Sage Outdoor Designs

Aug 10th, 2020

Kate has great design ideas and suggestions. Some of her design ideas were things we never considered and they saved us a lot of frustration from making the mistakes we would've made. She is very easy to work with and always considers the customers needs above anything else. It was very beneficial for us to pay her a reasonable fee to help us to get the most out of our yard and to avoid mistakes. She gave us her card after the design service and encouraged us to text or call her personally with any more design questions. So worth the cost!
Jun 16th, 2020

Very frustrating experience--we hired Kate to do a comprehensive plan for a large backyard remodel and spent $3500 before she disappeared on us.  Her responsiveness was never great, but we managed to get an initial version of the design done, plus one revision.  We weren't totally satisfied with the plan and asked for some additional modifications. Kate assured us a couple of times that the revisions were "coming". Six months later and we haven't heard anything and are trying to bid out a half finished plan, which is proving impossible. It's very frustrating to have blown all of this money and to have to start over with (and pay for) a new design. In general, Kate seemed more interested in the landscaping aspect of the design than in helping with pool/hardscape/outdoor entertaining space, which is what we are more focused on and where we felt our concerns/preferences weren't really being addressed (although in looking at the most recent plan, we didn't end up with much detail in the landscape plan either). A huge bummer all around.
Jun 8th, 2020

We were very pleased with our 2 hr design consult. We paid a little extra and had her stay longer to also select the plants. We really appreciated that we had a full design plan for all four sides of our house in one morning's visit (our property is small; not sure if she could provide that for everyone). We didn't have to wait several weeks to finally get our plans - she had them ready for us before she left that morning. We hired a landscaper we have used before and he seemed to appreciate the plans as he followed them exactly, and he said he was impressed with her design and plant selection. Her plans made my decisions minimal as I followed everything she recommended from cement color (Mesa Buff - which is beautiful) to composite decking (Fiberon - Cinnabar). At Kate's recommendation, I went to Kinkos and made large copies of her design plan to give to my contractors and I'm glad I did that because their copies were completely worn, torn, and faded by the end of the project and my original copy is still perfect.I know our yard would look much different if I would have designed it myself or relied on my landscaper. Thank you Kate! Our yard looks professionally designed and is quite functional.
Jan 4th, 2020

Kate Wiseman may well be the queen of landscape designs! Impeccably credentialed with a Bachelor's degree in Botany from the University of California at Berkeley and a Masters of Landscape Architecture from Cal Poly Pomona's school of Environmental Design (no less), Kate stepped into our sad-looking backyard and created a design that I consider to be a work of art. For me, personally, even better than Kate's credentials (which are unbeatable) and her capability to create exquisite designs WITH you, are her attitude, her behavior, and her ability to relate to the common homeowner who entrusts important things to professionals. Degrees are wonderful almost always except for when they cause a person to become a know-it-all. Not so with Kate. She's humble yet confident. Kind but not fake. Kate is not only a gifted landscape designer but she is also very likable, relatable, and is just a really good person. And although we didn't stick 100% to the design, it was not due to anything other than our own decision to do a few things differently such as add more pavers rather than a lawn area that Kate had suggested (only because I couldn't decide what I wanted in a particular spot at the time that she was creating the design). In closing this review, I am thrilled to say that my experience working with Kate was perfect. She is a gem of a person that you will pick up on the second you meet her and a person you would also say "she's one in a million." Lastly, her cost to design our backyard was extremely reasonable. Do not miss out on the opportunity to have Kate design something breathtaking for you.
Oct 29th, 2019