AMY HITE DESIGN, LLC specializes in modern sustainable landscapes, residential hobby farms, natural playgrounds, land-based businesses and therapeutic gardens in coastal California. For the past 18 years, Amy has helped homeowners and business owners rehabilitate their soil and connect to the land by creating fun, family-friendly gardens with a focus on outdoor activities. She has designed & built pools, meditation labyrinths, potager gardens, chicken coops, orchards, native habitat restoration gardens, fireplaces, outdoor kitchens, bmx pump tracks, tree houses, and living roofs. All of her designs focus on regeneration and use sustainable materials and strategies to harvest water, reduce waste, and build healthy ecosystems. She believes that humans have an innate, deep connection with nature and good design can remind people of this important relationship.
Amy Hite is also the founder of Therapeutic Gardens, Inc. a 501-c3 non profit that specializes in the design, building and programing of outdoor spaces that benefit the health and well-being of a community. Healing gardens include children’s gardens, edible gardens, senior gardens, sensory gardens, school gardens, meditation gardens, healing center gardens, rehabilitation gardens, and community gardens and natural play grounds.
“Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.” - Rumi
“Nature is a totally efficient, self-regenerating system. If we discover the laws that govern this system and live synergistically within them, sustainability will follow and humankind will be a success” - R. Buckminster Fuller
If you're interested in working with us, complete the form with a few details about your project. We'll review your message and get back to you within 48 hours.
Work with us
Our Services
Site Visit & Conceptual Design
A site plan is more than just a drawing, it’s a roadmap. With thoughtful design and a plan in place, you avoid common pitfalls of doing things twice or putting things in the wrong place and having to move them. A holistic site plan looks at the entire site and how it functions as a system. How is water moving across your land, how is the sun moving across your land, what is your flow through the space, where is the best location for gathering, growing, and playing?
Our conceptual designs start with a site walk and a gathering of information and ideas. Then our team creates a beautiful design with inspiration images to start you on the path of a beautiful and holistic landscape. The cost for a site visit and conceptual drawing depends on the size and scope of your project and typically ranges from $2500-$3500
After creating a conceptual design for the space, the next step is hammering out the details for the landscape. These include materials, plants, trees, irrigation and lighting systems, animal housing, production spaces and more. This is a back and forth process with the designer and the client as we nail down the final design. We typically use native plants and edibles in our designs to promote biodiversity. Our designs are living systems that improve over time.
Our team turns the concept into a construction drawing with the intention of being built. These drawings can be submitted to the City for permits and/or subcontractors for implementation. Typically these drawings cost 7-10% of the overall project budget depending on the scope and include a site visit and conceptual sketch.
Landscape Plan
The beauty of using a design-build company is that as licensed contractors, we are able to bring our visions to life. This means than nothing is lost in translation and ensures a seamless process between design and construction.
When building, we use sustainable and locally sourced materials. We prefer to use natural materials such as wood, stone, metal and earth brick. We shop at local nurseries and familiarize ourselves with the best plants, soil and mulch in your area to set you up for success. When installing a project we use a “lump sum” contract that includes all of the materials and labor costs and divides up the total cost of your project into installation payments and bill along the way.
