then some. Very courteous, responsible & hard working! Check out the Before & After pics.
Kim Bais
Fire pit & outdoor living · a year ago on Google
Related reading
- How Much Does Landscaping Cost in Ohio? An Honest BreakdownEvery "average cost" article you have read was written by someone who has never dug in Northwest Ohio clay. Here is what actually moves the number on your estimate.
- 18 Native Plants That Actually Thrive in Northwest Ohio"Native" is not a magic word. A wet-meadow species planted in dry sand struggles just as much as anything else. Here is what belongs where.
