A great yard starts with a great plan. When designing your landscape, take into account your own preferences and purposes. The following steps will guide you through the beginning process.

• Measure your lot, then draw a diagram of the site that includes the house and any existing features, like a walkway, pool or patio.
• Make the drawing to scale by using grid paper or an enlargement of the plot plan provided by your builder. You may want to make two separate drawings; one for the front yard and one for the back yard.
• Consider enlarging the diagram so you have plenty of room to make drawings and notes.
• Make several copies to use during various stages of the design process and keep at least one clean copy for future use.