About us
The services of John Williams Design include landscape and architectural designs that integrate and maximize the benefits of indoor and outdoor living in Los Angeles. My work covers concepts for all exterior and garden features, including designing driveways, walkways, terraces, decks, fountains and swimming pools. From the concepts a project moves forward with the assistance of engineers and skilled contractors who fulfill the visions to enhance the beauty and function of your home. My extensive plant and materials knowledge contribute to the overall beauty of each project. ***I use licensed sub contractors for all required work.***
Business highlights
Services we offer
Architectural design, hardscape design, swimming pool design, landscaping design & home remodeling design.
Amenities
Eco Friendly Accreditations
Yes
Free Estimates
Yes
Accepted Payment Methods
- Check
- 38
Assorted photos uploaded by John Williams Design
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We love our new yard. We feel the design, especially in front where there is more room, is really beautiful. We have seen lots of xeriscaping projects lately, and many of them look skimpy to us, with seas of decomposed granite interspersed with a few succulents. Our yard is generously planted. One aspect of the design that we really like is that John put in 2 good sized (maybe 10 years old?) olive trees in front, which provided an immediate impact on the look of our house and yard. The choice of plants is creative and varied. A neighbor calls it our park.
John is a very friendly and pleasant man, very responsive and easy to work with. The project moved forward in a timely manner, the crew was also very nice. John continues to check in on the yard when he is in the neighborhood. We like that, not just because he's monitoring the job he did for us, but that he keeps track of how plants look after they've been growing for a while, not just how they look in the beginning.
In terms of John's design services, I'd say his aesthetic (at least in our yard) is a plant-filled natural look, without a lot of straight or hard edges. As I said, not a minimalist. Works for us.
We are just loving our garden, and feel great about saving so much water. We've received tons of compliments, both from friends and from people just walking by, who stop to admire. John is great to work with, and he is highly recommended.
"No service was provided nor did a meeting ever take place. To work the most effectively and achieve the best results, I must meet with a potential client, walk their property with them, and get a sense of their needs. The design process begins once I am hired. I tried to arrange two meetings with the Angie's List member, but we were unable to coordinate a time when he and I could meet at his rental property. Instead he wanted me to drive by the property, not disturb the tenants, and then get back to him by phone with my thoughts. I don't drive by properties and then give ideas over the phone. When I didn't hear back from him, I'd assumed he'd gotten what he needed from someone else."
"This review misrepresents the brief, cordial meeting I had with this person. She called me several times the other day insisting that we meet that day even though I preferred to meet her on another day when I would be able to spend more time with her. Since I was nearby, I reluctantly agreed to meet for a few minutes on my way to another scheduled meeting that afternoon. I prefer to have an open-ended first meeting in order to get the full scope of a project. When I arrived, she explained her ideas of moving awkward, little brick pavers from her back yard to her front yard and planting Ficus trees across a tiny back-yard space. I felt the pavers were not appropriate, perhaps not even movable. She insisted the pavers would work, and since her back yard was full of them, she was determined to use them. I explained that I work from a design perspective and am not interested in installing things that would be bad solutions and possibly create more problems. I also asked her if we could set up a later meeting when time was not an issue to go over her project more fully. Instead, she felt compelled to write a negative review of someone whom she did not hire, perhaps never intended to hire in the first place. Perhaps all she needed was validation for the errant direction in which she was going. In many years of work on hundreds of projects I have worked closely with homeowners, architects, interior designers and other professionals. I thoroughly enjoy a collaborative process, but I am not “yes man”. Clients hire me to design beautiful landscapes, not to agree with amateur ideas."
To summarize my experience with John, I would say, he is not only very good at his landscape designing job but he has other qualities as well: he is easy to talk to, open to the clients wishes and very reliable. I highly recommend him!
"My phone number and direct email are both listed on Angie's List and are the best way to contact me. This person's communication was routed through Angie's List response server, which has been problematic for contact and follow-up. At the time of this email, I was out of the country and must have missed it upon my return."
Wherever possible, he used existing plants (I had several established ficus trees that had sprung up in clumps before I bought the house -- he pointed out it would cost $500+ to buy trees like that, so instead of taking the easy route and removing them and replacing with new, he carefully transplanted them around the yard, even though it was a lot more work for his crew).
