FAQs

Resort Backyard is reinventing landscape design. Our delightful, all-online design process helps homeowners reimagine their outdoor spaces, including plants, hardscaping, functional spaces (kitchens, pergolas, playspaces), and the exterior of their home, including paint, siding, windows, doors, and roofing.

Resort Backyard’s talented team of designers and horticulturists use your photos and videos, combined with technology, data, and plant science, to design your outdoor spaces without ever stepping foot on your property. After completing the design portion of the process, we help connect you with a local, vetted contractor who can install your design. Resort Backyard is how outdoor renovation projects get done, starting with design.
Resort Backyard’s process and scope of work set us apart from traditional landscape design.

We created Resort Backyard as an alternative to the time and cost-intensive process of traditional landscape design. Through our online design studio, we empower homeowners and designers with technology, connecting clients with the best design talent, working on your timeline (no mid-day site visits), and keeping costs low.

In refining the process of landscape design, we’ve also realized the limitations of traditional landscaping’s scope of work. We design outdoor spaces that help our clients live better, more beautiful, and sustainable lives outside. We are a one- stop-shop for everything from plantings and hardscape to functional alfresco rooms and exterior design, including paint, windows and doors, and roofing.
After purchasing a Resort Backyard design package, we’ll take you to our Yard Builder™, where you’ll share photos and videos, inspiration images, answer a couple of questions about your preferences and how you want to use your outdoor space, and take a style quiz! After you submit your pre-design materials, we’ll get to work on creating a 3D model of your home and property, which will serve as the canvas on which we create your design. You’ll receive your House Model about a week after submitting your materials. Three to four weeks following the House Model, you’ll receive the first draft of your photorealistic renders. One reason we love using renders throughout the design process is this allows our clients to envision their future outdoor space and provide detailed feedback in our Feedback Studio. This part of the journey is interactive and iterative. We’ll respond to all of your questions and feedback and get to work implementing your changes. At the end of the design process, you’ll receive your final design, which includes photorealistic renders, CAD plans, and a thorough plant and furniture list. If you signed up for an exterior design package, you’ll also receive a detailed list of materials, including paint colors. Once we’ve finalized your designs, we shift toward bringing your new outdoor space to life. We’ll connect you to a vetted contractor in your area to get your design installed. If we don’t yet have a vetted pro in your area, we’ll work to research, vet and identify a contractor we expect to be a good fit for your project.

About our Process

After purchasing a Resort Backyard design package, we’ll take you to our Yard Builder™, where you’ll share photos and videos, inspiration images, answer a couple of questions about your preferences and how you want to use your outdoor space, and take a style quiz! After you submit your pre-design materials, we’ll get to work on creating a 3D model of your home and property, which will serve as the canvas on which we create your design. You’ll receive your House Model about a week after submitting your materials. Three to four weeks following the House Model, you’ll receive the first draft of your photorealistic renders. One reason we love using renders throughout the design process is this allows our clients to envision their future outdoor space and provide detailed feedback in our Feedback Studio. This part of the journey is interactive and iterative. We’ll respond to all of your questions and feedback and get to work implementing your changes. At the end of the design process, you’ll receive your final design, which includes photorealistic renders, CAD plans, and a thorough plant and furniture list. If you signed up for an exterior design package, you’ll also receive a detailed list of materials, including paint colors. Once we’ve finalized your designs, we shift toward bringing your new outdoor space to life. We’ll connect you to a vetted contractor in your area to get your design installed. If we don’t yet have a vetted pro in your area, we’ll work to research, vet and identify a contractor we expect to be a good fit for your project.
At the beginning of the Resort Backyard design process, you’ll take a thorough style quiz, answer a number of questions about your yard’s form and function, and share inspiration photos. From all of this information, we’ll have a good sense of exactly what you’re imagining for your outdoor space.
As a Resort Backyard client, you’ll have a talented team of professionals working behind the scenes on your design, including a designer or architect, a horticulturist, a build expert, and our fantastic Customer Support team. Our CS team is at the ready to answer any questions and relay any pertinent information to your design team. After completing tens of thousands of landscape designs and experimenting with many approaches, we’ve settled on this process as the most delightful and efficient experience for all involved.
We work in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Washington, D.C. We’re working hard to come to our next set of states soon!
After the video call with your designer, packages are delivered within 2-3 weeks. Parts of the design process depend on the client approving items – so the faster they are approved, the faster the process moves forward. Timelines may be a bit extended during our busy season.
We don’t require one, but strongly encourage it as our plans are scaled to your property. If previous work has been done on your house there is a good chance the local building department will have a copy, or it may be included in your closing documents. For larger or more complex properties we may recommend purchasing a site plan through one of our partners.
Resort Backyard’s landscape designers have been hand selected and trained in this new online model of landscape design. We have a team of extremely talented landscape architects, designers and horticulturalists weighing in on each design. Our design team is based across the US with expertise in all different zones.
One round of revisions is included in each design package within 45 days of receiving your plan. If additional changes are needed they can be done for a fee, which will depend on the scope of work required. Note that needing a second round of revisions is extremely rare.
We recommend partnering with a professional to ensure a comprehensive, balanced landscape design that will mature beautifully, removing the guesswork from your plant selection and placement. First impressions are everything, and the right curb appeal or backyard design can add considerable value to your home as well as your quality of life!
Resort Backyard is a fraction of the cost, with the same professional results. While most design services start at $1,500 before even considering plant materials and labor, Resort Backyard provides a Master Plan of your entire property for $775 (Add Ons are extra). Our designers work on your schedule, with the added bonus of a lower carbon footprint saved from all those on-site appointments. And unlike many local professionals, Resort Backyard will never tell you your project is too small.
We thought you’d never ask! To get an idea of our portfolio, check out our Instagram for photos, 3D renders and planting plans of our landscape design projects. Also check out the product pages for The Front, The Back, and The Full for examples of finished packages.
Yes! Resort Backyard is a simple and easy resource, whether or not you have a green thumb. The detailed landscape plans Resort Backyard delivers will give you the guidance to successfully DIY or hire a landscape contractor to install your design.
That’s okay! You can take Resort Backyard’s online garden Style Quiz to help find inspiration and define your style. We also suggest checking out Resort Backyard’s Pinterest page for specific style ideas and landscape inspiration. Otherwise you can describe your style to your designer and/or tell them what plants or colors you do or do not like.
A major component to this service is understanding a property’s existing conditions as well as its limitations – the greater the size, the more challenging this becomes. At this time, Resort Backyard focuses on designing spaces that are less than one acre.
It is part of our process to understand your budget from the start and to help guide customers who may not have one. Resort Backyard’s phasing plans are another way we help customers manage costs.
Short answer – entirely! Have a favorite oak tree you want to design around? An awkwardly sloping lawn? A lot of shade? All designs are completely personalized to your yard, your needs, and geographic location. There will be opportunities to share information about your space in our online Space Assessment as well as during your video call with your designer.

