How We Work
You want to have confidence in who you’re working with. Let’s walk through what your experience will look like when you choose to partner with us.
Steps in the Process
The Wish List
When you first reach out, we’ll set up an initial fact-finding meeting with our licensed architect and project manager to learn more about what you want and need in your outdoor learning spaces. We’ll take notes and share pictures of real examples of our outdoor classroom components. We’ll guide you through the options and talk through all of the possibilities within your space. You may see “just a hill,” but we may see a great spot to add carefully crafted logs for climbing, or a stage designed for gathering or performing. It’s very much a collaborative process, and together, we’ll create plans for a nature classroom where your students will build curiosity, confidence and connection. Once we all agree on the project’s direction, the proposal comes next.
Budget and Proposal
If you don’t yet have funds for a full outdoor classroom construction project, that’s okay. We can still develop your conceptual plan. In fact, many schools we work with will take our conceptual design and use that to do a series of fundraisers to help cover the construction phase.
It’s helpful for us to know your budget up front because we can design and build around your budget. By streamlining to a single source, you won’t have to piece out the project, which usually means going through a cumbersome RFP process. Allowing us to handle design and build gives you a single point of contact and keeps all parties on the same page from start to finish. We’ll ask about budget in our first meeting so when it comes time for the proposal, we’re working within what you have to spend.
Design
You hire us – great! We’ll put a contract in place to make sure we’re all on the same page from start to finish, and once the contract is signed, we’ll get started on your conceptual design. The entire design phase takes about 90 days. We’ll present you with an initial design, get your feedback, and incorporate that into the next round. By the end of the process, your conceptual design is complete. From there, we’ll partner with you to determine next steps for the building stage.
Build
If you hire Good Fieldwork for the design and build of your outdoor classroom, we collaborate with our landscape construction partner on the build. We’ll talk with you in detail about the construction timeline and develop that schedule together.
Inspect
Once construction is complete, we’ll bring in a third-party certified inspector with experience in outdoor classrooms. These inspectors have completed thorough and up-to-date training on outdoor classroom safety issues to ensure your outdoor classroom meets important quality and safety standards.
