A landscaping company’s main goal is to ensure that the vision you have for your yard becomes reality. You can hire a company to create a jungle-like experience with overgrown shrubs and greenery, a polished patio surrounded by rock gardens and waterfalls, or anything in between. While the appearance of your yard is the most obvious way to judge a company’s work, functionality is just as important. You want to be able to enjoy the space they’ve curated, and to do that, you’ll need to be sure to add some practical elements to your vision.

The most basic services of any landscaping company are cutting lawns and planting vegetation, which can include services like trimming bushes and trees, pulling weeds, and maintaining garden beds. If you are content with your landscape design but don’t want to handle maintenance on your own, you can hire a company to complete these basic tasks for you. However, if this is what you’re looking for, it’s especially important that you take time to research the company you hire to ensure they are legitimate, licensed, and insured. You’ll want to spend the extra time researching because it can be easy for anyone to claim to be with a landscaping company, and should something go wrong, you may spend more money and effort trying to fix the problem than the service is worth.

While most of us know that landscapers specialize in lawn-cutting and vegetation, paving isn’t a common service people think of when consulting landscaping companies. However, many landscapers do specialize in creating functional walkways, driveways, and patios for outdoor spaces. Even if you can’t find a company that can create a fully paved driveway, they should be able to install a simple concrete pad for the garden or stepping stones to create a walkway in it. These paved areas create more opportunities for you to enjoy the outdoor spaces you’ve envisioned.

Another practical element that many people skip over when hiring landscapers is lighting. Having some sort of lighting outside can be useful for the warm nights that you want to spend outdoors, be it for a family dinner or a pool party. There are a variety of different lighting options to choose from, including light posts, lanterns, string lights, and spotlights, depending on your preference.

Before reaching out to landscaping companies, it’s important to have a clear idea of what kind of services you are looking for. Not all landscaping companies will be able to perform all services, so knowing what you want will make it much easier to find a company that will be able to help make your vision a reality.