It’s not news that COVID-19 has people spending more time outdoors, and it put a renewed emphasis on outdoor projects in 2020. Not only was landscaping deemed an essential service, but after a shaky few weeks at the start of the pandemic, landscape design-build firms found their businesses were booming. But with vaccines currently being distributed and an anticipated return to some form of normalcy, will the trend continue? Whether residential or commercial, the emphasis in 2020 wasn’t on big, splashy projects, but rather on simply providing comfortable, usable spaces that allowed families to get out of their houses and into the fresh air. Even better, designer-contractors see at least a few of these trends continuing in 2021. The Big Surprise Call it unexpected. Call it a shock. Call it quirky. Whichever word you choose to describe last year’s business climate in the design-build market, it’s safe to say it was a surprise. That’s the word Terry Morrill, owner of Sun Valley, CA-based Pacific Outdoor Living, uses. “There was a very short time lag when COVID first came out, but then it just kind of exploded,” Morrill says. “We ended up with record sales after a pretty slow start. The leads started picking up and we did just great.” Across the country in South Windsor, CT, Ryan King, an award-winning designer with Bahler Brothers, Inc., uses the word “awesome” to describe that company’s level of business. “February and March sales were almost half of what we normally see, so we ...