Philip was hired to help remove a landscape which had just been installed a few months earlier. The design itself was very institutional in nature and wasn't very water friendly. A large majority of the plants had died and we ended up with a bit of a mess. Phil met me at my home and we discussed the issues with the plants and what we really wanted to happen. His standard charge was $100 for original consult and $1000 for design plan. I had called some other landscapers and these fees seemed to be on point. Philip took some photographs of my property in order to provide me with my design. Once he completed this, about a week after our first consult, he invited me over to his home so I could actually "see" some of the plantings he was going to suggest. Philip has quite an impressive garden and has been featured on PBS and other publications like the American Statesman. He provided me with 7 large "story boards" which had full color pictures in cooperating my original landscape design and what he was recommending. This was very helpful in determining Phil's vision. His design called for the complete removal of our grass in the back yard and putting flat stone in it's place. The removal of most of the plants already planted, in order to provide proper spacing and keeping our garden water conscious and maintenance free. The removal of all our morter/brick bed linings and replacing them with Moss Boulders. I was very unsure about the removal of our grasses and replacing it all with flat-stone, but Phil assured me it would be the best solution for our petite back yard. He did provide us with alternatives to this, but in the end we choose to follow Phil's vision. This did add a significant cost to our project as well. We provided Phil with a down payment of 50% of cost of our project. Phil showed up a few days later on time with a couple of crew members to uproot all the grass and prepare for the laying of the stone. The whole project was completed in a week or so and on budget. Our final rendition was a little different than the story board we received as far as plantings went, however the overall completion was just brilliant. He was right about the flat stone and I am very glad I took his advice and accepted his vision for our yard. Our yard isn't mature yet, the plantings will really be fully grown in probably a year or so. However, this in no way is a concern, since Phil went through this with me prior to the start. I would work with Phil if the need would ever come up and highly recommend him to anyone looking for a crisp, environmentally sensitive and pleasing "natural" garden. Great job Phil. read more