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Urbandale spreads across two eras of the Des Moines metro. The east side near Merle Hay Road and 86th Street went up in the 1950s and 60s, its yards under decades-old trees, while newer subdivisions west toward 156th Street sit on open, bare lots. Ted Lare Design Build & Garden Center has been serving homeowners since 1982, bringing experience in landscape design and installation to outdoor projects of all sizes.
These landscape design services begin by assessing which Urbandale you live in, because a shaded 1960s lot and a raw new build ask for very different plans. We work as a landscape design build company, so the same shop that draws the plan also lays the patio and plants the beds. A skilled landscape designer never works from a template. Good design makes a home easier to live in and worth more at resale.
Custom landscape design in Urbandale opens with a question the lawn crews skip. How old is this yard? On the east side, a designer looks at what already stands. A mature oak may be worth keeping while overgrown shrubs come out, or an original patio no longer suits the family.
A west-side new build flips the job. No canopy to save and no dated layout to fix, so the landscape designer sets the structure from scratch and sizes beds for growth still years away. The same factors shape either drawing. A designer weighs the sun and shade, then the slope and the clay beneath, and how you move through the yard. Strong residential landscape design fits the property in front of it, so it still works years on.
We plan every outdoor feature as part of one property. Design and build under one roof keeps the pieces working together, and each ties back to our full landscape services.
Good outdoor living spaces turn a backyard into a place you truly use. We build patios for dining and lounging. Pergolas and covered structures add shade, and an outdoor kitchen handles real cooking. A fire pit or fireplace stretches the season into cool Iowa evenings.
Smart backyard design places each feature where light and foot traffic already lead. On an east-side lot, that means fitting the space under mature trees without fighting roots. On an open west-side yard, we build the shade the lot still lacks. See finished work on our outdoor living page.
Hardscape carries a yard’s daily weight, so it must be built right the first time. Our patio installation covers paver and natural stone. Pavers give a clean, repeatable pattern and lift out if one ever cracks. Natural stone looks richer and lasts decades with little upkeep.
Hardscape design also shapes the walkways between spaces and the stone steps over a grade change. Seat walls add seating and frame a bed at once. Every surface starts with proper grading and a base built for Iowa’s freeze and thaw. Find materials on our paver patio work page.
The older east side of Urbandale rolls just enough that grade turns into a design problem on many lots. Retaining walls solve it two ways. A low decorative wall carves a flat bed or a terrace from a gentle slope. A taller structural wall holds back real grade and stops soil from creeping toward the house. We engineer the structural walls, drain them, and match the stone to your other hardscape.
A backyard makeover gives a tired mid-century lot a second life. Many east-side yards still run their original 1970s layout, and a full redesign rethinks the space around how the family lives now. We handle the whole refresh, from new planting beds to lighting for the yard after dark.
Adding a pool rewards early planning. Our pool installation work treats the pool as part of the landscape. We draw the deck alongside it, screen the sightlines with privacy plantings, and let a water feature tie the space together.
Central Iowa hands every yard the same clay, and that clay behaves differently by lot. On the settled east side, decades of roots and foot traffic have packed it tight, so water sits rather than soaks. On a new west-side build, heavy machinery does the same in months. Either way, the ground drains slowly.
Our designs loosen that soil where beds and lawns go, then grade the lot so runoff leaves the foundation. Iowa State University Extension offers solid guidance on managing clay soil. We then pick trees and perennials tough enough for a hard Iowa winter and matched to the sun each area gets.
Here is what makes design and build under one roof matter. The plan you approve is the plan that gets installed. When a design firm hands its drawings to an outside crew, details slip in translation. We remove that gap.
Your designer stays involved from the first site visit through landscape installation, and our crews build straight from the drawing. This landscape design build model keeps the person who solved your drainage tied to the people digging it. Read the full sequence on our Des Moines landscape design and build process page.
Plenty of companies will mow a lawn or plant a few shrubs. Far fewer design and build a full outdoor project and stand behind the result. That gap is where Ted Lare works, as the landscaping company Urbandale IA homeowners call for the bigger jobs.
Every designer here holds a landscape architecture degree from Iowa State, and the firm has built across Central Iowa for over four decades. Because we grow and stock the plants in our own garden center, we match them to the deep shade of an old east-side lot or the full sun of a new one out west. This fit gives a yard lasting curb appeal. Contact our team to talk through your property.
A landscape designer plans the whole yard on paper before a plant goes in. The work spans layout and planting, plus the hardscape and drainage. In Urbandale it means seeing whether your yard is mature or blank before drawing a plan.
Cost depends on the condition of the lot and the scope of the plan. A full backyard makeover on an established property runs more than a starter design on a new build, or the reverse once that lot adds a pool. We quote only after a designer walks the yard, so the number fits your property.
Design usually takes a few weeks, ending with a plan you approve. A planting refresh then installs in days, while a full makeover with hardscape and a pool runs several weeks. Weather and scope set the pace.
Yes, and that is the whole point of a design build company. The team that draws your plan also installs it, so nothing goes to a subcontractor who never saw the design. That keeps the landscaping services Urbandale IA property owners rely on consistent from paper to install.
Yes. Older-neighborhood makeovers are some of our most common work in Urbandale. A smart redesign does not clear the lot and start fresh. It keeps the bones worth saving, maybe a shade tree or a solid patio, and builds the new plan around them.
Yes, and building them in from day one beats adding them piecemeal. A patio, a pool, or a wall changes how water and foot traffic move through a yard, so it belongs in the design early. One team plans and builds all of it, so the pieces line up instead of competing.
Good landscape design services in Urbandale, IA start the same way for every home, whether it sits under old growth near 86th Street or on a fresh lot toward 156th. We look at the property, learn how you want to use it, and draw a plan for that yard.
From there we handle the custom landscape design and everything after it, from patios and outdoor living to retaining walls, pools, and a full backyard build. Schedule a landscape consultation and we will start with what your Urbandale lot can become.
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