Landscape design services turn a property into a plan — a site assessment, a layout, a planting scheme, material selections, and a build sequence you can actually budget. HD Landscape & Maintenance designs and installs across Portland, Beaverton, and Aloha, so one team carries the project from plan to finished yard. The initial on-site consultation is free. Oregon LCB #9977.
By Donavan Hesedahl, Founder & Owner · Last updated July 2026
Design is the step between wanting something and building it. In practice it covers a site assessment, a concept layout, a planting plan, hardscape and material selections, drainage and grade decisions, and a phasing plan so a large project can be built over more than one season.
One distinction worth understanding before you hire anyone. Oregon licenses landscape architects separately from landscape contractors, and the titles aren’t interchangeable — “landscape architect” is a protected professional title with its own board and licensure. Licensed landscape contractors like us design within our scope, which covers the great majority of residential work: planting plans, patios, walkways, walls, drainage, and lighting. Large structural or civil work, or anything requiring a stamped professional seal, belongs with a landscape architect or engineer, and we’ll tell you when you’ve reached that line rather than quietly working past it.
Not always — and an honest contractor will tell you when you don’t.
You probably don’t need a formal design if you’re replacing plants in existing beds, refreshing mulch, adding a small patio on flat ground where the layout is obvious, or doing one contained job with no grade or drainage implications. Paying for planning on work like that adds cost without adding value.
You do need one if any of these apply:
The order matters more than the drawing does. Drainage and grade, then hardscape, then irrigation, then planting, then lighting. Each layer depends on the one beneath it, and reversing any two of them means paying twice.
The first visit is free and takes roughly 45 to 90 minutes for a typical residential property. Here’s what actually happens:
Bring photos of things you like, a rough budget range, and a list of what you dislike about the space now. That last one is the most useful thing you can prepare.
This is where local knowledge earns its keep, and it catches almost every homeowner off guard.
Portland’s Title 11 tree code regulates trees by type and size, and the thresholds are lower than people assume:
And permits aren’t a formality. The city states plainly that not all applications are approved — a tree that doesn’t meet the removal standards stays. So a design premised on removing a mature private tree can fail before it starts, which is exactly why we check at design stage.
The replanting rules constrain the plan too:
There’s an upside worth knowing: Portland Parks & Recreation Urban Forestry sometimes has free trees available to satisfy replanting conditions. We factor that in rather than quoting you for nursery stock the city would have supplied.
If your project involves ground disturbance near a protected tree’s root zone, a separate chapter of the code applies again. Better to design around the roots than to discover them with a machine.
Portland’s climate gets described as “rainy,” which leads to a specific and expensive design mistake.
We’re in USDA zone 8b, and the metro takes most of its rain between November and March. July and August are genuinely dry — dry enough that plants sold as regionally appropriate still need consistent summer water for their first two or three years while roots establish. A planting plan that assumes the rain does the work will look excellent in May and struggle by late August.
So a good plan handles both extremes:
Design decisions also interact with the hardscape. Large paved areas affect stormwater obligations in Portland, which we cover on the hardscaping and outdoor structures page — worth reading if your plan includes a sizeable patio.
The initial on-site consultation is free, with no obligation. For most residential projects, design is included as part of the design-and-build scope rather than billed as a separate line item — so the cost you’re weighing is the project itself, not the plan.
What drives the design effort:
You get a written proposal before any commitment. Call (971) 336-5520 or book a free consultation.
We design and build across the Portland metro, Monday to Saturday, from Aloha in Washington County.
Portland · Beaverton · Lake Oswego · Hillsboro · Tualatin · West Linn · Sherwood · Wilsonville · Clackamas · Newberg · Salem
Also serving Aloha and Tigard. Tree code thresholds differ outside Portland city limits — Beaverton, Hillsboro, and Lake Oswego each run their own rules, and we check the right one for your address. See completed projects in our portfolio, or the full range on our services hub.
Our licence — LCB #9977 — is verifiable through the Oregon Landscape Contractors Board public lookup.
What is included in a landscape design package?
A site assessment covering soil, slope, drainage, sun and shade, and existing trees; a concept layout; a planting plan; hardscape and material selections; drainage and grade decisions; and a phasing plan for projects built over more than one season. We also identify permit requirements — tree, stormwater, or structural — at design stage rather than mid-build.
How much does landscape design cost in Portland?
The initial on-site consultation is free with no obligation. For most residential projects, design is included within the design-and-build scope rather than billed separately, so what you’re pricing is the project. Effort scales with property size, scope, grade and drainage complexity, and regulatory load. You get a written proposal before committing to anything.
Can you both design and build the project?
Yes — that’s how we work. One team carries the project from consultation through installation, which removes the handoff where a designer’s plan meets a builder who didn’t draw it. It means the person specifying the drainage is the person installing it, and there’s a single point of accountability if something needs fixing.
Do design services include a site visit?
Yes — the design starts with one, and it’s free. We walk the full property, not only the area you’re focused on, because drainage patterns and existing trees frequently change what’s possible. For larger projects we return to take measurements and photographs before drawing anything.
Do you offer 3D or visual design previews?
Every project includes plans and layout drawings so you can see the design before committing. Call (971) 336-5520 to discuss what visual detail your project needs.
How long does the design process take?
The first visit runs roughly 45 to 90 minutes for a typical residential property; longer for larger or steeper sites. Turnaround on a written proposal depends on scope — a planting refresh is quick, a full redesign with grade changes takes longer. Where tree permits or stormwater review are involved, add weeks for city review, which is why starting in winter suits a spring build.
Can I get a design-only package without installation?
Design is currently provided as part of our design-and-build service rather than as a standalone product, and the initial consultation is free either way. If you want a plan to build yourself or to tender elsewhere, call and ask — we’d rather have that conversation directly than have you assume the answer.
HD Landscape and Maintenance LLC 6581 SW 192nd Ave Aloha, OR 97007
Phone: (971) 336-5520
Email: hdlandscapellc@gmail.com
Hours: Monday–Saturday, 7:00 am – 7:00 pm · Sunday closed
Oregon LCB Lic. #9977 · Licensed & Insured
Serving the Portland metro area including Portland, Beaverton, Aloha, Tigard, Tualatin, Lake Oswego, Hillsboro, West Linn, Wilsonville, Sherwood, Clackamas, Newberg, and Salem.