In the front, he recommended that we remove all the grass and replace it with a "tapestry" of plants -- making my front yard look incredibly lush, and working brilliantly with the "cottage" nature of my house. It's drought tolerant, using much less water than the lawn did....and features an abundance of flowering plants and trees rather than the typical "drought tolerant" go-tos of cactus/succulents and rocks! It also takes less maintenance (with no grass to mow). Neighbors routinely stop by to look and comment about how much they like it -- and the guy next door thanked me for having it done so well an "raising the property values for the rest of us." :)
John has been exceptionally responsive throughout the design and installation -- answering questions immediately and quickly addressing any of the issues that are bound to come up in any project of this size.
John loves what he does and it shows. He's got great ideas -- along with a great crew and associates -- and he's got the kind of commitment to client satisfaction that is extremely rare these days. I would would with him again in a heart beat.
The slowest time was after the initial plans were done and we were interviewing for hardscape team. There were vacations, a death in my family, and waiting for the right team. I signed the first contract June 16th and the demolition began August 15th. Waiting this long got us a team of brothers that I had worked with before, gave a space around family issues and the timing was agreeable to John as well.
Once we got rolling, the days all went all very smoothly (seriously) (!) and the hardscape finished in 4 weeks. Based on overall plan, I was making day to day decisions with the hardscape team, as was my preference, but John checked in frequently and was always available to stop by within a day and often the same day, just for a minute to check progress or advise on a creative point. For example, one too many large birds of paradise got taken out by accident. This was unfortunate, but morphed into removing some old lattice and opening a whole new vista..point of interest. John was helpful in that and other transitions. For me it was all just great fun! It was a good team.... Efficient and nice balance of creative teamwork. I very much appreciated John's collaboration and flexibility. His expertise and advice was given without preciousness or having things done in just a very certain way.
Once the hardscape was finished and the the redwood retreat completed,(not included in price above), John started the landscaping with his team. He is pretty great . I am very pleased with the final product. I have 5 new trees, a soothing (small) patch of green, a retreat with a hammock, and that new outdoor room feeling that is soothing and nourishing. But what brings a smile to my face as much as the overall space does, are the colors and combinations of textures John chose in the plantings...very nice. The watering system needed tweaking and John and his team were available and I feel I could still request a quick visit it something came up about the landscape.
It was a true pleasure to work with John and I would certainly recommend inviting his sense of creativity into your plans....did I mention how much I love my yard?
We called John to come to our house and give us an estimate on our landscape project. He was prompt and came well prepared. Before we even started talking about the details of the job he showed us a multitude of projects that he had completed on his computer. This helped us by giving us some design ideas he thought might work well with our property. What struck me was not only the large number of jobs he had completed, but the variety of homes and locations. In each one he literally had transformed every one of them no matter how big or small the job. In addition, his knowledge of plants was incredibly comprehensive.
My husband and I were so impressed, we agreed that John should do the project. He came back with a beautifully detailed design and went through every detail with us. He had some wonderful ideas how to transform our yard not only with foliage but by raising planting beds and adding details that we never would have thought. John was very environmentally conscious - recycling turf, shunning toxic pesticides, installing a more efficient irrigation system. His crew was always on time and very professional. The job took several months and throughout that period John was always involved on a daily basis and worked as hard as his crew. He was definitely not afraid to get his hands dirty.
We love how John has transformed our yard and enjoy it every day. What started out as a way to reduce our water bill has now become our own private sanctuary. I cannot recommend him highly enough, if you are thinking of doing any type of landscaping you really should give John a call.
John Williams is so professional that he noticed that a gas line was leaking. Carlos crew trenched deeper than would have and saw that our gas line was terribly corroded. He asked me if I could save you some money would you be willing to go with my guys. We decided to go with them and he saved me $600. Pete Sanchez did a great job with the gas line! Even my plumber that I use said they did an awesome job.
"This was a fun project and a huge transformation for the home. We removed a tired old lawn area and replaced it with a drought tolerant garden. We used ground covers in place of the lawn, creating an entirely updated look for the client's home. It is always great to return to do a second phase of work for previous clients. The plumber I recommended, Pete Sanchez is a great plumber and very fair in pricing."
Licensing
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