Ground Up Design

Ira and Nathaniel transformed two dreary, challenging spaces into lovely, even lush gardens. They were always accessible, vastly knowledgeable, and incredibly creative. They stuck to a timeline and were attentive to the budget. In addition, they were great fun.

Ira and Nate from Ground Up Design are absolutely the best to work with! It was such a challenge to get our backyard landscape project off the ground until we connected with them. From our first meeting, we just knew they were on our wavelength. Ground Up Design only focuses on design and they helped us to realize our desire of having a tropical backyard feel. Their design achieved this wonderfully with a mix of tropical plants and lower water use plants (that still gave that tropical feel). This helped to keep our water bill manageable. Ground Up Design has a relaxed, yet very attentive and professional approach. We always felt very comfortable working with them and trust them to the fullest. When we finally selected a contractor to execute on Ground Up Design's plan, Ira was still involved. He helped facilitate most of the key meetings, would show up on site at key milestones, and overall was always available when we needed. We love our backyard! The project was completed in Nov. 2016. The current pics are 7 months later. Prior to that all the plants made it thru a very wet winter and now the start of a hot summer. Ground Up Design's prices are very reasonably for the level of service and consultation they provide. They are the only team we would recommend when it comes to landscape design!

Nate and Ira Stevens are very knowledgeable about plants, they do amazing landscape design and are incredibly professional and hard working.

We were thrilled with the great job Ground Up did for our house. We had a challenging sloped driveway to work with, and Ira Nathan did a great job recommending ideal drought-tolerant plants that were also colorful and beautiful. We felt they listened to us in what we were looking for, while interjecting their expertise around our style.They worked well within our budget, and helped us locate all the plants on the list. They were also amazing about being available by email, phone and text at a moment's notice when I was shopping for plants and needed advice or suggestions for additional plants I liked. They came out several times and helped us with plant placement, which was key for us because we didn't want plants growing into one another. They were great, and helped place plants just perfectly.They even helped us with planters we wanted in front of house, which turned out beautiful. Everything they suggested had purpose and aesthetic, while enhancing our home's features. I've recommended them to several friends, they are really wonderful!

We could't be any happier with the outcome of our front yard landscape project. Ground Up Design (owners Ira and Nate Stevens ) are incredibly talented brothers who provided us with a unique drought-tolerant design that exceeded our expectations. In addition to wanting to replace our lawn with low-maintenance and drought-tolerant plants, we wanted to enlarge our front porch, which was a design challenge because of space constraints. We now have a fabulous outdoor area where we can sit and enjoy a bit of privacy provided by their expert selection of plants. Ira and Nate are extremely knowledgable about design in general as well as about how plants will fare in our particular climate and soil conditions (Coronado). They are not only a great team, but also worked extremely well with the landscapers who did the installation. The bonus is that they are awesome guys. Everyone who walks by our house raves about the transformation. Ground Up Design gets our highest recommendation.

I had re-landscaped my front yard 4xs, and was never happy with how it looked. I hired Ground Up Design for maintenance, and after working with my yard over a period of time, Ira & Nate pointed out some problem areas with the planting, and gave me their recommended solutions. They said they had some makeover ideas to show me, if I'd like to see them. I wasn't really interested in redoing the yard again, but I agreed to hear what they had to say--out of courtesy. Two weeks later Ira & Nate showed me a to-scale architectural drawing of the front of our home, along with their proposed landscaping plan. It blew me away! I never dreamed our yard could look that good. When my wife saw their plans, she asked 'how soon could they start?' Working with these guys has been a great experience. They seek our input with each phase. They took us to 3 nurseries, 3 rock & boulder yards and at least 4 pottery companies. We've been part of the entire vetting process. We love working with them. They're knowledgeable, thorough in their research, and reasonably priced. They're truly the best. We would recommend them for landscaping design to anyone.

These guys are the real deal. I'm fortunate to own a nice home in Pt. Loma and Ira and Nate have worked extensively here numerous times on all facets of landscape design and implementation. They are creative, diligent, honest as the day is long, very hard-working, timely and completely reasonable fee-wise. The icing on the cake is that they are both just very, very nice young men, and they have a passion for what they do. I have had occasion to refer them and their services to now a large number of friends and associates who also have interesting and attractive homes and in EVERY case they have reported back that they were thrilled with the Brothers Stevens and their work. My recommendation of them is full-on, unqualified and unhesitating. I can't imagine that anyone else does what they do better.