Landscape design may seem like an odd economic indicator, but at least one landscape designer in the Hudson Valley said he knows the economy at large is doing better this year because his business is doing better this year.
And companies who work in tandem with landscape designers confirm they are seeing robust business this summer and note the type of jobs they are doing are themselves an economic indicator of sorts.
“It”™s a ripple effect,” said Joseph Snapowski, co-owner of Natures Magic Design, a landscape design business in New Paltz that has operated throughout the region for eight years. “Without someone buying a house, there is no need for landscaping, without needing landscaping, they don”™t need us to do the design work.”
But this year, he said, is a much better year than 2009. “I have a long way to go, but I am definitely much busier than I was last year.”
Nature”™s Design offers a specialized service and doesn”™t do the installation work. But Snapowski works with businesses who renovate grounds, install swimming pools, as well as with contractors who put up a subdivision and need to landscape the land.
Snapowski, who goes by the business name of Joe Snap, is an artist and designer and his wife, Jodi Jenkins, a horticulturalist who chooses the flora for a site. They are contacted by companies seeking plans to complete a property and make lists, maps and color illustrations.
“We work for the customer and provide what they want,” Snapowski said. “We orchestrate what the person wants and get it clearly on paper so they can submit it to the landscapers, to the pool people, to stone people and builders.  Even if they can”™t do it all at one time, they still need to know how it all comes together logistically over time. You have a map to go by.”
He said that he now understands better than ever how a local economy is interconnected. He said that about half his business on a normal year derived from referrals from pool companies, but said last year he received hardly any such referrals. And it was a tough year for landscapers in general, he said.
“I could name off the top of my head four landscapers that went out of business last year and other ones cut back drastically,” he said, citing a business that went from a work force of 30 down to six. “Pool companies the same way,” he said. “I think we bottomed out last year. This year is much better.”
“We are doing very well this year,” said Jennifer Halstead, who with her husband, Jarod, owns Harmony Hill Landscaping Inc. in Fishkill. “It”™s been a very good year thus far. Work has been steady.”
They are not a landscaper that cuts lawns, but do mostly stonework, retaining walls and those sort of attractions. “Our business is outdoor-based construction,” Halstead said, noting that Snapowski creates many of the designs they implement.
Halstead said she sees a trend in the work they are doing this year, more residential work than in the past, creating enclaves in people”™s backyards.
“Customers have told us that they are investing in creating a vacation spot in their backyard as opposed to going away for one week and ”¦ they will have a special place they can always go to,” she said. “People are doing a lot of things to make their own outdoor space a place they can enjoy. They seem more interested in investing in their own property as opposed to traveling.”
