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Landscape contractors are licensed professionals who are trained in performing techniques and designs onto a piece of land. This is whether it is a small or a large scale project. Landscape design comprises mainly of landscape management, landscape planning, landscape detailing, landscape assessment, landscape urbanism and garden design innovations. The skills of a landscape contractor, together with their certifications and experiences, has varying factors that can affect you selection and criteria of who is the best these days.

Landscape contractors are licensed professionals who are trained in performing techniques and designs onto a piece of land. This is whether it is a small or a large scale project. Landscape design comprises mainly of landscape management, landscape planning, landscape detailing, landscape assessment, landscape urbanism and garden design innovations.

People behind these, would be contractors that are also regarded as landscape designers. They are also the ones who convert a simple yard into great outdoor scenery, using renovation and decorative processes. Aside from this, they are also equipped in managing landscape renovations such as:

1. Disposing existing:

? Pests
? Plants, and
? Unused things

2. Building new infrastructure features

3. Installing drainage and irrigation systems

4. Sculpting:

? Themes
? Designs, and
? Walkways

5. Installing:

? Gazebos
? Fences, and
? Patios

6. Assuring the flowering of garden plants.

Hence, landscapers will present and even plot advisable themes but they also follow your chosen design. They can arrange maintenance services and provide follow ups, for future care. Contractors or design firms are also rest assured that their people had undergone training and expertise. This is with regards to landscaping at its best.

Moreover, many firms enjoy the market’s growth, especially in the landscaping industry nowadays. There was an increase both abroad and domestically. With this, top designing firms and contractors in US have reached billions of revenues. Reaping the subsidy, design firms became strong, particularly in the design market of the U.S.

Thus, changes and challenges in the industry such as new client demands, work loads, additional staffs and new design models has been a long standing problem because of the strong market.

According to the 2007 Electronic Edition of the ENR Top 500 Design Firms, they surveyed and published the top firms according to their revenues. The top 5 from the top 100 pure designers are as follows:

Type of Firm 2006 Revenue

1. AECOM TECHNOLOGY CORP. EA $2,831.9

Los Angeles, California

2. THE LOUIS BERGER GROUP EA $865.5

East orange, New Jersey

3. CDI BUSINESS SOLUTIONS EC $630.6

Philadelphia

4. PBS&J EA $546.1

Tampa, Florida

5. MUSTANG ENGINEERING EC $540.0

Houston, Texas

These top 5 rankings were judged according to their award winning plans, strategies, applications and extensive experience. Furthermore, here is the Top 5 for the Best Architectural Firms, which focused on landscaping:

1. FRCH Design Worldwide

Cincinnati, Ohio
Web Address: http://www.frch.com

FRCH Design Worldwide is a design and architectural firm that serves hospitality markets, restaurant, offices, entertainment and retail markets internationally. The firm got this slot in the year 2006. In fact, it is the first place winner of ZweigWhite’s national for the “Best Firms to Work for Award”. Thus, FRCH offers new strategies for architecture designs, promoting customer satisfaction.

2. Little Diversified Architectural Consulting

Headquarters:

? Charlotte, NC
? Dallas, TX
? Irvine, CA
? Detroit, MI
? Orlando, FL
? Washington D.C
? Irvine, CA
? Los Angeles, CA, and
? Research Triangle Park, NC

This firm was formerly Little & Associates Architects. Hence, this firm specializes in:

? Universities and Colleges
? Interiors
? Facilities Management
? Offices
? Civic
? Retail industries, and
? Financial industries

Thus, this company comes in an array of architectural consulting services such as:

? Land Development Services
? Space Management Consulting, and
? Architecture

3. BSB Design

Headquarters:
? Costa Mesa
? Denver
? Atlanta
? Chicago
? Dallas
? Las Vegas
? Sacramento
? Boston
? Jacksonville
? Chicago Loop
? Phoenix
? Tampa
? Orlando, and
? Fresno

BSB was founded in the year 1966. They specialize in architecture for residential areas. Where in, they have even expanded to commercial architecture such as:

? Community land planning
? Hospitality, and
? Resorts

Thus, BSB Designs offers unique design solutions, along with award winning plans. This firm is a veteran for 40 years, having 300 architects, staffs and designers.

4. Sasaki Associates, Inc.

Offices:

? Watertown, MA
? Boston
? San Francisco

Founded by Hideo Sasaki in 1953, Sasaki Associates became a respected international landscape firm. With 270 professionals, interdisciplinary measures are being implemented in their offices.

