Scott Cohen, garden artisan at The Green Scene, says he always assumes his next job will come from his last. It's sort of the mantra of what the company calls their "Adopt A Neighborhood" program. The Green Scene makes it their objective to secure multiple jobs from the same neighborhood. "It's likely that the neighbors will gall into the same demographic of the project we're working on, and are just the type of new clients we want to target," says Cohen. "So whenever we take on a new project, we like to think of it as adopting the entire neighborhood."

First, the company puts a Coming Soon sign in the client's yard. The sign shows a rendering of the finished project and a box with the company brochures.

"It costs around $70 to set up each time, but has been such a wise investment," Cohen says. "Neighbors love to know what their fellow neighbors are up to, so we capitalize on that with this sign."

The Adopt A Neighborhood program is how The Green Scene secured this high end residential design and build project, which was featured on HGTV. The Freimann family, a California couple, had seen another project in their neighborhood and set up a design consultation to go over their own ideas. The goals were extensive and meant transforming a barren backyard into one with multiple points of interest, including an infinity edge pool, a large outdoor fireplace, and an outdoor kitchen.

With such an extensive wish list, the company's primary challenges were design-oriented, says Cohen. It was important that we meet all of our clients' needs, without making the yard too busy or obstructing their view," he explains. A pass-through fireplace kept the beautiful panoramic view, despite the large size of the structure.

The new design also incorporates an outdoor kitchen, a feature that has become popular in the last five years. In fact, Cohen just authored a book on the subject entitled Scott Cohen's Outdoor Kitchen Design Workbook. While many of these spaces can become cookie-cutter due to their popularity. Cohen made the Freimann's installation stand out by incorporating a cast in place concrete tri-level counter with table seating set at 30 inches, a prep counter at 36 inches, and a serve bar at 44 inches.

In terms of landscaping, the Freimanns requested a moon garden, which is a garden comprised of all white flowering plants that can be best appreciated on nights with a full moon when the flowers glow in the moonlight.

The homeowners also wanted a bistro patio with a water feature, which Cohen have some pizzazz by creating a water and fire feature. Flames shoot up through crushed glass while water weeps down a stacked stone waterfall directly behind the fire.

Cohen says one of the biggest lessons he learned from this job is that when you're working for a husband and wife team, it's critical to involve both parties in every step of the design and build process. We had a few what I call "battle of the sexes" issues that came up, he explains. This has happened before - the husband thinks he knows what the wife wants and visa versa, but that turns out not to be the case. It's just a smoother project from start to finish if that husband and wife are both available to speak with the contractor and you involve both parties in the design process and any site meetings.

But despite any hang ups, the finished product was exactly what the couple wanted, and Cohen continues to get work from that neighborhood. He says The Green Scene has been fortunate to get regular work, and attributes it largely to successful marketing programs like Adopt A Neighborhood.