By Jeremy Ruben, Founder of LANDOVA Design & Planning · October 15, 2026
A backyard design becomes much more useful when you understand what it may cost to build—and how that cost fits your priorities. LANDOVA's estimating stage connects your approved plan with pricing from the people who perform the work in your region.
We work with vetted trade partners who provide estimates for their particular part of the project. Their input helps us organize a practical project budget, compare building all at once with building in phases, and prepare information you can share with a financing provider.
The result is your LANDOVA Project Estimate & Phasing Plan: one coordinated view of the proposed work, its estimated cost, and the decisions needed to move forward.
Start with a defined project
Estimating follows the layout and design decisions that establish what you want to build. The pool, patio, planting, drainage considerations, utilities, and other selected features need enough definition for the relevant trades to understand their work. We carry forward the approved scope, documented site information, and material choices.
When a selection remains open, we identify the assumption or allowance behind its estimated cost. A placeholder amount should not look like a confirmed product price. If you change the design or a material choice, we review the effect on the estimate before treating the previous total as current.
This is why approving the layout first and making deliberate decisions during detailed design help the estimating stage move more efficiently.
Pricing from the trades that do the work
A defining part of LANDOVA's approach is our relationship with vetted local trade partners. Pricing comes from actual tradespeople and contractors working in the region where the homeowner lives. Licensed contractors contribute pricing for the work within their licensed scope.
Each partner focuses on the work they understand: a pool contractor's scope, a hardscape installer's scope, or the electrical, landscaping, and other portions the project needs. Regional pricing models and project-specific estimates bring practical knowledge of labor, materials, access, and installation into the budget conversation.
We distinguish between a planning amount developed from a trade partner's pricing model and a written estimate for your specific project. That distinction helps you understand how each amount was developed and what still needs confirmation. Vetting a partner does not turn an early planning estimate into a fixed construction contract.
My experience in pool-project sales and design conversations helps me connect those trade inputs to the homeowner's goals. LANDOVA's role is to bring the individual scopes together so you can understand the whole project before deciding whom to hire.
Coordinate the scopes before adding up the total
Separate estimates can leave gaps where one trade's work meets another's. An electrical connection, demolition, drainage adjustment, equipment access, or yard restoration may be assumed to belong to someone else. Two estimates can also include the same task.
We review the trade scopes together, identify apparent overlaps or missing work, and clarify the assumptions behind the numbers. The aim is a coordinated estimate that explains what is included, what is excluded, and which questions remain open.
- Defined work: The features, quantities, materials, and responsibilities being priced.
- Cost basis: Trade-partner estimates or regional pricing inputs, with relevant dates and assumptions.
- Open items: Allowances, exclusions, site questions, and decisions that could affect the total.
- Other project costs: Identified permits, technical services, restoration, or other agreed items, kept visible rather than silently assumed to be included.
We also discuss room in the budget for unresolved conditions. The appropriate allowance depends on the project; the goal is to make uncertainty visible while you still have time to make choices.
Choose whether to build all at once or in phases
The estimate gives you a basis for deciding how much of the vision to complete now. You may want one coordinated build, or you may prefer to spread improvements over the next few years. LANDOVA helps you compare those paths against the complete plan.
Building together may reduce repeated setup, deliveries, or disruption. Building in phases can fit your available budget and let you prioritize the spaces you will use first. It can also introduce return-trip costs, temporary work, or later restoration. We make those tradeoffs part of the discussion.
We separate the work you intend to complete now from later additions and identify preparation that may make sense during the first build. Future-phase amounts are planning figures, not prices locked in for several years. Labor, materials, availability, and the scope itself can change, so later estimates need to be refreshed before you commit.
Sequence the work around the whole vision
Phasing is about more than dividing the total into smaller amounts. The order of the work matters. Access for equipment, drainage, underground services, and the relationship between adjoining features can affect what should happen first.
Imagine you want a patio now and an outdoor kitchen later. The plan should consider the kitchen's location, future access, and required connections before the patio is finished. Depending on the project, preparing suitable routes or infrastructure early may avoid removing completed work later. The responsible trades confirm the technical requirements and installation sequence.
Likewise, a future pool may need access through an area you are considering for new planting or a structure. Estimating helps put the cost of those choices beside their timing implications. Read more about planning future features before building the first phase.
The construction sequence is specific to your property and must account for the relevant approvals and trade requirements. It is separate from LANDOVA's six service stages: you can complete the planning process while choosing to build the project over time.
Your Project Estimate & Phasing Plan
After the initial estimating review, you receive an organized packet that connects the proposed project to its costs. Within your agreed scope, it brings together:
- A summary of the approved project and relevant design information.
- Trade-by-trade estimated costs and a consolidated project total.
- Supporting contractor estimates or identified pricing assumptions.
- Known inclusions, exclusions, allowances, and items needing confirmation.
- Your proposed first build and future phases, with sequencing considerations.
- The remaining decisions and pricing updates needed before construction commitments.
Instead of explaining the project repeatedly from a collection of unrelated numbers, you have a shared reference for conversations with your household, prospective contractors, and financing providers.
Prepare for financing review
You can provide the packet to a financing company when discussing funding for the project. Estimates from actual licensed contractors give the provider a documented basis for understanding the proposed work and how its cost was developed. The project summary and phase breakdown help explain what you intend to finance now.
Contractor pricing is useful supporting information, but it does not automatically make a packet acceptable to every lender. Each provider decides which documents it needs and may request additional bids, signed contracts, plans, contractor information, or other records.
For example, Fannie Mae's HomeStyle Renovation guidance bases renovation costs on plans, specifications, and contractor bids. Its contractor and plan requirements also illustrate the additional review a financing program may require. These are examples of documentation requirements, not a recommendation of a loan or a statement that your project qualifies.
LANDOVA prepares project information for financing review. Financing remains subject to the lender's requirements and approval. Confirm those requirements with your chosen provider early so that any additional documentation can be identified before you rely on funding.
Move into bidding with a clearer plan
Estimating helps you decide what to pursue. The bidding stage then helps you request and compare construction proposals for the defined work. A contractor's final proposal may differ from a planning estimate after further review, updated pricing, or scope changes.
You remain in control of your priorities, timing, and contractor choices. Before the next LANDOVA stage begins, you approve the completed work and agree to and pay for the next stage. The estimate packet itself does not hire a contractor or commit you to construction.
Our goal is to help you make those decisions with a clearer view of the whole project: practical local pricing, a sensible sequence, and a plan that fits how you want to move forward.
