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Consulting and Design
Helping urban and rural homesteaders create water retentive edible and medicinal ecosystems
“I have worked with Neil for years in a number of different capacities, in design, business formation, and online education. Neil is reliable, precise and detail oriented. I greatly value his perspective and keen eye.
I highly recommend working with him.”
-Andrew Millison, Founder of the Oregon State University Permaculture Program, YouTube Producer and Educator
My Perspective
Permaculture design is a dynamic, evolving design process that integrates observations and adapts to feedback over time. I believe consulting and design go hand-in-hand to create an incremental, on-going dialogue with the land through our management decisions and actions.
Most people and sites benefit from a pattern level concept plan implemented with a slow and steady approach where initial actions focus on obtaining a yield (for example zone 1 veggie gardens, chickens for eggs and fertility, or drinking water supply), while observing how the site interacts with weather, ecology, and people. These observations and measurements inform design revisions and the next phase of site development, often in an annual cycle.
Therefore consultations can be one-off, but they usually gain value through repeated interaction with the land and people then reflecting on these interactions to discover opportunities and propose solutions to design challenges. I believe our designs and actions are most ecological and effective when they are guided by and adapt to the landscape we are managing.
My Process
I begin all consulting and design projects with a short Client Questionnaire to gather basic information about the project and site. This provides the baseline for an Initial Consultation - either a remote video consultation or a local site visit consultation.
Each consultation is unique and focuses on your priorities, current challenges and opportunities, and the long term vision for the site. We look at both the big picture and nitty gritty details to identify actionable next steps.
An Initial Consultation is both a valuable assessment and consultation for your site, and it lays the foundation for all future consultation and design work on your project. Based on your responses to my Client Questionnaire, I gather information about your site through online research on climate, water, soils, and more. This data is combined with your stated priorities to inform and guide our conversation. Deliverables are outlined below.
If you'd like to schedule a consultation, please send me an email through the contact page providing your project location and a brief description of your vision
I will send you a Client Questionnaire to clarify more information about the site and project.
For sites in the Reno area, I am happy to start with either an Initial remote video consultation using Zoom or a Local site visit consultation.
For sites outside the Reno area, I start with an Initial remote video consultation to assess if a site visit is appropriate, and if so, to help clarify the priorities for the site visit.
I charge $100/hr
Initial remote and local site visit consultations include 2 hrs of direct interaction. (Additional consultation time during a call or site visit is billed hourly in 0.25 hr increments.)
Both include a preliminary remote site review and follow up, which are another 4-5 hrs of time combined.
For this I charge $400.
Larger sites (>2-5 acres) and sites >1 hr drive from Reno require 1/2-1+ day site visits. These site visits cost more and are estimated based on an Initial Remote Video Consultation.
More complex and larger projects can benefit greatly from an Initial Remote Video Consultation, and may desire a more comprehensive Remote Site Assessment prior to planning a Site Visit Consultation and Conceptual Plan Development.
“Neil Bertrando’s land management plan has served our community far beyond what we originally anticipated. It set out a clear path for all to see and provided a financial and ecological justification for our chosen course of action. It delivered technical expertise in a professional package. Neil’s presentation style completely won over, within minutes, those who had doubts about the value of commissioning a master plan.
Nearly three years on we consult the plan for our next course of action on a weekly basis.”
-Teri, 400 acre open space, Temecula, CA
What you get in my basic package is - $400
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A 2 hr remote site assessment and video consultation
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A follow-up report packet delivered via Google Drive including
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A site map both blank and with notes from the consultation
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A set of figures, graphs, and tables showing local climate data and site information
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A outline of site and project-specific recommendations and resources based on our conversation
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An NRCS web soil survey report for your site (USA sites only, if available)
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A recording of our video call
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In addition to my basic package, I offer added value through 3 services available as part of our initial consultation.
Additional Services include
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Google Earth Pro 2'/1m Contour Map Creation - $200-400
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If there is a 1 meter Digital Elevation Model (DEM) available for the site, I can convert this data into a Google Earth kmz/kml file with 2’ contour intervals, which is a valuable tool to inform land use, design, and management decisions.
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I provide you with a kmz/kml file with these contours that you can open and manipulate in Google Earth Pro. This is a powerful tool for understanding, designing, and managing your landscape.
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I then take a screenshot of your site with these contours, and we use it during our call.
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To-Scale Basemap Creation - $100 per map
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Prepared for the call, a To-scale basemap is a valuable tool because it allows us to draw elements like buildings and trees at their actual size allowing improved accuracy, precision, and analysis.
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If the site is large, I can create a to-scale basemap for the entire site, and additional zoom-in, to-scale basemaps for specific areas of interest.
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Most sites only need 1-2 for our initial call.
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Whatever contour information is available will be integrated into these maps so we can use it to inform and guide our discussion of site concepts and layout options.
