Design Assist

D&G Landscaping is pleased to offer Design Assist services. With Design Assist, we work with the landscape architect prior to completion of the design of the work (ideally as soon as the design process begins) to incorporate our experience and expertise into the design of the project, ensuring that it is feasible and constructible from a contractor perspective while providing maximum value to the owner.

A Design Assist project for D&G Landscaping involves a kickoff meeting with the landscape architect’s designer and one of our experienced and capable senior staff members (with over 15 years experience in the Ottawa landscaping industry with D&G Landscaping and over 25 years experience in the Ottawa construction industry). At the kickoff meeting, the D&G Landscaping senior staff member will answer any questions the landscape architect has and also setup a design review schedule. We recommend that that the landscape architect’s design be reviewed for feasibility and constructability from a contractor perspective by our senior staff member at the initial concept, 33% completion, 66% completion, and 99% completion stages. Throughout all these phases, the D&G Landscaping senior staff member will be available to answer any questions the landscape architect has. The D&G Landscaping senior staff member can also make themselves available for design meetings between the landscape architect and the rest of the project design team as needed. Once the design documents are complete the Design Assist service is ended and the project can be tendered to any number of contractors as desired by the owner.

"Uplift" (Art Beacon) art piece at Lansdowne Park built by D&G Landscaping
Asphalt path and plant beds at Grace Manor

Our Design Assist Services Can Help

  • Reduce tender questions and lower project bid values by ensuring the plans and specifications give bidders the information they need to bid with certainty
  • Decrease project delays by ensuring the plans and specifications give the successful bidder the information they need to execute the project, reducing costly and time-consuming change orders, RFIs, and site instructions
  • Increase overall project value by flagging elements or products that we know will prove to be undesirably expensive and ensuring that project details match the industry standard details we see every day as we bid on and build landscaping projects as the premier landscape contractor in Eastern Ontario

Background

Construction project delivery systems are evolving. Under the traditional design-bid-build delivery system, the architect/engineer completes the design of the project, the project is tendered, and then the successful bidder builds the project. In this system, the experience and knowledge of the successful bidder is not involved in the project until the design is set. Any changes to the project required by the contractor for constructability now need to be rushed by the design consultant to keep the project moving and end up being priced as extras. What if the contractor’s experience and knowledge was used to add value to the project before the final plans were printed and the project was tendered? Design Assist allows an experienced, knowledgeable contractor to provide design input from a contractor perspective as the project documents are prepared, reducing contractor uncertainty during bidding and decreasing costly and time-consuming changes during construction, increasing project value.

Asphalt path, benches, and soft landscaping at Grace Manor

Our Work

D&G Landscaping has worked on some of the biggest and most prestigious construction projects in the area (projects in our portfolio include Lansdowne Urban Park, the Government Conference Centre, and Ottawa Light Rail Transit).