A design covers each of these in the order a crew would build them. Your project might touch one layer or all four, and a first call sorts out which.
How the ground is shaped, and where rain goes once it lands.
Why it's first: everything else sits on this layer. Atlanta's red clay drains slowly, so a patio or bed set on a bad grade usually fails from underneath.
The built surfaces: what you walk on, sit on and lean against.
Why it's second: heavy equipment and stone deliveries come through here. Doing this before planting means nothing new gets crushed.
What grows where, chosen for the light and soil each spot actually gets.
Why it's third: plants go into finished grade beside finished edges. Planted earlier, they get trampled or buried during the work above.
How the space reads after dark, plus the last details that pull it together.
Why it's last: fixtures get aimed at plants and surfaces that already exist. Wire laid too early tends to get cut by a shovel.
Describe the problem and we'll tell you where it starts.