From Blueprints to Backyards: Creating Dream Landscapes with Steve Griggs

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What does it take to transform an ordinary backyard into a personal sanctuary that feels uniquely yours? Steve Griggs, landscape architect to athletes and celebrities with 40 years of experience, reveals the secret isn't just about luxury—it's about emotional connection.

"When you're designing a space, you want to ask them how do you want to feel when you're in that space?" Griggs explains, dismantling the misconception that beautiful outdoor spaces require massive budgets or expansive properties. Whether it's a tiny New York City terrace or a sprawling estate, he focuses on creating environments that reflect personalities and provide emotional resonance. His refreshing take democratizes design: "When you're floating on a raft with your eyes closed, it doesn't matter if it's a blow-up pool from Walmart—you'll have that same feeling as in a luxurious pool."

Beyond design philosophy, Griggs shares practical wisdom for homeowners and aspiring landscapers alike. As the author of the bestselling book "Straight Dirt" and a featured designer on Bravo TV, he emphasizes the importance of listening to clients, delivering on promises, and building success through referrals rather than aggressive marketing. His role as a "conductor" orchestrating complex projects illuminates why execution matters as much as vision. For those looking to enter the field, his advice is refreshingly straightforward: "Learn the plants, build trust, and do what you say you're going to do when you say you're going to do it."

Whether you're considering a landscape renovation or building a business, Griggs leaves us with powerful parting wisdom that transcends outdoor design: "Bet on yourself. Go all in with yourself." Connect with Steve on Instagram @stevegriggsdesign or through his website to explore how your outdoor space can become a meaningful extension of who you are.

Want to be a guest on Living the Dream with Curveball? Send Curtis Jackson a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1628631536976x919760049303001600

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Living the Dream Podcast with
Curveball, if you believe youcan achieve.
Welcome to the Living the Dreamwith Curveball Podcast, a show
where I interview guests thatteach, motivate and inspire.

(00:24):
Today, I am joined by landscapearchitect Steve Griggs.
He's going to be giving us somegolden nuggets about
landscaping, how he makespeople's land look nice and how
you can make yours look nice ifyou have a tough job.
He is the architect of Carl.

(00:45):
He is the OG of landscaping.
Steve.
Thank you so much for joiningme.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Thank you, Curtis, Glad to be here, man.
So yeah, it's more about justbusiness also, right?
So it's a whole gamut of, youknow, designing and business.
Right?
So you can't have the prettypictures without the business
side of it.
Right, Because we do run abusiness also.
So I'm really looking forwardto talking to you and hopefully

(01:11):
we can get some of your peopleon board and kind of, you know,
tell them what the real world isabout.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
Absolutely Well.
Why don't you start off tellingeverybody a little bit about
yourself?

Speaker 2 (01:21):
Sure, sure.
So I'm from New York, born andraised in New York.
We live in the suburbs of NewYork City.
I've been doing this for 40years.
I've been doing landscapedesign built 40 years.
A lot of my clients areathletes, celebrities, high net
worth individuals in a verydemanding market in the New York
area.
So I build from swimming poolsbackyards, basically create

(01:46):
resorts in people's backyards.
Right, that's kind of how Ilike to sum it up in the short
version.
Right Went to school for it inMississippi State, like we just
recently spoke about landscapearchitecture, moved back to New
York area and been doing it eversince 1985, man the 80s long

(02:06):
time.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
Well, what made you have an interest and a passion
in landscaping in the firstplace?

Speaker 2 (02:16):
So when you take one of those little tests in high
school, you check the littleboxes before you go to college.
I checked all the boxes where,didn't want to be in an office,
creative, like to be always busyand moving and it just turned
out that that was pretty muchthe path that you know.

(02:37):
Hey, let's give it a shot.
Listen, the grades weren't thatgood, be honest with you.
So I wasn't going to be alawyer or doctor.
So we figured let's dolandscaping.
You know, let's be outdoors.
It's nice to be outdoors.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
Well, I know that you are highly regarded.
You've been featured in severaldifferent publications and
places and you've also receivedseveral awards for the great
work that you do.
So kind of tell the listenersabout that so they know that
you're definitely qualified atwhat you're talking about.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yeah, so you know I don't want to sit here and brag
on it, but let's just give alittle context.
I mean we run the Bravo TV show.
We have national publications.
I have written a bookbestseller book.
We also were Inc 5000 twicefastest growing companies in
America.
It just came from hard work andjust showing up every day doing

