Often we have projects ready to go – consultation done, landscape design done, construction drawings done, materials ordered; only to be held up by the municipal building permit process. Remember that it can sometime take months to get a permit, depending on the municipality involved. That means that the sooner a client commits to a project, the sooner we can start the permit process. The process can be held up even further if any kind of minor variance is required, as this has to go to council and public meetings. Permits are required for almost all larger projects; especially those that include elements as pools, hot tubs and spas, decks, retaining walls, even fences. So the moral of this story is to think ahead and plan ahead when considering a landscape construction project. It’s not too early to be planning for a 2012 installation. Many, if not most of the landscape design projects ready to be put in the ground this year have been in the planning stages for more than a year. 
THE PERILS OF PERMITS
