Established in 1999, Bartsch Landscape Architecture serves clients across Northern New England.
If you’re a property owner considering sizable changes to your landscape, we invite you to explore our resources that help people start their projects on the right foot and in the right direction. Use our process to know and control where you’re going. Don’t let your project be any less than it could be.
Start today by answering your questions with our free Project Planning Pack, or if you’re ready, set up a quick Project Clarity Call, direct with David Bartsch, with no obligation.
Featured Projects
See the rest of our portfolio on the Projects page
The best decision we made was to hire David’s company.
Director of factory development for worldwide consumer products corporation (retired)
Very difficult project. David was creative, reliable, and a technical expert. We did not get a second quote, David was it.
Business Administrator | Medical Practice
David is a creative visionary with a high degree of integrity and honesty. He has designed various projects for our family and each one is distinctive and perfect for the site. His attention to the details of a project is incredible. He listens to his clients, responds, and designs a superior landscape. I highly recommend him for any size/scope/geography project.
Homeowner
David is extremely reliable and listened to our needs. David always kept the project flowing, without him we could never have done it. David kept us informed and brought the job in on time. He creatively solved any problems that came up. David was a pleasure to do business with.
Principal Service Engineer at a worldwide lighting solutions manufacturer
“Proficiency in a craft is essential to every artist. Therein lies the prime source of creative imagination.”
– Walter Gropius
Let's make your property all it can be.
Your questions are welcome - about our process, about how we might help to achieve your goals for your property.
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Our Approach
Just as a doctor performs a thorough diagnosis before suggesting fixes to a problem or starting surgery, our process begins with thorough research of your project’s unique details through our Needs & Options Review.
The Needs & Options Review serves several purposes:
- If we don’t uncover the most important issues, your design might not be all that it should be. We minimize those risks
- Our Design DNA analysis clarifies your wants and needs
- Opportunities are explored – even the hidden ones – so options are not lost
- We uncover the constraints so time is not wasted on infeasible objectives
- A smaller commitment up front means you risk less in discovering if we’re a good fit
- We use a proven, structured approach
To paraphrase UPenn Physics Professor Joseph Romm from his writing on Cool Communities:
“A project’s upfront design and construction costs represent only a fraction of all the project’s life-cycle costs.
But after only 1% of those upfront costs are spent, up to 70% of the life-cycle costs may already be committed.”
What does this mean for your project?
Decisions made at the beginning will have great impact on the availability of options later on.
Investing our time well in the research phase early on pays large dividends over the life of a project.
Landscape Architecture
Bartsch Landscape Architecture provides full-service design and project management from exploring opportunities through to construction wrap-up. We help to bring out the full potential of your property through your individualized program – something we develop for each of our clients.
We coordinate the work of
- Surveyors
- Civil engineers
- Horticultural and wetland consultants
- Contractors
- Other team members necessary to a project’s success
We work in collaboration with
- Building architects
- Attorneys
- Municipal agencies
Through our comprehensive site design process, we ensure that diverse elements will coalesce into a unified, beautiful, and functional composition that lasts for generations.
We develop site designs and Master Plans through scaled drawings to specify the location, arrangement, and integration all the necessary elements of a beautiful and functional setting:
- Ground surfaces graded and shaped for effective slopes and drainage
- Sport courts, physical training, and recreation
- Outdoor kitchens, dining, and entertainment areas
- Retaining walls, patios, and walkways
- Pergolas, arbors, decks, fences, and other wood or metal structures
- Parking courts and drives
- Gardens and open spaces
- Grading and drainage design
- Exterior lighting
- Ornamental and functional planting design
- Water features – fountains, pools, and spas
- Effective management of myriad constraints and opportunities
Site Assessment and Feasibility Studies
Drawing on decades of experience, we quickly research and assess what can be allowed on a site by state and local government agencies. We weigh the existing attributes and the natural potential a property has and what it can become. This gives our clients a clear start to understand their site’s capacity early in the assessment and concept development process.
Our feasibility studies include evaluations of
- Zoning and regulatory constraints
- Your site’s physical and cultural context
- Integration of existing and proposed utilities
- Protection of wetlands and other resources
- Vehicular and pedestrian circulation and accessibility
- Comparative property values and appropriate costs for improvements
- Sightlines and visual impacts and opportunities
- Sun angles and prevailing winds
- Soil types, topography, vegetation, and other critical site conditions
Master Planning
Land planning for phased projects not only provides a compelling vision for your property’s future, it also aligns the project scope and budget with a feasible build-out sequence. Illustrative master plan drawings, entitlement/permitting review, and financial assessment are our primary deliverables.
They provide you with the right information
- Concept-level planning and design
- Permit requirements
- Project phasing budgets and rating of importance
- The order of phased build-out of project parts or areas
Permitting and Entitlement
We represent projects independently and in collaboration with local experts.
When required, our coordination typically includes permit acquisition from
- Planning boards
- Zoning administrators
- Conservation commissions
- Historic commissions
- Design review boards
- Accessibility agencies
Construction Administration
As your representative, and depending on the complexity of your project, we not only manage tradespeople and their schedule, but we solve issues that arise during construction.
After you, nobody cares more about your landscape’s success than we do.
We ensure the design intent is faithfully executed by observing and reviewing
- Site preparation for construction
- Safeguarding of existing elements to be protected
- Reviewing and approving layout of structures, plantings, and grading prior to installation
- Observing the proper installation of improvements and the methods by which they’re implemented
- Builders’ contracts, insurance, and invoices to ensure you receive the results we all expect
- Close-out procedures and ongoing operations to see that your project is not only complete and finished well, but performs as it should for years to come.
Needs & Options Review
See this short video presentation for a better understanding of our proven approach.
Taking action on what you learn in this video could be the most valuable thing you can do for your project.
After you’ve seen the video, set up a time for a quick conversation with David Bartsch and get your top questions answered. We can assess if Bartsch Landscape Architecture is right for your project.
No matter who you choose to work with, our conversation could save you a bundle in time well spent and avoiding common mistakes.
I invite you to take the next step. Set up a time to talk, and let us know a little about your project.