SOME MORE CLIENT NODS
What Our Customers Say About Us
"Thank you for our recent consultation and design meeting. As you are aware, our family has lived on this property in Atherton, California for ten years. Five years ago we tore down our 1950’s ranch home and build our beautiful present home with Pacific Peninsula Builders of Menlo Park. The house was situated to face our heritage oak tree that stood in the northwest corner of our lot. The oak was impressive and up lit adding a dimension to the home site. During the recent winter storms, we lost our lovely oak and the subsequent space its departure left directly impacted the entire property.
After speaking to anyone and everyone, I had twenty different ideas of what to do with this empty area. I was unhappy with everyone’s suggestions. I went online and scrolled through the residential landscaping plans that you had developed on the peninsula and across Los Gatos and Saratoga. I felt that you would understand the area and hoped we could get together for a little brainstorming.
You were efficient, on time and professional. Your excellent staff also followed up and took time to ensure all was good for our meeting. Since I had site plans from our building, you were more that accommodating and did on site measurements, gave suggestions and finally, sketched a full plan over my site drawings that fit perfectly with my vision. After two and a half hours I have all I need to begin the project and bring in my own contractors.
I know you primarily work on large scale projects, but I do appreciate the time and consideration you took with this problem area for me. I feel the issues are solved. We may not be able to replace the majesty and drama of a giant oak, but I feel you came up with an effective plan that impress and add just the touch the entrance to our home required."
Barbara B.
Atherton, CA
"Our first encounter with Rhadiante was an exhibition she did at Santana Row. After picking up her card, we checked her website and pretty much knew right then that she would be the landscape architect for the complete redesign of our backyard.
At our first meeting, she came to our house with her portable library of resources and all of her creativity. After discussing our somewhat sketchy vision and various wants, desires and dislikes, she sent us away for a bit. Less than an hour later she had a conceptual design drawn out that enabled us to envision our future backyard. It was just amazing to us that in such a short time she was able to capture our ideas and turn them into something we could see.
This sketch became the basis for the detailed design for which Rhadiante recommended several very competent installation contractors. She worked with all of them to fine-tune their bids and worked closely with the one we selected. She maintained her involvement during the construction by reviewing progress and ensuring conformance to the plans. Even though the contractor we selected was exceptionally professional, competent and easy to work with, the additional oversight provided by Rhadiante was very worthwhile to ensure the result we all wanted to achieve.
Now that our project is done – well, we love it! Everyone who has seen it cannot believe the transformation from the way it was before. It has changed from just a backyard into a true outdoor living space. And a lot of the credit goes to Rhadiante, who came up with the design and helped us implement it. She is easy to work with, yet very detail oriented and always striving for excellence – a clear sign that she really enjoys what she does."
Mildy & Neal W.
San Jose, CA
"Rhadiante is an exceptionally gifted and creative landscape architect. We engaged her services for a comprehensive redesign of our yard in 2006. She spend time understanding our objectives for the work as well as our taste and style. In addition to the landscape architecture, we kept her working on the project through the demo, landscaping, hardscape and planting phases to ensure that the project was done in concert with the original design. We remain thrilled with the results and thoroughly enjoyed working with Rhadiante through the project. She brought passion, creativity and expertise to our vision for the yard."
Bruce
Monte Sereno, CA
"Rhadiante and her team are simply the best. We found Rhadiante after working with another company who didn’t quite get our vision. She understood what we wanted immediately and designed a space better than I could have ever imagined it. The overall flow of the yard, plant selection and her management of the contractor and his team were all perfection. If only I could get someone like her to manage work on the inside of my home!"
Lara Foland-Ross
San Jose, CA
"The emergence of Rhadiante’s dreamlike designs and architectural expertise converge to create an enchanting Eden."
Sherry S.
Aptos, CA
"We have had the beautiful backyard for more than 5 years now and we still love it! Not only the original design and construction totally meet our desire and need but also the great maintenance provided by Rhadiante and Neil. Our garden is designed to be low maintenance but half a year maintenance is definitely a must for us as it goes a long way with very reasonable cost."
Bergen H.
San Francisco, CA
"Rhadiante and Elemental Design Group are simply amazing! Not only do we love her work, but also our family and friends. We just want to stay in the backyard/garden as much as we can. I found the company through google search and liked the photos from her site. I contacted her and 2 other companies and she was the best without any doubt. She was very friendly and understanding.
Her designs and blueprints were not only very detailed but also made me believe she and her crew would definitely deliver! We reworked the project a bit to fit in to our budget and there was definitely no tradeoff in the quality of work or function of the garden. Upon completion, the garden was simply amazing, functional and low maintenance.
It has been 3 years and it still looks great! I hire her to come back for regular (2-3 times/year) maintenance for a very reasonable price so the garden can retain its beauty! I would definitely recommend her to all my friends who love a low maintenance but yet very charming garden as I do!"
Stephen R.
Hercules, CA
"Rhadiante and her team did an amazing job re imagining what our suburban yard could be. We have the most beautiful outdoor spaces that bring me joy every day when I look out the windows. Rhadiante managed to create a space that requires little maintenance and looks gorgeous both day and night. Her team is fabulous to work with and I look forward to doing another project in the future."
Nancy Keslin
San Jose, CA
"Working with Rhadiante was a pleasure and a complete success. She listens well, is cost conscious and respects budget constraints. Her experience and subject knowledge kept me from making poor choices. The landscape contractor implemented her very thorough plans virtually without change. The results are spectacular!"
Henry M.
CA
"My front yard landscaping project has been completed and it looks great! I thought that I would write a testimonial so that you and others would know what a super job that you did for me.
Prior to meeting you, I had some less than satisfactory experiences with the “home show” landscape designers. Their approach was always “Yeah, we can do that”. In other words, they did not offer any insight or meaningful suggestions pertaining to my landscape project. Mostly, what they offered was a rehash of their typical sod and shrub installations.
Upon our first meeting at my home, you immediately impressed with your originality and attention to detail. You listened to my ideas and vision for transforming my entire front yard to a drought tolerant, Mediterranean landscape design. Based upon that objective, you were able to sketch out a plan that would achieve that overall goal while maintaining a sense of harmony with the existing backyard landscaping and architecture of the house. I felt that we were immediately in sync. You were able to offer new and creative suggestions as to what would work best for my front yard, and incorporate those ideas into a detailed set of landscape and construction plans.
I also appreciate your ability to provide references to qualified landscape contractors. I selected one of contractors that you had recommended and they did a fantastic job. The icing on the cake was that their bid was several thousand dollars below what I had received from one of the home show landscape contractors.
I felt that the money that I spent for your design and plans was, in the long run, a net savings over what I would have paid without your guidance. Most importantly, I got a terrific looking front yard and have received many compliments from neighbors and friends."
Steve N.
Fremont, CA
"Rhadiante created a beautiful landscape for a speculation home I was developing and I was so pleased, she did the same for our new home. We found Rhadiante creative, attentive to our needs – she listens, responsive, responsible and professional and, most importantly, she has a sense of humor and is an absolute pleasure to be with!!! As an attorney and high-end developer, I demand excellence and Rhadiante exceeded our expectations. My experience with Rhadiante has been excellent and I highly recommend her."
SOFO Properties
Realty Corporation
"We love our new backyard! We so enjoyed working with Rhadiante and the team she assembled. From our first conversation I knew she understood our priorities, and then worked with all our requests to transform our space into the garden we’d dreamed of. We highly recommend Elemental Design."
Beth Redding
San Jose, CA