In no particular order of importance, here are some typical tasks a landscape architect might perform:
- Marketing / advertising to acquire project work.
- Consult with client to define the problem, site, and tentative project schedule.
- Collaborate with client / owner and other stakeholders (e.g., community members, local agencies) to define design goals / program.
- Prepare / acquire survey drawings for a site.
- Visit, study, and document a site and its use(s), topography, plants, context, history, culture, etc.
- Collaborate with other professionals or design team members to assign tasks and develop ideas.
- Engage multiple phases of the landscape design process (e.g., analysis, conceptual design, design development, construction documents, etc.)
- Model and illustrate design ideas highlighting uses, spaces, circulation, plants, materials, connections, access, relationships, etc.
- Verbally and graphically present design ideas / drawings to different stakeholders.
- Write project reports / summaries that describe and illustrate your design to clients, stakeholders, community members, and/or for marketing.
- Obtain design approvals from local / municipal planning boards / agencies for public projects, or from the client for private projects.
- Share drawings with contractors who will bid on the project. Lowest bid usually wins the project.
- Prepare contracts and/or specifications.
- Meet with contractors to review / interpret construction documents and clarify design intent.
- Construction administration (observation and/or supervision) to ensure the project is built according to the designer’s intent.
- Update construction documents to reflect actual built conditions.
- Develop maintenance plans and/or perform POEs (post-occupancy evaluations) for sites/landscapes.
Depending on the extent of a project, you may plan the entire arrangement of a site, including the building location, circulation, grading, storm water management, construction detailing, and planting.
As a professional in this field, you could work with or lead a team of professionals including architects, biologists, economists, engineers, geographers, hydrologists, planners, sociologists, scientists, artists, and more.