Mooch Exterior Designs

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I had researched and interviewed several other landscaping companies before meeting with Mooch. I liked Mooch's mission statement that includes working with historic timelines and period specific landscapes. We had one initial meeting with Paul and one more follow up meeting with his lead designer, Erin before proceeding. I was struck in my first meeting with Paul how quiet and gentle his manner of speaking is, and how genuinely interested he is. In these harassed times, such a courtesy is rare. To be interested in people and converse with them with even a minimum of consideration takes time and Paul was willing to put in that time. Those meetings were instrumental in making a propitious start to the work ahead.


The PROJECT
Our project was a complicated one involving excavation of a rocky, clay slope with the integration of several functional design features including new entry gates, a massive sweeping stairway up the same slope, poured concrete terraces and a new modern storage shed to replace the original 1954 version. Plus, restore the upper yard, make it green and magical and carve out space for our garbage cans, and lighting, and drip irrigation...Oh and BTW can you add a structurally sound and safe fort on top of the shed, for our daughter?

To be a creative person takes courage. Paul bravely accepted us as his clients, cheerfully declaring our property as a “challenge” and we too, took a leap of faith given the difficulty of the undertaking. We could not be happier with the result.

THE PROCESS
After a few meetings with Paul, you can see that creatively he operates according to his own rhythm, but never to the exclusion of your vision And, professionally he runs a tight ship. The process outlined on the website is the one that is followed. Our communications with the foreman and team were on site when needed and we received a weekly email recap of work done as well as forecasts for the week ahead. There were no surprises. The actual crew who worked on site digging, building, pouring concrete and planting, were tireless. They worked hard all day long and were amiable. Some of them are downright jovial and we enjoyed their can do attitude in the face of arduous conditions (very hot days and very difficult soil). They left our job site very clean each day and even swept my neighbor’s porch when the dust was blowing during the hot dry summer. We know because we work a lot from home.
We asked for some changes and the land itself demanded certain changes. Anyone who has worked on a hillside knows what I mean - you don’t know what you're getting into until you start digging. Paul and his team were adaptive and nimble without driving up cost. They delivered on time and stayed on budget.

The RESULT:
Beauty and pure joy. I can say this without reservation, Paul H is a talented and creative person with extraordinary capacity for integrating your vision with his own prodigious talent. He and his team (Erin, Angie, build team...) at Mooch tackled this project of enormous complexity and have produced a stunning feat of landscape design. The terraces, buildings and plantings are in a genuinely harmonious relationship between the site’s natural and architectural setting and are executed with such diligence and care. Mooch has exceeded our expectations and produced a place of joy and happiness. Since our project vision has come to life, neighbors have come over time and again to compliment the design and its execution with “wow!”” Cool! It looks amazing!”

Develop your vision, ask questions and prepare to be as flexible as the project itself demands. Our home and land have been graced with a certain "je ne sais quoi", a certain special something, that I think you will ONLY get with Mooch.