5. EDSA

Address: Fort Lauderdale

Offices:

? Florida
? California
? China
? Maryland
? Orlando
? Los Angeles, and
? Baltimore

EDSA was established in the year 1960. They actually guarantee an extensive experience in:

? Cultural and campus planning
? Environmental and community planning
? Hotels and resorts
? Ecotourism
? Entertainment and urban design

With over 220 employees, EDSA is a landscape architectural, planning, graphic and urban design specialist. Lastly, it is an internationally renowned firm.

Thus, with the vast number of landscaping firms and contractors, how can one find the best should you decide to build your own area, into an outdoor paradise? Here are the some tips:

? A big ad is not important, what is important is taking time to present and match your own designs to the landscaper. A good contractor actually listens to his clients.
? Visiting stores that offer listings of firms. With this list, you can do some research about the entire company profile and the designer itself.
? Get estimates from the contractor and other prospects as well.
? Don’t rush things. A good contractor lays down the design plot and its features before signing up.
? Seek for a firm that has a superior service and facilitates excellent customer care. They should be able to value their client’s opinions.

There are many excellent landscaping contractors and landscape designers nowadays. A vast progress of the landscaping industry inherits these contractors to upgrade their specialization with other competent companies.

Local landscapers can arrange special maintenance services in lieu with their customer satisfaction rate and performance. This may help in bringing them to become one amongst the top contractors and firms in the U.S. today.

Now that new computer design software is in demand, it has become an added variety of service for one firm to possess. Due to the advent of computer generated landscaping designs, more professionals must be trained and knowledgeable enough to implement this kind of progress.

Prospects in choosing contractors and firms to be on the top list must follow certain researches and surveys to the best of their services.

Painting contractors know that paint and coatings play a crucial role in the green building trend sweeping the nation today. Because of the decline in construction brought about by the financial crisis, the green building idea is taking root and getting wider attention from construction stakeholders who not only appreciate a non-polluting and environment-friendly method of construction, but also welcome the significant cost reductions to construction projects.

The construction industry’s interest in green building projects challenges paint manufacturers and their raw material suppliers to ingeniously produce environment-friendly paint products and materials that comply with environment standards without sacrificing quality performance. The products are now populating the market, ready to be used by painting contractors in many facility projects.

Environment-Friendly Paints and Coatings

The result of paint manufacturers’ paint reformulation efforts is apparent in the wide array of green paints that painting contractors can chose from. One product is a result of many years of polymer research leading to a new and improved latex paint that eliminates the use of toxic solvents. Without the inclusion of such harmful solvents, air quality is maintained during and after painting application projects, protecting painting contractors and building tenants at the same time.

The presence of VOCs or volatile organic compounds is also a major environmental problem in regular paints. VOCs are harmful materials to the environment, polluting the air and causing health risks to humans. To address this problem, paint manufacturers make it one of their stringent goals to develop new products that contain little to zero VOCs.

Another coating innovation is the infusion of water-repellent characteristics to external coatings, resulting in a “self-cleaning” feature wherein dirt and water particles simply slide off the painted surfaces, leaving the building surface clean and impervious to soiling and the effects of the weather. The building surface remains dry and maintains its color over longer periods of time.

Green Raw Materials

Raw material suppliers have also been busy researching and formulating green materials. A new line of emulsion polymers, for instance, help paint manufacturers develop low-VOC and low-odor paints without the aid of detrimental coalescents.

As with paint manufacturers, raw material suppliers are determined to lower VOC in paints, hence a wide variation of low-VOC raw materials have emerged, from zero-formaldehyde solutions and neutral-PH wet-state preservatives, to multi-purpose additives and dry films that meet the standards for green paints.

Suppliers take VOC compliance to innovative levels with green ingredients designed for all types of coating applications, as well as shorten the application and drying time of paints, to the benefit of painting contractors and building residents. Biocidal products that contain almost zero organic solvents are also another area of enhancement, allowing paint to be manufactured more safely and easier to apply by painting contractors.

Green Building from Green Paint

Almost-zero VOC solutions that are less-harmful during paint manufacturing, application, and post-application are of paramount importance not only to paint manufacturers and raw material suppliers, but also to painting contractors, building owners and tenants. Even minute traces of VOCs must have no place in paint solutions to comply with green standards and ensure the building’s viability and sustainability.

The demand for green buildings is driving painting contractors to use only green paints and coatings. In response, paint manufacturers and their suppliers develop eco-friendly paints made out of environmentally-safe materials. These layered responses allow for a successful implementation of the green building trend to most commercial and residential facilities in the country.