Grounded - Richard Risner RLA, ASLA

We have worked on a number of Rich's designs as a landscape contractor. I like Rich's style, it is fun and playful while being interesting and unique. He does great design work and we enjoy being on his projects. Rich is always informative and responsive and is a good person to work with. Thanks!

Richard was very helpful and gave me great advise as his services were out of my budget. He was very friendly and got back to be right away on all of my questions. You can tell he is very detailed oriented and even though I could not afford his services, gave me great advise and other recommendations that were a better fit within my budget. Great to work with, and his work is absolutely stunning!

Rich Risner is truly remarkable. He was able to incorporate everything we wanted in our yard and bring it together in a one-of-a-kind location. He magically brought together fire, water, recreation, views, and multiple levels, all into a place that feels like hotel resort. What is so special about the space is that his vision and design maximizes every square foot. I would refer Rich to anyone who wants to enjoy their yard in a way that makes it special every time.

Rich Risner is a highly skilled landscape designer, who did an excellent job with my home. He is very talented, and knows how to marry a clients wishes with cool modern design.

Rich Risner designed our back yard. After meeting with him to discuss what we wanted, we paid him a one-time fee to visit our house for a day and draw up plans. It was money well spent. His design turned out really well. It is completely in line with what we told him we wanted, but far better than what we'd initially envisioned. Rich is very creative, but he's also a good listener. He came up with a lot of great suggestions that would not have occurred to us, yet did so in the context of the style we told him we wanted and how we wanted to use the space. Rich was also very available and provided helpful advice to us during the construction phase of the project. We would definitely hire Rich again.

We own an Eichler and wanted to do a complete landscape overhaul and build a pool that would reflect and compliment the midcentury modern design of our house. I found Rich Risner and right from the start he was great to work with. He completely understood the aesthetic we were going for, he worked within our budget, he was clear and concise and gave us the most detailed plans anyone has ever seen! He really went above and beyond when it came to the design. He took our ideas to a whole new level that we would have never came up with on our own. The communication was easy and we never felt that he didn't understand or get what we wanted, if he had any questions he would always ask and was very open to suggestions and critique. His eye for detail is astounding, truly. His designs are really a work of art. I can highly recommended Grounded Modern Landscape/ Richard Risner. In fact, I have another project I want him on, wouldn't go to anyone else.

We had the pleasure of working with Rich on a newly constructed home that had yet to be landscaped. Our initial meeting consisted of a thorough walk of the property as well as the interior of the home. Rich’s guidance was excellent and his focus on creating a space that “lives well” was evident in the conversations leading up to the design. Rich was able to seamlessly blend the modern design elements we hoped to incorporate in the design with the overall natural surroundings that were already present in the neighborhood. When the design finally emerged, we were thoroughly pleased. The design was essential in guiding the land scape contractor and we were pleased with the final results. Rich was professional, responsive and a pleasure to work with. His creativity in tackling the project was fun to watch as was the actual sketching of the property. I can highly recommend Rich’s design services and hope to use him again in future design elements on our home.

We used Rich to complete a full design for our front and backyards. We had many ideas in our head and pictures of things that we liked, but we couldn't figure out how to make it all work. Well, the best part of our entire landscaping/pool project was working with Rich. He was professional, prompt, and responsive. Mr. Risner is open to discussing alterations of his plans and always seemed willing to work on modifications as our project progressed. The end result of our project was a yard that went well beyond our expectations and we owe so much of that to the creativity and originality of Rich. Highly recommended.

My husband & I had been contemplating what to do with our backyard. We knew it would be a huge project and that we needed professional help. We started by doing some research on the internet. We reviewed many websites, looked at dozens of portfolios. Very few matched our vision. We finally narrowed it down to a few Landscape Architects, some were local (LA) but our favorite portfolio was from Grounded. Grounded was all the way in San Diego...would they come up to LA? We worked our way through the local folks...nothing was clicking. I finally contacted Rich Risner at Grounded and, to my surprise, he was happy to make the trip to LA. When we met, I showed him some ideas (pictures) I'd collected over the years. He asked me some very GOOD questions. For example: how did I want to use the space? did I enjoy caring for plants or did I want low maintenance? who would using the space...animals/children? And then we talked about features...water, firepit, kitchen, bar. When Rich came back with the drafts...that's when I really knew we'd found the right person. He is very patient and offers many options. We advised him that we need to some of the work in stages so he showed us how we could do that based on our MUST Haves vs. NICE to Have. He made no less than 3 visits, fielded many calls, answered lots of questions and held our hands through completion. We are SO happy with our backyard. I hardly recognize it. I will be calling Rich at Grounded to do our front yard project when we're ready!

I hired Rich to draw the plans for the landscaping in our back yard. We own a mid-century modern home that had been neglected for years. The back yard was full of tan bark and weeds. He came up with a modern design that was easy to implement and looks unbelievable. He was extremely easy to work with and very responsive. He also gave me an extensive list of contractors he recommended. I cannot say enough good words about Rich! I give him the highest recommendation possible.

Rich Risner of Grounded is one of the most talented landscape architects you'll find. The vision that he brought to our project was remarkable. He completely transformed the exterior of our home with a warm, modern style. The many compliments we've received on our landscaping is a strong testament to Rich's talent.