Posted on Tuesday, December 29, 2009 by admin in Resources |

A landscaper can be any individual or company offering services ranging from lawn care to maintenance, installation of plant materials, the contractor offering site construction services such as patios, desks, grading, or roadways, or the licensed landscape architect that offers design services. Generally, the businesses that offer landscape installation services beyond the services normally offered by lawn care businesses prefer to be called landscape contractors. Many nurseries and garden centers offer installation services and consider themselves landscape contractors, as well. Landscape contractors are not licensed, but are usually members of one or several organizations that set up standards for their industry. These associations include a Landscape Contractors Association, the American Association of Nurserymen, The Maryland Association of Nurserymen and the National Landscape Association (Division of the American Association of Nurserymen).

Landscape architects are licensed professionals in Maryland, as well as 48 other states in the United States and offer professional design services related to landscape improvements. Skills offered by landscape architects include, but are not limited to, grading, preparation of sediment and erosion control plan; site layout for residential, business, commercial structures retaining wall design; deck design; house and lot layout; road alignment; and related utility design. Some of these services are also offered by civil engineers, licensed land surveyors, and architects, but landscape architects integrate all of these skills together with an understanding and sensitivity to land development issues.