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RLA Roles
Landscape Architects' Buying and Specifying Role Continues to Increase
WASHINGTON, D.C.

Recent survey results released from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) indicate that 30% of Landscape Architects recommend, specify or purchase more than $1 million of products annually. "This confirms what we already intuitively knew from our members-- they're interested in both hard and soft materials, and in most cases, they're the ones who make the buying decision," explained ASLA Executive Vice President Pete Kirsch. The top five products commonly specified (in priority order) include: plant materials; paving materials; fences, walls and gates; erosion control products and services; and landscape lighting products. In addition, survey results indicate that the average Landscape Architect specifies a product five times per month.

LASN wants to know! How many products on average do you specify per month? What are the most common products that you are responsible for purchasing or recommending? Email your responses to hlebus@landscapearchitect.com!


82.2% of LASN readers specify paving materials and site surfacing products by brand name or item number. Over 73% offer hardscape design services in-house-- representing huge buying power in the site surfacing industry. More and more Landscape Architects nationwide are responsible for the design, recommendation and purchase of paving materials each year.