The Zen of Design
Ross Shaw of RC Landscape Shares His Design Philosophy
Story by Sandra McClintock

"Sun, shade, weather, water, view ... These are the things I consider when I design a custom outdoor living space for my clients. I imagine myself in each room of their house and calculate the impact to the viewer from that perspective. How does light hit the windows? What's the view in daylight? What's the view at night in artificial light? How does it feel from this room looking out?"

That's how Ross Shaw creates custom landscape designs. They're based on attention to every detail involved in the finished product. It's his philosophy in life, as well as landscape design, and he never deviates from it. "The buck stops here," says Shaw.

From the awards on his office walls, a lot more than the buck stops there. Like the 40+ gold and silver medals from the U.S. Senior Olympics competitions he's participated in since 1998. At 50, Shaw is the oldest competitor on a team where the average age is 28. He competes in two or three meets a year from San Diego to Camarillo in high bar, still rings, floor exercises and vault. When I asked how the heck he wins gold medals, he replied wryly, "I know how to pace myself and save my knees to vault another day!"

The master gymnast medals are only a small part of what's stopped with Shaw. About 180 degrees of his office walls are covered with awards to RC Landscape. He's won the California Landscape Contractors' Association Award every year from 1982 through 2003, for a total of 23 design awards and 26 construction awards.

Besides creating custom designs for each client based upon their lifestyle, taste, budget and goals, RC Landscape can give it life by building it with the same attention to detail and devotion to quality.

"When you trust your exterior space to RC Landscape," says Shaw, "I'm personally responsible for designing and constructing something that will increase your enjoyment and the value of your home for years to come. There's no margin for error introduced by adding anyone else to the mix. No dueling companies pushing responsibilities from one to the other. I'm personally involved in every job, every phase, every day.

"I've had the same people working with me most of the 26 years we've been doing business in Orange County. My top three supervisors have been with RC Landscape 17, 15 and 12 years, respectively. They, in concert with Shaw, an award winning designer, state licensed general building and landscape contractor, and a certified irrigation auditor, with over 30 years of experience, offer the customer confidence of a job well done.

The outdoor spaces Shaw designs get their "wow" appeal not only from a unique master plan, but from every element and detail within the plan working together in harmony. That goes for the amount of water required for lawns and plants as well as the materials, themes and design elements used in each custom landscape. RC Landscape has designed and built more than 1,000 landscape projects involving pools, spas, fountains, waterfalls, fire features, patio covers and decks, soil preparation, drainage and irrigation systems, plantings, lighting systems, concrete, and masonry.

Shaw offers clients accurate up-front estimates of what their project will cost. "At the initial consultation," he says, "your property can be measured to create an accurately scaled site plan, then blueprints are made to include pool or spa design, hardscape layout, planting and drainage, and any other custom features required. You'll get a colored rendering of your completed site plan, plus an itemized breakdown of costs for each design component.

"Faced with so many challenges like materials, increased labor costs, rising demand for new technology and other job-related issues," Shaw continues, "an inexperienced contractor can be unprepared for the bid process and, unfortunately, clients usually end up paying for the unforeseen costs. To see examples of projects and more information, you can go to our website (www.rclandscape.com) and take advantage of our on-line bid process. It's the latest in website technology and it lets you plug in your choices and request a bid on your project.

"Size has a tendency to destroy quality," Shaw concludes. "That's why we stress quality over quantity. It's always better to minimize the scope of your design (to meet budget requirements), and do it right, than to put too much in it and do it poorly. That's how we offer award-winning style and decades of enjoyment with absolutely no compromises in quality."

And that, my friends, is the Zen of design!

RC Landscape
115 E. Ave. de los Lobos Marinos
San Clemente 92672 CA
St. Lic #: B, C-27-602091
949.492.6680
email: rcshaw5@cox.net
www.rclandscape.com

(South Coast Magazine Health & Home 2005)