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A To-Scale Basemap is required for a Draft Concept Plan with a legend and associated narrative because they serve as its foundational layer.
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Draft concept plan - $200-600
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A draft concept plan on a to-scale digitized map with legend which details the ideas and concepts discussed during the consultation.
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This includes both a drawn concept and a more detailed narrative about each use area discussed during the call.
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"Neil has proven to be an invaluable resource in helping me plan and manage our homestead. We purchased a lot of land and wanted to apply permaculture principles to it, but reading books and watching videos just wasn't enough. Neil has great attention to detail, was able to find all kinds of relevant information for us, and went above and beyond with his research and answers to questions. He also gave us very good advice and got us to think about things we wouldn't have even considered - for instance, making sure that we quickly seed any new clearings to prevent erosion. Neil has also been very responsive and quick to get back to us whenever time was of the essence.
I wish all the other people I'm working with were as attentive and communicative!"
-Arkansas, 100 acres
What you get is:
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A 2 hr site assessment and site visit consultation
-
A follow-up report packet delivered via Google Drive including
-
A site map both blank and with notes from the consultation
-
A set of figures, graphs, and tables showing local climate data and site information
-
A outline of site and project-specific recommendations and resources based on our conversation
-
An NRCS web soil survey report for your site (USA sites only, if available)
-
In addition to my basic package, I offer added value through 2 services available as part of our initial consultation.
Additional Services include
-
To-Scale Basemap Creation - $100 per map
-
A To-scale basemap is a valuable tool because it allows us to draw elements like buildings and trees at their actual size allowing improved accuracy, precision, and analysis.
-
If the site is large, I can create a to-scale basemap for the entire site, and additional zoom-in, to-scale basemaps for specific areas of interest.
-
Most suburban sites only need 1 map. Rural sites often need 2.
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Whatever contour information is available will be integrated into these maps. I can then overlay draft concepts and layout options on these in the Draft Concept Plan.
-
A To-Scale Basemap is required for a Draft Concept Plan with a legend and associated narrative because they serve as its foundational layer.
-
-
Draft concept plan - $200-600
-
A draft concept plan on a to-scale digitized map with legend which details the ideas and concepts discussed during the consultation.
-
This includes both a drawn concept and a more detailed narrative about each use area.
-
“Neil created a wetland restoration design that integrated permaculture design to improve the functionality of a natural and constructed wetland system. The resulting six modules are easy to implement and execute.”
-Emily, Wetland Manager, Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe
My design process is organized by integrating the Permaculture zones of use, sectors, and microclimate assessments, with the Regrarians® Platform to prioritize projects and site development. For most projects this means: 1) identifying any critical infrastructure needs starting with Water, Access, Buildings, Fencing and Energy, 2) Identifying appropriate locations and patterns for trees to manage Sector energies and modify microclimates, and 3) Starting close to the home and center of activity and working outwards from there based on topography, soils, and the capacity of the land and people involved.
For Design projects, I build off our first round of consultation by generating basemaps and site analysis maps in Google Earth and/or MS Powerpoint which are widely used and accessible programs. These maps facilitate a dialogue that guides conceptual plans, project prioritization and implementation. Materials lists and plant lists are then created on a project by project basis.
I encourage an incremental and iterative approach to design and implementation, particularly on larger sites and for DIY projects. This often takes the form of multi-year projects where a practical and achievable set of projects are outlined for the current year and future projects are organized for assessment and prioritization each following year. Many people find it valuable to schedule a remote video consultation a few times per year to check in on project progress, particularly successes and challenges, and to create a plan for the next steps.
Whenever possible, I prefer to keep each project scope of work focused on the specific portion of the overall design which has been identified as the current priority, then create a set of deliverables ranging from $500-3,000 of work. This lowers the risk of creating a complex, detailed design without going through the review and feedback process with the client and the landscape.
Larger, more complex projects requiring 1/2 day or longer site visits can benefit significantly from an Initial Remote Video Consultation and periodic hourly video consultation.
For more thorough analysis and design development they can also follow a slightly larger and more comprehensive project arc. This process includes a thorough 1. Remote Site Assessment phase that clarifies project and site context, develops initial base maps, a site inventory, and site analysis concepts. This informs and guides a 2. Site Visit Assessment and Conceptual Plan Development phase. Future phases and consultations are outlined. These are often 3. Priority specific detailed designs and analyses to guide 4. Implementation followed by 5. Monitoring, Maintenance, and Assessment to learn from the effectiveness of initial implementation efforts and inform 6. Design Revisions and Next Steps.
For these larger and more complex projects prefer to partner with another Permaculture Consultant whose experience is relevant to the project. The additional perspectives, conversations, and concepts generated by including 2 consultants are extremely valuable, adding insight, novelty, quality control and nuance to a project's outcomes.
My preferred consulting partners include, but are not limited to: