The landscape architecture at your commercial property is one of the first things that a new client sees upon visiting your premises. Therefore, you want to make sure that it stands out.

At the same time, it’s important that you take water conservation into account. With summer right around the corner, landscape architecture that requires frequent watering can cause your utility bills to really add up. With much of the Western U.S. experiencing drought conditions, now is the right time to think about steps you can take in order to save money. The landscape architecture team at McNeil Engineering regularly assists businesses and organizations in these efforts.

A Record-Breaking Drought

A 2018 study conducted by The National Centers for Environmental Information found that “based on the Palmer Drought Index, severe to extreme drought affected about 15{ffa1fb9a833dbe70b91c2563ca2a54067368c324c18ffac54b9412388222efff} of the contiguous United States.”The report goes on to say that “about 24{ffa1fb9a833dbe70b91c2563ca2a54067368c324c18ffac54b9412388222efff} of the contiguous U.S. fell in the moderate to extreme drought categories.”

The Western U.S. is particularly impacted:

• Utah is experiencing the lowest snowpack in nearly three decades.
• California is just coming out of a drought, the likes of which hadn’t been seen since the 1400s.
• Colorado is experiencing an alarming lack of snowfall.

Sustainable landscape architecture as a means to cut costs

While there’s no way to 100{ffa1fb9a833dbe70b91c2563ca2a54067368c324c18ffac54b9412388222efff} predict the future, many experts do not expect this startling pattern to change anytime soon. Because of this, it’s crucial to consider steps that you can take in order to reduce the drought’s impact on your business. One of the easiest ways to do this is by investing in sustainable landscape architecture redesign.

Think about it: According to Today’s Home Owner, providing your lawn with one inch of water takes a little over half a gallon per square foot. That means that every 10′x10′ area will require over 62 gallons of water. If your commercial property is 100′x100′, that’s 620 gallons of water! If you hope to keep the grass green and healthy, you’ll be forced to water at least twice each day. Once in the mornings and once in the evenings. As you can imagine, those numbers can quickly add up!

Thinking sustainably doesn’t have any rules that are set in stone. You have a variety of options including:

• Hardscaping (ie: rocks, gravel, stone structures)
• Desert landscaping (ie: plants that require little water, cacti, yucca, etc.)
• Small flower beds
• Ornamental, drought-resistant grasses
• Decorated walkways, sculptures, or art installments

Sustainable landscape architecture as a means to save water

If you would prefer that your commercial property still has some kind of lawn, that’s perfectly okay too. Our landscape architecture team regularly works with businesses to design irrigation and drainage plans intended to reduce water usage.

Water retention systems can be designed to recycle rainwater or greywater, providing an all-natural way to keep your plants and lawn hydrated. Thanks to laser scanning technology, we’re also capable of seeing the topographic layout of your property. This information can provide key design insights that will help us to collect and recycle water more efficiently.

McNeil Engineering: a landscape architecture team that you can trust

As water becomes harder and harder to come by, now is the perfect time to consider transforming your commercial landscape into something that’s both sustainable and drought-resistant. The sooner the project is designed and completed, the sooner you can start saving hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on your monthly water bill.

We utilize the latest software and computer-aided technologies for design, project management and cost control. With integrated simulations, 3-D imaging, mapping, CAD and Geographic Information Systems, we can illustrate for our client’s precise visual representations of a plan and project features allowing for better cost, scheduling and design decisions.

With over 35 years of experience providing businesses all over the west with high-quality sustainable landscaping, there’s no better team to trust. Call us today to get started.