Enhancing Your Outdoors: The Roadmap to Improving Your Outdoor Environment

By Tim Lind

Everyone likes to spend time outdoors. The question is, are you happy with your outdoor living? Many people are simply dissatisfied with their home’s outdoor environment. To remedy this situation, one simply needs to pinpoint his or her goal and then transform their home’s outdoor environment to meet that goal. The goal of this article is to give you, the homeowner, the tools necessary – via my roadmap – to undertake any outdoor project … no matter whether you do it yourself or contract the project out to a professional.

You may ask, what is an “outdoor environment?” Well, simply put, it is how your home and backyard come together. Is there continuity, meaning do your home and yard complement each other? If the answer is no, then maybe it is time to reevaluate your outdoor environment and make some changes.

If you determine that change is in order, the first step is to determine your goals. Your goal is your destination on the roadmap. Doing this is simple. Just ask yourself two questions: first, what is missing; and second, what do I want to accomplish? Maybe you like to grill out, or simply entertain your friends in your backyard. Maybe you are looking to add a pool or hot tub. Or maybe your current deck or patio is simply in disrepair. Whatever the goals, half the battle is defining them.

Some of the most common goals stem from common problems. In our business, the most common goals center around entertaining and weather. Entertainment has many definitions. For some, entertainment is relaxing outside and talking with friends. For others, entertainment is taking a swim in the backyard pool. And sometimes, entertainment means providing an environment where children can safely play and burn off some of their energy. And often, entertainment is all three. Whatever your definition of entertainment may be, it will undoubtedly be one of your primary goals in designing your outdoor environment.

The second most common goal centers around weather. This second goal is much easier to pin down; it is driven either by a desire to avoid severe weather or a desire to make one’s outdoor environment enjoyable, no matter what the weather may be. This goal ranges from wanting to avoid the sun or rain to wanting to avoid the ever-present insects that seem to plague the Carolinas.

Once your goals are firmly in hand, you should do a little investigative work. In our roadmap analogy, this means getting out an “atlas” and beginning to discern the best path for your journey. This can be as simple as admiring your friends’ outdoor environments, looking through home repair magazines at your local hardware store, or searching the Internet for inspiration. It is always best if you have your goals set and a firm idea of how you’d best like to accomplish them before you undertake any sort of outdoor environment improvement.

Once you have the roadmap, your goals, and a plan established, you should honestly assess whether the project you have in mind is one that you want to undertake yourself or one that you want to outsource to another. At this point in the process, you are looking to see whether the “vehicle” you have will make the journey, or whether you need to rent or buy another (to continue with our roadmap/travel analogy). There are many outdoor environment improvements that can be accomplished by the do-it-yourselfer; however, there are also many projects that are a bit more difficult than they first appear on paper. It is never a bad idea to have a professional give you an estimate on any project you are thinking of undertaking. At the least, they may give up some “trade secrets” – in other words, they may give you some insight on how the project should be tackled. At the best, they may provide you with an estimate that makes having a professional undertake the project tenable.

If you decide that you want a professional to undertake your outdoor environment improvement project, it is important that you get an honest assessment of that professional. There are several factors that you need to consider when determining your honest assessment: work product, references, and their vision.

Work product is simple – look at as many jobs that that person or company has done to assess quality and consistency. If the quality of their projects waivers due to craftsmanship flaws, and not simply Mother Nature’s abuses, then you may want to look elsewhere.

As for references, it is important to ascertain the level of professionalism that an individual or company projects. That is to say, how responsive were they to questions or concerns? How timely was the completion of the project? If you hear any concerns that mirror concerns you may have about a potential contractor, then they likely are not the contractor for your project.

The last factor to consider is how is the potential contractor’s vision? What I mean by that is, did their vision of what your goal and roadmap are mesh with yours? If there is any question, then maybe that contractor is not the one for this particular project. It is very important that you, the homeowner, and the contractor see eye-to-eye on the project in its entirety. If his or her vision of the project is even a shade different than yours, you may be dissatisfied with the end result. You should never be afraid to ask questions or feel intimidated. It is the contractor’s job to answer any questions or handle any concerns that arise. If they are unwilling to do so in a satisfactory manner, then they likely are not the correct fit for your needs. For complete success, your vision and that of the contractor’s should be one.

This journey can be simple and enjoyable if undertaken in the proper manner. By simply outlining your goals, plotting your projected path, determining whether you wish to undertake the project yourself or outsource it (and if you decide to outsource the project, by making sure that you and your contractor share the same vision), your project will be a success.

This pseudo travel-guide should hopefully provide you with the necessary tools to undertake, and successfully complete, any outdoor environment project with relative ease.

Tim Lind is with Precision Decks / Precision Construction & Remodeling, located at 1890 S. Main St., Suite 106 in Wake Forest. For more information about how you can improve your outdoor living environment, call 556-8666 or visit <www.precision-decks.com>.