Outdoor design is a highly specialized form of residential landscaping. While paying close attention to standard landscaping elements such as fountains, gardens, and ornamentation, outdoor design creates a much more sophisticated aesthetic that actually extends residential living space from the house into the surrounding greenery. Only a few companies in the world of landscaping offer outdoor design services. Of this number, only a select few, such as Exterior Worlds in Houston, TX, do this type of work on a smaller scale for residential clients.



The keys to success in outdoor design lie in two very important things: landscape planning, and a cohesive team of specialists dedicated to executing that plan expeditiously and seamlessly. The general contractor must select the appropriate home builders, architects, pool specialists, pond and fountain companies, and masons to create an interconnected latticework of advanced outdoor designs that flow together to turn indoor space inside out—resulting in an expanded home environment that consists of partly natural elements and blends harmoniously with natural surroundings. This is much more complex than creating landscapes that compliment architecture. It is actually a synthesis of landscape and architecture, earth and brick, light and water.

Of course, the complexity of this science calls for a very experienced and high level of project management expertise. This is the primary motivation for why homeowners contact Exterior Worlds to coordinate outdoor design services. In effect, Exterior Worlds acts in the same manner as a larger, commercial general contractor wood, only in a different niche market. We work almost exclusively with private homeowners in high-end neighborhoods who require a professional interface with each and every specialist that contributes key elements brought in to add specific landscaping elements and outdoor designs. The world of contractors in general functions in this manner, and has its own procedures and lingo, so to speak, that projects and activities are based around. Artisan contractors typically work more comfortably and efficiently under a general contractor familiar with the paradigms and terminologies of their industry than they do with an individual who is more than likely unfamiliar with these things.

It is very difficult for a single individual to manage these teams without expertise in contacting and landscaping. Outdoor design is a layered aesthetic consisting of both natural and manmade elements, and it is far more systematic in creation than it appears when the final outcome is finished and everything appears to flow beautifully together into one single, aesthetic synthesis. In fact, a good many of the elements that we take for granted in the landscapes we see daily are in actuality created by professionals who specialize exclusively in the development of these specific layers and elements. These include, but are not limited to, the following:

•Swimming Pools

•Small private lakes, large ponds, very ornate fountains

•Outdoor Lighting Systems

•Carpenters who specialize in outdoor structures

•Stone masonry

•Metal workers specializing in fence work and custom, ornamental iron work

•Paving specialists

•Painters

In fact, any attempt on the part of a homeowner to oversee the many layers of an outdoor design project without the assistance of a personal, general contractor is the equivalent of baking lasagna with the proper ingredients but without the proper knowledge of the layers. Individuals who nonetheless make this attempt find that it is difficult to communicate their expectations verbally to artisan contractors, because these professionals work better with schematics than they do with general, verbalized requests. Even more so, getting all of the many elements to fit together can be difficult if all the various contractors are working at different times, independently of a well-managed, comprehensive outdoor design and landscaping plan.

Exterior Worlds can both rectify these issues, or even better, prevent them from happening in the first place, simply by systematizing the entire outdoor design process as a contiguous plan of action that flows from start to finish, with each respective artisan contractor performing one or more services along the way. This is almost like an assembly line in terms of process flow and time management, and much more efficient and affordable for the resident.