01
Walk the whole parcel
Property lines, setbacks, easements, the utility pedestals, where the sun actually lands in September versus June, and which neighbor's window looks into your future patio.
Consultation — Bend, Oregon
Book the site visit
Ninety minutes on your property with the designer who will draw it. We measure, read the soil and the slope, talk budget out loud, and tell you what your lot will and won't do.
First visit, Discovery West. Stakes go in before anything gets drawn.
- 90 min
- Typical first site visit
- 3–5 days
- From call to booked appointment, Apr–Oct
- $1,850
- Design retainer, credited to build
- 2–3 wks
- Site visit to concept plan review
How reaching us actually works
One phone, one calendar, no call center
Calls to (541) 555-0188 ring at the studio on Greenwood Avenue between 7:30 and 4:30, Monday through Friday. If we are on a wall pour or in a base-prep window, you get voicemail — and a callback the same working day before 4:30, or first thing the next morning if you left it after hours. We do not use an answering service, because the person you talk to is the person who has to know whether your lot has a basalt shelf under it.
Email gets a written reply within one business day. If you send photos of the property, a plat or grading plan, and your rough budget range, we can often tell you before we drive out whether we're the right shop for the project. That saves everybody an afternoon.
Once we agree there's a project, the site visit goes on the calendar. April through October we're typically booking three to five days out; in January and February we've walked properties the same week you call. Snow on the ground is not a problem — we read grade and drainage fine under six inches, and winter is the best time to design for an April start.
— Jonah Reyes, principal designer
What happens in the 90 minutes
The visit is free and there is no plan produced on the spot. It exists so both of us can price the truth instead of a guess.
02
Probe soil and rock
We hand-dig two or three test holes. Pumice and cinder is easy; a lava shelf at 14 inches changes your patio elevation, your tree pits, and about $4,000 of excavation. Better to know now.
03
Find the water
Meter and backflow location, existing zones and controller, where roof runoff goes, and whether there's a swale or drywell on the lot the city expects you to keep clear.
04
Talk budget in dollars
We ask for a range and we react honestly to it. A 20×20 paver patio with base prep, seat wall and lighting is a different conversation than a full-yard build, and both are fine.
05
Review the rules that bind you
HOA architectural review packets in NorthWest Crossing, Discovery West, Broken Top and Tetherow; City of Bend planter-strip requirements that hold up a certificate of occupancy; Firewise clearance if you're on the WUI edge.
06
Set the next step
You leave with a written scope summary and a construction-budget range by email within three business days. If you want drawings, you sign a design agreement and pay the retainer.
Bring: your HOA guidelines, any survey or plat, and a list of what you hate about the yard now.
See the full service list
The design retainer
What $1,850 buys, and what it doesn't
Once the consultation says yes, design starts with a retainer. It is credited in full against the build if you contract with us. If you take the drawings elsewhere, you own them and we part on good terms — it has happened four times since 2011 and we still get referrals from two of them.
- IncludedBase map from field measurements, concept plan, planting plan with species and sizes, grading and drainage notes, irrigation zone layout, and one full revision round.
- Typical$1,850 for lots under 8,000 sq ft; $2,600–$4,200 for acreage, steep westside slopes, or projects needing retaining wall engineering.
- Extra3D renderings ($650), HOA architectural review packet assembly ($350), stamped structural engineering for walls over four feet (by outside engineer, at cost).
- NeverCharged twice. The retainer line appears as a credit on the first build invoice, in writing.
Reach the studio
Greenwood Avenue, Bend — by appointment
Send photos, plats and a budget range. Written reply within one business day.
studio@sagebrushlandscape.comStudio
Samples of pavers, wall block and lighting fixtures on the floor. Visits by appointment so someone is there to walk you through them.
1120 NW Greenwood Ave, Bend, OR 97703- Monday–Thursday7:30 am – 4:30 pm
- Friday7:30 am – 3:00 pm
- SaturdaySite visits only, by appointment
- SundayClosed
- Late Nov – FebDesign work; crews off, calls answered
We told them the number we could not go over. They designed to it instead of around it.
Homeowner, River's Edge — 2023 full-yard build
Why we ask about money first
A concept plan that costs three times what you can spend is a wasted month for both of us. Naming the range at the consultation lets us phase the work honestly: patio and irrigation this year, outdoor kitchen and lighting next, with sleeves and conduit already buried so year two doesn't tear up year one.
