I had the fantastic opportunity to go the 54th annual Art + Architecture Tour sponsored by the LACMA. A great event, with a little bit of something for everybody! From a French Baroque mansion, (not quite my taste) to modern including a combo Frank Lloyd Wright horizontal lower floor and an Arts and Craft style second floor!

Perhaps I’m a bit biased, but my client’s French Country estate with the finest American Impressionist art collection really rocked.
Being a part of the event and providing the construction management, horticultural and landscape design for the estate renovation was a blast, people really seemed to enjoy the landscape.

Tulips with deer statuary

Wow, what a difference between consulting for a Plaintiff versus a defendant. Learned a valuable lesson, every attorney is different when it comes to hiring an impartial expert.

As a landscape, horticulture, arboriculture expert, I discovered in plaintiff cases, the attorney is looking for an expert to find flaws, defects, quantify costs etc. However, defendant attorneys are very much focused on finding an impartial expert that will support there clients position, but only upon the expert coming to those conclusions on his or her own discovery.

In forming a retainer contract for a defendant case, I mistakenly used the attorneys assumption of his clients innocence during our conversation, and used language in the scope of the contract the attorney felt could compromise my impartiality and he was correct.

It is a real challenge when speaking with attorneys to maintain impartiality while at the same time trying to assess the merits of a case and determine if my services are appropriate for the client.

Although I am a technical expert in my field, I certainly am not a contracts expert, hopefully the attorney realizes this and will still utilize my services.

Chalk it up to the legal learning curve!

to find out more about Jeremy Rappoport, click here

It was a bleak day in February of 2008 when the President of our division at K. Hovnanian Homes gathered all 250 of us into the conference room to announce the Southern California Regional office was closing.

Can’t say I was surprised, in fact, having been in the land development, home building and construction industry for approaching three decades we experienced a milder home building recession in 1990, but nothing like what we are currently enduring. I knew it was only a matter of time until we were all “consolidated or right sized” (corporate lingo for fired) out of a job. I even had the honor of performing the deed to my subordinates until the axe finally fell on my neck also.

Despite rumors and mindless talking heads saying the recession is over (they must work for the banks who got their bailout), those of us in construction, development, housing, real estate, agencies and many industries tied to housing, we are all still in a very bad way.

I went from being the Director of a large, public company earning a fantastic salary to being poor, unemployed and struggling for survival. More importantly, keeping my self respect and dignity intact was a major struggle. I was surprised by how much my job had defined who I was. I had to really work at re-defining who I was and regain taking control of my life.

I opened my own consultancy in September of 08, after a year of fumbling around, I am starting to make significant strides toward gaining legal clients as a landscape, horticulture, arboriculture and land development expert witness. Like everything else, the economy is cyclical, it will improve we just can’t predict when, but when it does, I hope to have by consultancy firmly entrenched and ready to go.

We are still struggling financially, but I enjoy my new profession and look forward to better times. I am but one of millions of formerly unemployed Americans, I know there are thousands of similar stories like mine. I hope this experience makes us a better and stronger people and society.

If you want to learn more about myself please click

Jeremy Rappoport, founder and President of Rappoport Development Consulting Services LLC, provided the landscape design and horticultural research for the client of a 1.5 acre estate in Beverly Hills, California that will be included in this years 54th annual Art + Architecture Tour sponsored by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). The tour will be Sunday, April 25, 2010 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The Beverly Hills estate is one of six for display in this year’s tour which highlights private collections of art at selected estates in the Los Angeles area. The owner contacted Mr. Rappoport in the fall of 2009 requesting an enhanced landscape to compliment the interior and exterior pieces of art and building architecture.

Through a team collaboration with the clients, Jeremy Rappoport researched and photo documented hundreds of plants and through several design meetings a plant palette was selected. Mr. Rappoport, a graduate of Ornamental Horticulture from California State Polytechnic University at Pomona, designs landscapes by studying the plants cultural requirements as a guide to install appropriate plants in the best environment for them to thrive, thus optimizing vigor, vitality and plant establishment while reducing maintenance problems and expense.

The finished renovation is a beautiful collection of new specimen quality trees, perennial flowering shrubs, bulbs and annual plants. In addition, wonderful color pots, bowls and urns are artfully arranged throughout the landscape, creating a comfortable, informal and inviting setting to stroll through or relax in the garden.

Mr. Rappoport provided complete construction management of the renovation project, including shopping and procurement of all the plant material from wholesale and specialty nurseries throughout Southern California. He also created and managed the construction schedule, provided field supervision of the various sub-contractors and vendors, reviewed and approved contractor invoices, and provided inspection services.

Mr. Rappoport continues as the horticultural consultant for the client, providing supervision and technical knowledge for the monthly gardening and maintenance.

More information about the Art + Architecture Tour is available by calling 323-857-6501

Here is a before shot of the front yard of the estate

Here is an picture after the renovation

Mr. Rappoport is a professional horticulturist, licensed C-27 California landscape contractor and certified arborist. He is a land development expert, having worked for prominent master development companies such as K. Hovnanian Homes, Continental and D.R. Horton Homes, Starwood Santa Fe Valley Partners LLC and the Baldwin Company. Known by his peers for his honesty, integrity and hard work ethic, Mr. Rappoport draws upon three decades of education and work experience to provide landscape, horticulture, arboriculture and land development expert witness consulting for the legal, insurance, and real estate industries. He also provides consulting services for residential and commercial clients throughout California.

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For more information about RDCS LLC, click this link
or call Jeremy Rappoport at 858-205-4748 to discuss your project today!