I have no idea what are you designing from the names I assume your yard why not just go to the local garden center and get some on site help.

Lack of third party reviews for Bacqyard (almost ALL reviews available to read are on the BY website) cause me some concern although it may well be due to just less promotion/not as well advertised as its competitors.

For both sites, the lack of necessary revisions and high (IMO) flat rate fees are also concerning as well all the many other positive and often very necessary benefits of having a local designer visit in person and personally evaluate the site and make locally suitable plant choices. Remote/online design services would always be very low on my list of choices.....they just miss or ignore too much.

As an aside, if not familiar with the question being asked (^^^), why bother responding?? And very few local garden centers have skilled or experienced designers on staff and if they do, they don't provide this service for free.

I saw a design from an on-line designer. It looked great, but they replaced 4 regular steps with 3 low, wide steps. It looked great, but I doubt it was achievable on the property in question. In short, they didn't deal with the slope of the actual property.

Yardzen - "Next, we’ll connect you to a vetted, local landscape contractor who can bring your dream yard to life." Why not go to the vetted, local landscape contractor first?

@gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) . Yep, realize that a landscape contractor is not generally / always a designer or landscape architect, but I guess I should have clarified. Many times landscape contractors work with a designer or landscape architect and one can get a good reference from them. In addition, many landscape contractors are in fact very talented designers even if they don't have that actual designation. My favorite way of getting a reference to a talented designer or landcape architect is to take a drive around the area and find the nicest landscape, and chat with the homeowner.

I do think it is a better idea to try the local options first, but this is just my opinion. YMMV. Good luck!

So yes, @gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) that is exactly why i was hoping to get some more reviews here... It looks like Yardzen is doing an awesome job at advertising, they are in every blog, and sponsored ad....but that doesn't mean its better, and from what I understood with both companies, in Bacqyard, you do get to talk to the designer vs yardzen (there is an in between person) and also apparently extra revisions are cheaper in Bacqyard. So overall it does sound better...but then, no reviews... I might do it just to review it, hehe.

We are deciding between Yardzen and Bacqyard as well! Did you decide on which one? How's the experience so far?

We went with Bacqyard, and I think they are really good, pretty responsive, great costumer service, and our second designer was very communicative.

I have mixed feelings, but that is because we went in and gave almost full creative freedom, which i think was a mistake because the first design -although beautiful- was not at all our style. For the revision we were super specific, so it was basically putting our words into a 3d render, so it was nice to see it. I wish we would have started there and had the chance to get a revision from a project we actually liked, but oh well. Bottom line, my recommendation is be specific about what you want :)

Hired Yardzen hoping for a thoughtful backyard design. What I got felt rushed, generic, and didn’t reflect the specific guidance I provided. Not a terrible service, but definitely not worth what I paid.

YARDZEN WORST RIP OFF EVER!!! DO NOT BUY!!!