Landscape Design Services
There’s a house in Northville we drive past sometimes where the homeowner clearly just went to the nursery, bought whatever looked good, and planted it all in a weekend. Three years later, half of it’s dead, the rest is overgrown, and the paver walkway they added is already heaving from frost. Nobody sat down and actually thought it through first.
That’s what design prevents.
At Premiere Landscape Services, we won’t touch a shovel until we’ve worked through the design with you. Not because we’re trying to drag out the process—because skipping it is how you end up with drainage problems, plants that can’t handle our winters, and a patio that faces the wrong direction for how you actually want to use it.
We’ve been doing this in Oakland County since 2003. Long enough to know what works here and what doesn’t.
More Than Picking Out Plants
People sometimes think landscape design means flipping through a plant catalog and pointing at pictures. That’s maybe 10% of it.
The bigger questions come first. How does water move across your property when we get those heavy spring rains? Where does the snow pile up in winter, and what’s underneath it when it melts? Which areas get full sun in July versus what’s shaded by your neighbor’s maple by 2pm? If you’ve got mature trees, their root systems are competing for water and nutrients in ways you can’t see.
In the Novi and Northville area specifically, soil is all over the map. Some of the subdivisions off Beck Road have dense clay that holds water forever. Go a few miles toward South Lyon and it’s sandier, drains fast, dries out quick. The design has to account for what you’re actually working with, not some generic assumption.
Then there’s budget. We’d rather have an honest conversation about what things cost early on than hand you a beautiful plan you can’t afford to build. Sometimes that means phasing a project over two summers. Sometimes it means finding a different material that gets you a similar look for less. Either way, better to figure that out in the design phase than halfway through construction.
Residential Landscape Design
Most of our projects are residential, and honestly, no two are that similar.
Last spring we worked with a family in Plymouth who had a decent-sized backyard that they never used. The kids played out front, which isn’t ideal when you’re on a busier street. Turned out the back had no shade, no defined space—just a rectangle of grass and some builder-grade arborvitae along the fence. We designed a space with a pergola for shade, a patio sized for their table and grill, and a play area with better sightlines from the kitchen window. Now the kids are actually back there.
Different situation in Walled Lake a few months before that. Retired couple, grown kids, wanted a low-maintenance yard they could enjoy without spending every weekend on upkeep. We went heavy on native perennials, added a small water feature, designed wider planting beds with good mulch coverage to suppress weeds. They wanted to sit outside with coffee in the morning and a drink in the evening, not push a mower around.
The point is, residential landscaping design starts with how you live. The outdoor space should fit that, not the other way around.
When the project includes hardscaping, irrigation, and lighting—which most of ours do—we design all of it together. Running irrigation lines after a patio is already poured is a pain. Figuring out where landscape lighting goes after all the plants are in means you’re working around root balls. Get it all on paper first and the installation goes smoother.
Commercial Landscape Design
Commercial properties are a different animal.
First impressions matter more. The landscape is part of how customers or tenants perceive the business. But commercial landscaping also means higher traffic, tighter maintenance budgets, and usually a property manager who doesn’t want to deal with constant plant replacements or irrigation headaches.
We’ve done office complexes in Novi, a few retail centers, some HOA common areas, an industrial site out toward Wixom. The design priorities shift toward durability and consistency. Plants that look decent year-round without heavy pruning. Hardscape materials that can handle salt and plows. Irrigation that’s efficient enough to not blow up the water bill but thorough enough to keep everything alive through a dry August.
One thing we always think about on commercial jobs is maintenance access. Sounds boring, but it matters. If the lawn crew can’t get a mower between the building and the bed edge, that strip of turf is going to look terrible by July. If the shrubs are planted too tight, someone’s going to hack them back ugly instead of pruning them right. We design with the reality of how these properties actually get maintained.
Hardscaping Integrated Into the Design
Hardscape—patios, walkways, retaining walls, fire pits, outdoor kitchens—gives a landscape its structure. It’s the bones. Everything else fills in around it.
Michigan is tough on hardscape. Freeze-thaw cycles do real damage if the base isn’t prepped right or the materials aren’t suited for it. We’ve been called out to fix a lot of patios and walls that other companies installed, and the failures are almost always the same story: not enough base material, poor drainage behind retaining walls, installer rushing to get it done before winter.
When hardscaping is part of your project, we design it as one piece of the whole plan. Patio placement affects what’s possible for planting beds. Retaining wall locations determine how grading works. A fire pit needs to be positioned for seating, wind direction, and code setbacks. These elements relate to each other, and the design should reflect that instead of treating each one like a separate line item.
Planning Irrigation From the Start
Retrofitting irrigation into an established landscape is doable but annoying. You’re working around roots, cutting through sod, trying to route pipe past hardscape that’s already there. Coverage ends up compromised because you couldn’t put heads where they really needed to go.
When irrigation is part of the initial design, it’s a different story. We plan zones based on plant water needs—turf areas separate from perennial beds separate from annual containers. Supply lines get routed efficiently. Heads get positioned before anything else goes in.
For properties on wells (pretty common once you get out toward Lyon Township and that direction), water pressure and recovery rate matter. A system designed for city water won’t perform the same on a well. We factor that in during design so you’re not stuck with brown spots in August because the system can’t keep up.
Smart controllers are standard on most of our installs now. They adjust watering based on weather data, which saves water and keeps plants healthier than a dumb timer that runs the same schedule whether it rained or not.
How We Work
First step is always a site visit. We walk the property, talk through what you’re hoping to accomplish, take measurements and photos, and start getting a sense of opportunities and limitations. There’s no charge for this—it’s how we figure out if there’s a good fit and gather what we need to put together a design.
From there, we develop a scaled plan. Most residential projects get a detailed drawing showing hardscape layouts, planting locations, and any other elements. Bigger or more complex projects might include 3D renderings or phased plans if you’re building it out over time.
We don’t disappear into a back room and emerge with a finished plan you’ve never seen. You’re part of the conversation throughout. We present ideas, you react, we adjust. Our job is bringing the expertise about what works in this climate and how to build it right. Your job is making sure the design actually matches how you want to live.
Once we land on a plan you’re happy with, that’s what guides construction. We’re a design-build firm—same company designs it and installs it—so there’s no gap between what’s on paper and what gets built.
Landscape Services in Novi, Northville, Plymouth and Beyond
We’ve been working in this area for over two decades now. Novi, Northville, Plymouth, Wixom, Walled Lake, out toward South Lyon and Milford. We know the local conditions—the soil quirks, the microclimates, what plant material actually survives here versus what the garden center is pushing because it looks good on the truck.
If you’ve been looking for landscape services nearby and want a company that takes the design process seriously before jumping into construction, give us a call. We’re happy to come take a look at your property and talk through what might be possible.
Start With a Design Conversation
Contact Premiere Landscape Services to set up a consultation. We’ll walk your property, hear what you’re thinking, and explain how we’d approach your project.