Lakewind Estates, an exclusive, gated community on the south shore of Lake Travis, offers all kinds of luxury.
Custom home sites of at least an acre, with panoramic views of the lake. Sprawling homes with as many as six bedrooms and four baths. Wine rooms. Four-car garages.
But after 20 years, this community of multi-million-dollar homes needed an update, from the outdated sea-green roofs to the tired landscaping.
The Lakewind HOA board called on North by Northwest Landscaping and Grounds Management.
“They said, ‘We want you to make it more modern,’” says Jordan Martin, vice president of North by Northwest.
That meant a lot more than updating plants.
“It was a pretty involved process,” Martin says, including sandblasters, welders, painters, and a nationwide search for just the right caps for damaged stone columns.
HOA landscape construction in Austin, TX
But Lakewind only had to work with one company, North by Northwest, who took control of the expansive job, start to finish.
Here’s a look at the transformation.
Hello, Sleek New Look
It’s easy to tell what the high-end design style was in 2001 by the face Lakewind presented — lots of white limestone walls and columns, pale green metal roofs, Sago palms.
Planting beds were filled with ceramic pots packed with succulents. “Grandma pots,” Martin calls them.
“All of this made the place look outdated,” he says.
He created a 3-D rendering of what it could look like.
- Sleek contemporary steel raised planters to cover the pale limestone walls and highlight the entrance gates.
- Dark, sophisticated colors for everything from roofs to stone columns to gravel mulch.
- Contrasting plant colors like red and yellow that pack a design punch.
- A dry creek bed for modern texture and appeal.
- Impressive specimen plants that make an impact, rather than crowded beds packed with ho-hum plants.
“In modern landscaping, less is more,” Martin says.
Landscapers as Contractor
While North by Northwest crews would handle the landscaping, irrigation updates, and lighting, Martin hired outside pros to tackle other projects:
- Sandblasters to remove the old sea green paint from Lakewind’s massive iron gates.
- Painters to paint the iron gates, outdated white stone columns, and green steel lamp posts a more contemporary dark gray.
- Welders to craft custom steel planters.
Meanwhile, Martin and his team had their hands full:
- Martin did a nationwide search for new concrete caps to replace damaged 12-foot stone columns. He found them in Utah.
- North by Northwest construction crews created a mirror image of Lakewind’s large monument entrance sign to make the sign two-sided, visible coming and going.
- They installed new coach lights on the entrance gate’s 12-foot columns.
“We did things not all landscapers do,” Martin says. “Some landscapers are just landscapers. We acted more like a general contractor for them.”
Not Your Grandma’s Plants
Landscaping doesn’t last forever. After 20 years, the plants, shrubs, and palm trees at Lakewind were either outdated or just worn out.
Crews removed old plants, including several old Sago Palms that were transplanted into homeowners’ yards.
Martin selected new landscape plants that are modern, low maintenance, and add appeal with color and texture. No “Grandma plants” allowed. (No offense, Gram.)
Here are the standouts:
Bi-color Iris
This evergreen iris with graceful swordlike foliage and yellow blooms offers a modern look if planted to stand on their own as opposed to playing them in clumps, Martin says.
Desert Willow
An intriguing twisting trunk and open, spreading crown highlights this willow, used as a small tree or large shrub. Bonus: its funnel-shaped, ruffled blossoms, typically dark pink or purple.
‘Color Guard’ Yucca
Stunning yellow and green striped foliage offers great architectural interest, on its own as a specimen plant, in containers, or used in mass plantings. Showy spires of fragrant snow white blooms appear in summer.
Bamboo Muhly
You get double duty from this one: the exotic look of bamboo and the easy care of ornamental grass. Its billowy lacy green foliage adds graceful movement to the landscape in the breeze. 
Gulf Muhly
Also called Pink Muhly, this spectacular vibrant grass is a landscape stunner. Wispy pink-purple foliage explodes in the fall.
Mexican Sage
Gray-green leaves and velvety purple flower spikes make this bushy plant a landscape standout. It’s also drought tolerant and attracts hummingbirds.
Agave Parryi
This low-care succulent boasts silvery blue leaves and reddish brown “teeth,” making a striking statement in the steel planters at Lakewind's gated entrance.
Whale’s Tongue Agave
This one’s worth grabbing for its cool name alone. The evergreen succulent sports a unique thick rosette of powder blue and gray leaves.
Live Oak
Locate an 8-inch diameter native live oak for the Lakewind entrance? No problem. Well, sort of a problem. A tree this size requires a crane and a bunch of muscle.
Meanwhile, Maintenance
Lakewind hired North by Northwest to continue to care for the impressive new landscaping they installed.
Crews visit weekly throughout the growing season and bi-weekly during the winter months, mowing, trimming, edging, fertilizing, and treating weeds.
They install seasonal color plants twice a year, do monthly irrigation checks, install sparkling holiday lights and swoop in as needed for what Martin calls “emergency services,” like clearing debris from a sudden rockslide. 
Meeting High Expectations
“In this kind of neighborhood, people are moving in from New York and California,” Martin says. “Everybody’s moving to Austin and they have money to spend. They don’t want to pull into a neighborhood that looks like it’s stuck in 1999, especially if they’re going to spend a million dollars.
“If they see those light green roofs they’re going to think a bunch of old people live there,” he says. “But if you drive around the neighborhood you see it’s a lot of people in their mid-30s.
“Perception is everything,” Martin says. “You only get one chance to impress.”
“So Much Has Improved”
Dustin Hunt, President of the Lakewind Homeowners Association, hired North by Northwest for his community’s comprehensive upgrade after he was impressed with the job they did installing the community’s holiday lighting.
It’s not just the quality of work that’s impressive, Hunt says. It’s the quality of people.
“There’s so much different about North by Northwest compared to what we have had in the past,” Hunt says. “What I really wanted and needed was that personal touch. Someone who we can call on the phone directly and say, ‘This is what we need from you, this is what we would like you to do, this is our vision for the neighborhood.’ We did not have that previously.
“When I spoke to Jordan and he acknowledged that he’s the one who handles everything personally, yet they have a large experienced crew, it just felt like that was a good combination for what we needed for the neighborhood.“
The results, he says, are dramatic.
“So much has improved since we hired North by Northwest,” Hunt says. “They have a real true vision about the modern yet comfortable feel of landscaping.”
People are noticing.
“We’ve had multiple houses go on the market in the last few weeks since we had the landscape upgrade and the feedback from the realtors is that this neighborhood looks so much better than it has previously,” Hunt says. “We’re definitely seeing an improvement.“
Keeping Everybody Happy
The relationship between HOAs and landscaping companies can be rocky.
“You have an opinionated group of people,” Hunt says. “Keeping an entire group of people happy is very, very difficult.“
Martin seconds that.
“A lot of times HOAs can be a challenge, because there are so many board members involved,” he says. “With Lakewind, I was dealing with just two board members, and that made it easy. It worked out well, having fewer hands in the pot.
“They were open to ideas, they trusted me, they kept me updated on what they liked,” he says. “Is it like that all the time? Absolutely not.”
Martin loved the opportunity to make a real difference for one of the area’s most luxurious communities.
“They were willing to do bold enhancements, not just subtle changes like switching from mulch to gravel,” he says. “I love to see significant changes.”
Hunt is happy, too.
“They’re able to understand what your vision is,” he says, “and create something that’s cohesive and works well for everyone.”
Need an Austin Landscape Company that Handles it All? Trust North by Northwest
When you need a landscaping renovation, chances are you need more than plants.
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