Design

Visit our Design Packages page and click “Product Details” to see what is included in each.
Resort Backyard’s services are meant to provide you with a useful design concept that is tailored to your personal goals and on-site conditions. We do not provide things like construction drawings, hardscape specifications (materials, quantities), progress drawings, professionally stamped documents for permitting, irrigation plans, drainage / grading plans, or guaranteed compliance with local code and HOA guidelines. We do provide you with a great conceptual plan that can be presented to a contractor to bid on or that you can DIY yourself.
We often recommend hardscape materials and general placement within the broader scope of our design package, however we are not able to provide accurate elevations or construction documents. Furthermore, clients should be aware that hardscaping often requires permitting and our documents are not always suited for this. For examples of what we’ve done for previous clients, please refer to our sample package or check out our Instagram.

Installing

Your plans will include the exact size and quantity of plants you’ll need to bring your landscape design to life, an aerial map with
plant placement, images of each plant, as well as detailed installation and maintenance instructions. Then you have two options:
1. Hire a landscape contractor to manage the installation process for you, including the purchase, planning and planting of your
materials.
2. Order your plants from a local nursery or garden center, put on your overalls (or chic ripped jeans) and DIY.

Resort Backyard works hard to select commonly used materials, but nurseries most likely won’t have every plant you need and it’s okay to make substitutions. Many of the plants we recommend are “cultivars” – a version of the plant selected for specific color, growth habit, or other defining feature. A nursery can recommend a different plant that may have a different flower color but a similar growth habit, fulfilling the same purpose in your landscape plan. To help our clients navigate this challenge, Resort Backyard created this blog post on the topic.
Resort Backyard has a network of trusted landscape contractors, masons, carpenters, arborists, realtors, interior designers and more in many regions. If you have specific requests, please let us know and we will do our best to connect you.
That's up to you! But rarely does any design — landscape, interior, or whole home — get built exactly as scoped. We encourage you to think of your conceptual designs as a communication tool to convey a vision to your licensed contractor. Your final designs will include CAD plans with approximate dimensions, planting layout, specific plant names, and basic materials callouts, but many last- mile design decisions will be made in the field with the assistance of your contractor.
At the beginning of the Resort Backyard design process, you'll go through our propriety Yard Builder™ exercise to help you understand what configuration of hardscape, softscape, and exterior elements will work in your outdoor space, and at what budget. With that knowledge, you'll share your all-in budget with your design team. (For people who plan to phase their build out, as many of our clients do, this is the budget for all phases.) Your designer will then create your design with that number in mind. However, there are always variables — like the materials and plant sizes you ultimately choose — that can bring down costs. When we match you with a contractor, budget is usually where that conversation starts. We believe budget needs to be a central part of the process for us to deliver a design you can implement. Please note we recommend a minimum budget of $15,000 to take advantage of our contractor matching services.
Every design package comes with one revision, which happens after receiving the first draft of your photorealistic render. We do offer additional revisions for a fee. We find that most clients bypass an extra round of paid revisions by collaborating directly with their contractor on last-mile design decisions. Since it is common to make final design decisions in the field, we will happily make revisions to your CAD plans without charge. We call those “red lines” in the construction world.

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