(03:32):
what you say you're going to do, when you say you're going to
do it.
There's no Instagram fame here.
There's no microwave.
It's just been a long processand I think people need to be
patient when they're starting abusiness and it's just not going
to happen overnight.
I don to do it the right way.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
Yeah Well, give the listeners best practice tips on
how to create because I know youknow you can take care of the
listeners that's local, but forthose who are not, you know,
give best practice tips on howto create an outdoor space that
will match a person's lifestyle.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
So I think one of the first questions you want to do
is you really want to get insidethe client's head, right.
You want to see what's veryimportant to them.
Don't talk too much about them.
You want to listen first.
You want to listen what theirneeds are.
You want to listen to whattheir wants are and try to take
that all in before you even putpen to paper.
And once you get all whatthey're feeling and how they

(04:32):
want the space to feel, then youcan kind of design the space
that fits their needs, whetherit's for a hot tub, a swimming
pool, outdoor fire pit.
So it really starts withlistening to the client's needs
and wants and then coming upwith a graphical representation
of what that's going to looklike through a landscape plan.
And then the critical part ishere is, I feel that a lot, of,

(04:52):
a lot of people can design thepretty picture.
It's the execution of theproject.
How do you go from the plan toactually finishing the job on
time and on budget?
That's the tricky.
That's the tricky part.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
Anybody, a lot of people, can draw a fancy picture
and speaking of fancy pictures,you, you talk about how spaces
aren't just beautiful, they,they are meaningful as well.
So you know kind of uh expoundon that and explain that to the
listeners so.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
So, like a space has to fit the person's personality,
I think right.
So when you're designing aspace, you want to ask them how
do you want to feel?
When you're designing a space,you want to ask them how do you
want it to feel when you're inthat space?
Do you want to feel like calm?
Then you got to plant certaintypes of plants and grasses and
fragrant plants that blow in thewind.
That'll give you a more calmingfeeling.

(05:45):
Usually we like to put a littlewater feature in there.
The sound of water is verycalming, right.
But if you want to have I wantcalming right.
But if you want to have or feellike I'm at a Ritz-Carlton
resort, it's going to be morecontemporary, high-end finishes,
right.
So you want to really design itto fit the person's lifestyle.
Big tip there Don't design itfor you, design it for them.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
And speaking of designing for them, you know,
give the listener some bestpractice tips on the you know,
the little things that can turnyou know, your yard to a
sanctuary and make it the bestit can be.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
So a lot of times people get intimidated by large
budgets and you see all thesebig, fancy houses with the big,
big backyards.
You don't need to spend allthat, you can get the same
feeling.
Big backyard, you don't need tospend all that, you can get the
same feeling.
Like I tell people, when you'rein a swimming pool, your eyes
are closed, you're floating onthe raft.
It doesn't matter if it's ablow-up pool from walmart.
You're going to get just as wetand you're going to have that

(06:43):
same feeling as a big, luxuriouspool.
So it doesn't matter if you havea 10 by 10 terrace in new york
city or a five acre estate up inthe country.
It really comes down to theproper designing of the space,
like you really design it, soyou maximize the space, so it
feels very inviting and you wantto create different areas just

(07:05):
so you can an area to dine, anarea to lounge out, an area to
entertain.
Those are on the bigger space.
But if you want to have like asmall little terrace garden,
let's say, if you're in anapartment building somewhere,
you can still get that samefeeling.
A little potted plant evengives you that same feeling,
right.
So it really comes down to theemotional.
It's really very emotional whenyou're designing somebody's

(07:26):
home.
It's their sanctuary and youwant it to feel very emotionally
connected to them.

Speaker 1 (07:33):
Well, you also wrote a book, so tell the listeners
about your book, what they canexpect when they read it and
where they can get the book from.

Speaker 2 (07:43):
So you can get the book on Amazon.
It's called Straight Dirt.
It was really designed.
The name of the title came fromstraight dirt telling it like
it is, because I feel like a lotof people mislead clients on
design and all, and I'm from newyork, so we like to tell it
straight up what things cost.
What's it going to look like?
How are you going to maintainit?

(08:05):
It's basically it's a coffeetable book that has a lot of
beautiful photography in it.
Not too many words, because Ithink pictures a thousand words.
So it just has all thesebeautiful landscapes that were
done by me over the last 30years, so it's more of a sales
marketing tool, let's say.
Right, by the way, if you'renew in business and you need
writing a book has been verycritical part of it because it

(08:28):
it puts you up as the authorityin the space as opposed to like
just another landscaper.
Let's say, you and me weregoing at it on a client.
I had the book and you didn't,and my price was a little more.
I think they're going to leantowards somebody.
That's a little more of theauthority in the space.

Speaker 1 (08:45):
That's just my personal opinion and it's been
working so as a landscaper, justso listeners know what all do
you do.
Do you mow yards or or what youknow, what all do you do as a
landscaper?

