Yardzen and the Art of Affordable Landscape Design

I read an interesting statistic the other day: great landscaping can increase your home’s value by 15-20%.

Of course, I read it on the website of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and they didn’t cite the double-blind peer-reviewed academic study which determined that figure. So we’ll have to take that number with a grain of salt.

But there’s no question – not in my fevered mind anyway – that having great landscaping enhances the quality of life you can live in your home. There are numerous studies that show that humans live happier, healthier lives when they spend more time outdoors in green spaces – so your outdoor area does matter.

But I was still curious about that claim that great landscaping can increase your home value by 15-20%. So I asked an appraiser about that – because so far as I know, there’s no adjustment that gets made on a standard appraisal form for landscaping. She confirmed that’s the case, but did say: “Typically I will just speak about the landscape in the reconciliation and reconcile to the higher range of value, if that is appropriate.”

So there’s no formal, standard, or common method to quantify just how much “great landscaping” can add to your home price. But to me, there’s no question that it does, and can to a considerable degree – although perhaps not quite so high as 15-20% in most cases.

Cleaning up and improving your landscaping prior to putting your home on the market is in fact one of my chief recommendations for every homeowner.

Landscape clean-up and improvements are often some of the most affordable, highest-ROI things a homeowner can do to get their home ready for sale, in my opinion.

But if you’re not planning on selling any time soon, you might want to consider ways to improve your landscaping for the long haul. Most homeowners have spent some time thinking about doing something about their landscaping, but don’t quite know where to begin.

I recently discovered a company called Yardzen, which is a cloud-based landscape design firm. They do most of the things that a traditional landscape architecture firm would do – although at a fraction of the cost. I wanted to learn more about their system and services, so I hopped on a recorded Zoom meeting with one of their landscape architects – you can watch that video here.

It sounds like a great service – and really affordably price, if you’ve ever shopped landscape architects, I’m sure you’d agree. You can check out their various packages here – and you can use the code SEBFREY at checkout to get $100 off – sweet!

Free Landscape Design Consultation

Would you like to learn a bit more about the Yardzen process, and get some ideas of what you can do with your own back yard? The folks at Yardzen also offer a free 15 minute consultation – if you’re interested, sign up for one using this link: https://calendly.com/kristen-yardzen/15min