WholeAustin · Austin metro · Landscape Architecture
The complete Austin guide to landscape architecture — the local businesses and the firms that shape the market, each read for how findable it is online, alongside the concepts, the news and the questions that define the field. Own one? See where you stand and exactly what to improve.
1 local landscape architecture businesses, each graded on the nine things that decide whether a customer or an AI assistant can find and trust them. Open any name for the full write-up and the specific fixes.
| Business | Area | Site score |
|---|---|---|
| A Good Morning Tree Service LLCgoodmorningtreeservice.com | Austin | 921 to fix |
70+ solid 45–69 gaps under 45 costing customers
The firms, funds and institutions that set the terms in landscape architecture — context, not local listings; never scored.
What a licensed landscape architect can and cannot seal in Texas, the CLARB path and LARE exam, reciprocity, continuing education, and where the line falls against civil engineering, architecture and irrigation licensing. The content that separates a professional practice from a landscaping company in the reader's mind.
The Land Development Code, the Environmental Criteria Manual, site plan review, impervious cover limits, and what actually gets a submittal rejected. Highest-intent pillar for any Austin developer or architect searching before they commit to a site.
Heritage and protected tree definitions, critical root zone math, tree surveys, protection fencing, root pruning, variance and mitigation processes, and how tree constraints reshape a site plan. In Austin this is the single most common cause of a redesign.
Water quality controls, biofiltration and rain gardens, detention and retention, runoff calculations, TSS removal, floodplain and Critical Water Quality Zone setbacks, and the Drainage Criteria Manual that governs the math.
Recharge and contributing zones, TCEQ Edwards rules and Water Pollution Abatement Plans, the Save Our Springs ordinance and Barton Springs Zone, karst features, thin soils and steep-slope constraints unique to Central Texas.
Native and adapted species for USDA zone 8b/9a, plant palettes that survive drought and heat, soil amendment and decompaction, seeding and revegetation, plant sizing and spacing, and the establishment period that decides whether the design succeeds.
Texas irrigation licensing, drip versus spray, ET-based and smart controllers, hydrozoning, Austin Water conservation stages and watering restrictions, reclaimed water connection, rainwater harvesting and condensate reuse.
Spot elevations and grading plans, ADA running and cross slopes, retaining wall thresholds and engineered design, paving unit selection, permeable paving, stormwater-conscious detailing and constructible slope transitions.
Park master planning, parkland dedication and fee-in-lieu, trails and greenways, plazas and civic space, public art and percent-for-art programs, and the community engagement process behind public projects.
Great streets standards, sidewalk zones and furnishing zones, street trees and soil volume, bike and pedestrian infrastructure, transit-oriented site edges, and the private-to-public interface a developer is required to build.
SITES certification levels and credits, LEED Sustainable Sites credits, embodied carbon in landscape materials, ecosystem service measurement, and how to write performance into specifications rather than into marketing copy.
Multifamily and mixed-use amenity decks, single-family and estate residential, corporate campuses, higher education and K-12, healthcare, hospitality and resorts, industrial and data center screening, and municipal work. Each has a different review path and a different budget structure.
Percentage-of-construction versus hourly versus per-acre fee structures, phase breakdowns from schematic design through construction administration, additional services, reimbursables, and where scope creep actually happens.
Planting plans, layout and materials plans, grading plans, details and specifications, submittals and substitutions, punch lists, plant establishment and warranty periods, and what a landscape architect owes during construction.
Maintenance plans handed to owners, pruning and mulching regimes, irrigation audits, replacement provisions, and the honest content about long-term stewardship that distinguishes firms which return to their own projects.
Built work with named clients, ASLA chapter awards, before-and-after documentation, plant survival and water-use outcomes, and case studies. In a visual profession the portfolio is the proposal, and verifiable outcomes outrank renderings.
a landscape architect is licensed, seals drawings and carries design liability; a landscape contractor installs and maintains -- say this plainly, because the confusion is the single most common misunderstanding in the category
the Texas Board of Architectural Examiners registers landscape architects; describe the seal as covering site design, grading, planting and site detailing within the statutory scope, and note that the reviewing jurisdiction decides what it will accept
explain the overlap honestly -- grading and drainage sit in both -- and the split: the engineer carries hydraulic and structural calculation, the landscape architect carries site organisation, planting, soils, hardscape detailing and the public realm
define it as the protected soil area around a trunk scaled to trunk diameter, and explain that grading, paving and trenching limits inside it are what push buildings and utilities around
explain that Austin distinguishes protected trees from heritage trees by species and trunk diameter and that removal of heritage trees is tightly limited; send the reader to the city arborist's current criteria rather than stating the diameter and species list from memory
define it as the share of the site that sheds water rather than absorbing it, and explain that the limit is set by zoning and watershed classification -- so it is a property-specific number, not a citywide one
describe it as Austin's technical manual for environmental and water-quality requirements that sits under the Land Development Code, and say it is where the actual design criteria live
detention slows and releases, retention holds; explain that water quality treatment is a separate requirement from either
no -- explain it as design for low supplemental water through soil preparation, hydrozoning, mulch and appropriate species, and note that a rock yard raises surface temperature and can make the heat problem worse
grouping plants by water need so each zone can be irrigated to what it actually requires; explain that mixed-need beds are why irrigation over-waters half a landscape to keep the other half alive
explain that TCEQ Edwards rules require an approved plan before regulated construction, that contributing-zone requirements apply upstream, and that this review runs on its own schedule alongside city review
describe it as Austin's stricter impervious cover and no-degradation water-quality standard in the Barton Springs Zone, and note that it can be the binding constraint even where base zoning would allow more
describe it as a rating system administered by GBCI for landscape-scale projects, covering soils, vegetation, water, materials and human health, and note it applies to projects with or without a building
explain that it is the watering and care window after installation during which the contractor is still responsible, and that most landscape failures happen when this ends and nobody picks up the maintenance
explain what the engineer's sheet set does not resolve -- tree preservation strategy, planting that survives, hardscape detailing, shade, the experience of the space -- and where the two disciplines have to share the grading
argue for before the site is committed -- a tree survey and constraints analysis run at schematic rather than at permit is what prevents redesign, and in Austin that is a real differentiator
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