Bringing the Comforts of Home Outdoors

The trend of bringing the inside comforts of home to the outdoors is quite popular. More people are inves-ting in home renovations, including improvements to their backyards. Outdoor kitchens, barbeques, fireplaces and water features, which all add that extra “room outdoors” feeling, seem to be the current trend, says Jamie Carriveau, President of Exact Interlock, a Stittsville-based company that specializes in all aspects of residential landscape improvements, including custom woodwork, patios, walkways, retaining walls, step systems, driveways and soft landscaping services.

Exact Interlock designs outdoor living spaces with the homeowner in mind.  “We customize our designs with products like artificial waterfalls and ponds, blended with a variety of high-quality stone and wood products,” Carriveau observes. “Water features are especially popular, allowing the client to enjoy the relaxing sound of trickling water amid a backdrop of coloured LED lights.”

Custom woodwork has become increasingly part of Exact Interlock’s outdoor projects. Pergolas can create a welcoming shaded passageway or sitting area with cross beams and open-style lattice upon which climbing vines can grow, adding to the overall “outdoor room” effect.

In addition to its residential installations, Exact Interlock heads up a strong commercial division involving municipal work. “We do a lot of work for some of the larger road-building contractors as well as City of Ottawa projects,” Carriveau explains. “These include reinstatement of landscaping that’s been damaged or torn up on residential properties. The Farmers’ Market in Carleton Place and public transit park-and-ride lots are among some of our most recent projects. We enjoy working in all sectors of industry, but residential work is our specialty and brings out the creativity of our highly experienced staff.

“Our professional memberships with organizations like Landscape Ontario and the Ottawa Construction Association keep us up-to-date on all trends and news pertaining to our industry,” Carriveau comments.  Exact Interlock keeps its entire staff educated in the landscaping industry by having them attend educational seminars and workshops, and working closely with major suppliers.

The company has been in business for nine years and is respected for its quality and professionalism. “Attention to detail is what sets us apart from many companies,” Carriveau says. “We like to go above and beyond to give our clients the highest quality job. Our policy is to meet and most often exceed industry standards in everything we do. We provide a three-year warranty on all of our work to reassure the client that we are doing the job correctly. In rare cases where minor deficiencies occur, we are quick to correct them, but our way of thinking is to do the job right the first time. The impact of referrals in our industry is huge and brings us many new contracts as well as repeat business. The positive response we get from our clients is definitely our number one source of advertising.

www.exactinterlock.ca

The main photograph in the story features a property designed by award-winning, Ottawa-based Welwyn Wong Landscape Design (www.welwynwong.com). As well, Advantage Group (www.theadvantagegroup.ca) – also based in Ottawa – did the landscaping work and Techo-Bloc (www.techo-bloc.com) provided the landscaping stone that appears in the photograph. The photo was taken at an Ottawa-area home that used the design services of Welwyn Wong and the landscaping expertise of The Advantage Group to create what is truly an exceptional backyard SPACE.

Ottawa Life apologizes for not crediting these companies in the story in the print edition.