Speaker 2 (09:03):
so there's different divisions of landscaping right.
So there's landscapecontractors that do the work
right.
There's guys that mow yards,pull weeds, plant trees.
We don't do any of that.
We are the designers and thevisionaries for the client.
We create the create the vision.
I get paid to think, not to digRight.
So my role is to create thevision for the homeowner.

(09:26):
And then think of me as aconductor in an orchestra.
I put all the pieces together,I put all the trade partners
together right and I make theproject happen right, because a
lot of homeowners don't havetime or the knowledge to deal
with several differentcontractors.
If you ever try to do, like, abathroom renovation in your
house and you have to deal withthe plumber, the sheet rocker,
the painter, it's a lot tocoordinate.

(09:47):
So that's where we specializein, only because we've been
doing it for so long, so we'reable to put all the trade
partners together to get theprojects done on time and on
budget.
And people are busy, they don'thave time to like babysit
contractors.
That's what we do.

Speaker 1 (10:07):
Absolutely so if there are some listeners out
there looking to get into thelandscaping field, kind of
explain to them.
You know what advice would yougive them and explain to them
how they go about getting intoit.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
If you're a new start now you're looking for a
business opportunity.
Landscaping is very rewarding.
You don't have to go to eightyears of college, like I did.
You can simply just learn.
Your key is learn the plants.
Go to your local nursery, lookat the flowers.
The plants go to your localnursery, look at the flowers,
see what's out there that growslocally in your area, and you

(10:43):
really need to get that firstclient under your belt.
And when you get that firstclient under your belt, the
biggest thing is they need toinstill trust in you.
So you need to deliver on time,on budget, with no excuses.
They don't want to hear aboutyour dog or your cat or whatever
.
You just need to deliver theproject on time, on budget.

(11:04):
Show up when you say you'regoing to show up, and from that
that leads a word of mouth.
So I like to use like clientrelations.
Marketing is a very big termthat we use is like you know,
don't just keep putting ads onFacebook.
You're going to get most ofyour work from referrals and a
referral is the best kind of jobbecause you're coming from a

(11:26):
recommendation.
So you want to treat thoseclients like family and they
will refer you to other friendsand family and that's how you
just build it slowly and youkeep building it and building it
and the projects get larger andlarger.
That would be a very goodadvice from someone who's been
doing this for so long is likestart slow, be price fair and do

(11:50):
what you say you're going to dowhen you said you're going to
do it.
Okay, well, I'll watch yourcontact info so listeners can
keep up with everything thatyou're up to yeah, you just go
to at steve griggs design oninstagram, right, I'm the og, so
I had to learn how to useinstagram right.
Or website iswwwstevegriggsdesigncom right,

(12:13):
you'll see the pictures in thereand listen.
You can always hit me me up onDM if you have any landscape
questions.
I'll tell you honestly myopinion on certain things.
But yeah, that would be thebest.
If you're looking to start abusiness or get into this type
of business, ask the questions,ask a guy like me.
Just DM me, I'll give you theanswer.
Right, I'm here to helpCurtis's audience.

(12:35):
That's my job today.

Speaker 1 (12:37):
Absolutely Well close this out with some final
thoughts.
Maybe, if that was something Iforgot to talk about, that you
would like to touch on, or anyfinal thoughts you have for the
listeners.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
I think what we wanted to touch on, which we
could have spent a whole podcaston, is bet on yourself.
Does that make sense?
Just go all in with yourself.
You got to believe in yourself.
Believe in yourself, like,don't block out all the noise.
And they say it because that'show we were brought up, at least

(13:08):
in my family where, like it wasalways, work hard, work hard,
work hard.
Like you need to really developthe mindset of just you know,
allowing abundance to come in,that you're worth it and and
it's a lot of self-talk andself-image and just trying to,
like you know, be the bestperson that you can and you will
be rewarded, guaranteed.

Speaker 1 (13:30):
All right, ladies and gentlemen, to check out Steve
and everything that he's up toin his landscaping work visit
stevegriggsdesigncom.
Follow rate review.
Share this episode to as manypeople as possible.
Follow us on your favoritepodcast platform.
Visit wwwcurveball337.com formore information on the Living

(13:52):
the Dream with Curveball podcast.
Thank you so much for listeningand supporting the show.
Steve, thank you for all thatyou do and thank you for joining
me.

Speaker 2 (14:03):
Thank you, Curtis.
Enjoy the weekend, buddy.

Speaker 1 (14:06):
For more information on the Living the Dream with
Curveball podcast, visitwwwcurveball337.com.
Until next time, keep livingthe dream.