Roughly half our builds run in two phases. None of them get re-excavated.
Service area
Where we drive, and what it costs to get there
- Bend — city limitsWestside, Awbrey Butte, NorthWest Crossing, Discovery West, Broken Top, Tetherow, Brookswood, River's Edge, Old Bend, east side.No travel charge
- Tumalo & Deschutes River WoodsAcreage lots, well systems, larger irrigation mainlines, defensible-space planting.No travel charge
- Redmond, Sisters, SunriverDesign-build accepted; consultations grouped to one day per week to keep drive time out of your invoice.Consults Tuesdays
- Terrebonne, Crooked River Ranch, La PineProjects with a construction budget over $40,000. Below that the windshield time isn't fair to you.By project size
Build season
Crews run mid-April through late October. Frost dates here run roughly May 15 to early October, so hardscape brackets the season and planting fills the ends.
Best time to call
January and February. Design takes six to ten weeks with HOA review; calling in June for a June build means a September start.
Planting windows
September–October is the strongest window here — warm soil, cool air, roots establish before freeze. April–May is second.
Winterization
Blowouts booked from the first week of October and typically full by October 20. Existing clients get first calls in September.
Urgent, but not an emergency
Landscaping rarely needs a midnight truck. A few things do need a same-week answer, and we hold two slots a week for them between April and November.
Call the studio line and say "urgent" in the first sentence
Freeze-split irrigation mainline running toward a foundation, a failed backflow assembly, a retaining wall showing bulge or course separation, post-storm washout across a driveway, or a planter strip failing inspection with a certificate of occupancy pending. Those five get triaged the same day and scheduled within 72 hours. Everything else — a broken head, a dead zone, a plant that looks sad — goes on the normal calendar, usually inside two weeks.
- Shut-off first: the isolation valve is usually in the garage or a box near the meter. We'll talk you to it on the phone.
- Photograph the failure before you touch it — it matters for warranty and for insurance.
- Our hardscape workmanship warranty runs 2 years; plant establishment runs 1 year with our irrigation and our maintenance schedule followed.
- Work we didn't build gets diagnosed at $145 for the first hour, waived if you contract the repair with us.
Questions we get on the first call
Is the consultation really free?
Yes, inside Bend and Tumalo. Nothing is drawn or bid on-site; you get a written scope summary and a budget range by email within three business days. Redmond, Sisters and Sunriver consults are also free, grouped to Tuesdays.
Do I need to be home?
Yes, at least for the first thirty minutes. The design comes out of the conversation more than the tape measure. Both decision-makers present saves a second visit about ninety percent of the time.
Are you licensed?
Oregon requires two: the business license and the individual professional. We hold LCB #9942 with a $20,000 bond, $1,000,000 general liability, and workers' comp on every crew member. The landscape construction professional is on payroll every hour work is performed. Ask to see the card — we carry it.
Will you just do the design?
Yes. About one project in seven is design-only. You keep the drawings, the plant list and the irrigation layout, and you can hand them to any contractor. We'll answer that contractor's questions for free for six months.
What does a build actually cost?
Paver patios with proper compacted base run $18–$28 per square foot in Bend depending on paver, cuts and access — a 20×20 lands roughly $7,500–$11,000. Full-yard design-builds on a quarter-acre westside lot have run $45,000 to $180,000 over the last three seasons. We give real numbers after the site visit, not before.
Do you do maintenance?
Only for landscapes we built, and only Spring Startup, Fall Cleanup and Winterization. We are not a weekly mowing company and we'll refer you to two we trust.
Can you get us past the city inspection?
Planter-strip landscaping is a building permit condition and it holds a certificate of occupancy. We build to the City of Bend pre-approved ROW templates — no irrigated turf in new planter strips — and upload the inspection photos for you. Typical turnaround once scheduled is four to six working days.
How long is the wait for a build slot?
Signed contracts in January and February generally break ground in April or May. Contracts signed in June typically start in September. Fall-signed projects get the following spring's first slots.
Pick a week. We'll walk it.
Call the studio, or send photos and a budget range and we'll tell you honestly whether we're the right shop before anyone drives out.
LCB #9942 · Bonded & insured · Serving Bend since 2011
