Ed Ball Designs

Incredible service from Ed and his team. Our backyard was a plain area of turf and now it has been transformed with a stunning pool, multiple seating areas, raised deck, pavilion and beautiful plantings. Would highly recommend Ed Ball Designs to anyone in the Northern Virginia area looking to create a beautiful outdoor space.

Ed Ball Landscape Architecture and team were great to work with. From design, project initiation, all the way through clean up and project close out, Ed and his team provided frequent communication, responsive and addressed concerns in a timely manner, offered suggestions and guidance when design questions emerged, and overall were easy to work with. Highly recommend EBLA of Northern Virginia for all your landscape design/maintenance needs.

Our backyard had erosion, grading, and drainage issues, as well as, old patio/walkways that didn’t meet our family’s style or needs for activities & entertainment. We wanted to ensure our goals for each of these varying concerns was met so we chose to work with Ed as our Landscape Architect. His thorough design and construction process paired with his level of expertise and experience in the field gave us confidence in what we could expect. While working on the design, Ed guided us through decisions for our project while always keeping our goals and budget in mind. He was eager to answer all our questions as they came up. He was upfront in all the information he provided and what we could expect throughout the project’s process. His team maintained detailed and timely communication through both the design and construction phases, this included when we changed our timeline due to the pandemic. During that time we also realized we wanted to add a dry stream bed and increase the size of the patio. Ed and his team worked with us through those design changes and then any alterations that came up through construction to ensure the final product would satisfy our backyard needs. He was also very involved in the construction phases, coming by to check in on the team’s work, discuss the project with us, and answer any questions. Every team (demo/masonry/lighting etc) that worked on our project was highly skilled in their area of work. It was always clear that Ed expected high standards from anyone working on his projects. For us that ended up translating into a beautiful lighted paver patio and walkways, natural stone wall, dry stream bed with bolder steps, and surrounding sod. Our family has been thoroughly enjoying our new space especially since our drainage issues were resolved though the technical considerations Ed and his team put into each and every area of the backyard construction. Ed and his team then went on to provide communication and support beyond the end of our project to ensure followup on anything we needed once we started to see how the drainage performed. Overall, our family was so pleased and excited about our beautiful backyard upgrade and can say we truly enjoyed working with Ed and his team for this project. We would not hesitate to work with him again on another project or recommend him for your home landscape needs.

I am not typically a person to write reviews, but I am so beyond happy with my experiences with Ed that I feel inclined to share how positively we feel about him and his team. We have now completed 3 projects with them, two were exclusively landscaping and one added a fire pit. We have been thrilled with his process and the outcomes. Ed and his team have proven to be knowledgable, creative, flexible and reliable throughout the entirety of our projects. I would highly recommend them.

I have worked with Ed Ball Landscape Architecture numerous times over the last few years. They have worked on a complete re-imagining of the landscape and hardscape at my home. We typically do maintenance projects each year to keep things looking good. I often get compliments from my neighbors on Ed's work. I don't hesitate to recommend his firm. I particularly enjoy the collaborative approach that they take towards design. They are very good at follow up and communication. You never have to guess where your project stands.

We started the process right before COVID hit, so we lived through supply chain issues and delays that were out of everyone's hands. AND we were informed of what was going on every step of the way. The work (patio, stairs, lighting, and plants) was done quickly and professionally and we could not be happier with the results. There were a couple of plants that died despite our best efforts over the summer, and they were replaced without fuss. This was totally turnkey, and we love it.

Ed Ball and Kristie Guthrie stepped in to completely redo my back garden, including removing overgrown plantings, huge tangles of ivy, and a massive brick patio. They replaced it with EXACTLY what I wanted: a sleek neo-classical paved garden with sustainable plantings and a beautiful labyrinth design around a fountain. It's lice having a whole new room added to my house! They were on time, on budget, and responsive to what I wanted, including the sourcing of a specific tree varietal that took a few months to locate - but they were persistent! They were also extremely tidy, and the place never looked like a worksite - I was always able to get through to my parking area. They also kept me informed of what they'd be doing when. I can't recommend them too highly.

Ed was amazing to work with. He really listened to what I wanted and tailored the project to my style. The whole process was a pleasure and the completed project is absolutely beautiful

The landscaping that I paid a lot of money for (over 10k) looks awful. many of the plants/bushes did not make it. Ed came to look at the plants and wrote down which ones died. After he came to replace the ones that died, I noticed that he forgot to replace a few. I informed him and he said, sorry now you are out of your warranty. I have had many quotes recently to fix the poor landscaping job he did and each person has said that the trees and bushes were not planted correctly and that some of them had no chance of surviving given the location chosen (light, water build up, etc.). They asked if I planted things and everyone was shocked when I said it was a landscape designer that planted it. I also got a quote for a pool from him and it was about 35 percent higher than the other quotes I got. Overall, not worth the money. You will get more bang for your buck and better design elsewhere.

I highly recommend Ed Ball Landscape Architecture and will definitely hire them again. Both the design work and the execution were top-notch, and Ed and his team are a pleasure to work with. Our project involved a major overhaul of the front yard to address drainage issues and make it a pretty, inviting space; turning our overgrown mess of a back yard into an outdoor living space; replacing some dilapidated walkways along the sides of the house; and rethinking the plantings throughout. Ed took all of our various projects and needs and transformed them into an integrated design for our lot that vastly improved the beauty and functionality of our outdoor space. And the workmanship on the walkways, retaining walls, and new outdoor patio was amazing. His masonry team are absolute pros. The work was completed last fall, but Ed has stopped by since then to check on things, to make sure things are working as intended and making little perfecting adjustments as necessary. I was very pleased with both the process and the outcome.

We considered many landscape professionals for our landscaping project, Ed was the only one with a real vision for the property. Our new house in Old Town needed a safe backyard and front yard for our son and dog to play with minimal maintainace. We have a large 300yo willow oak tree in the backyard that provides tremendous shade, but unable to grow grass. Ed has transformed our yard into a fun and safe haven for the whole family. Our neighbors can’t believe the change! We installed Synlawn to run around on and tree swing over and it is fantastic!. His vision is realized and has brought our family back outdoors. We do not have any plants until spring, since it was getting late into fall when the hard scrape was completed, but we have used the yard more in the past 2 months than the past 2 years! Ed is and was very creative and brought ideas to the table, which is what we needed. Ed not only gave us what we wanted, but was not shy about telling us what we didn’t want to protect us from mistakes. He was mindful of the budget and worked with us on cost savings as the project progressed. He is quick to respond to questions and communicates very well. Our property has undergone a total transformation and we are thrilled with the results

I called Ed after reading glowing reviews from his previous clients. We had a long initial conversation whereby Ed outlined his approach to landscape design and he explained how he worked with clients. I appreciated that Ed was very collaborative in the design process and transparent in his pricing proposals. Ed was always available to either talk about the project or to meet in person. When one has a hectic schedule this flexibility on his part was very helpful in keeping things moving. He made many visits to the project during construction to check on the subcontractors and assure quality control. I have gotten many compliments from my neighbors on the new landscaping and deck. I have spent the last few evenings outside admiring and enjoying my new landscaping. I look forward to working with Ed on future projects.