Heritage Exteriors co-owner Karen Wallace said the company’s top three requested services include low maintenance landscapes, irrigation and adding color to the yard.

Heritage Exteriors meets those requests and more with a combined effort from Wallace and the other two business owners, Frank Montoya and his daughter Maria Montoya, along with an eight-person crew and carefully curated collection of subcontractors.

Heritage Exteriors was originally founded by Bob and Deb Messina in Frisco in 1999 and was purchased by Wallace 12 years ago.

Popular landscaping trends

Wallace said in the 13 years she has been in this industry, she has noticed more customers requesting contemporary landscaping elements versus traditional.


“They want clean lines. We like to do dwarf plants and a pop of color in urns,” Wallace said. “Urns used to be much bigger, bulkier and ornate. Now they're more streamlined.”

Heritage Exteriors offers a semi-annual urn service, which includes planting seasonal flowers and plants.

Wallace said they have a list of reliable horticulture products that show up repeatedly in their designs including patio tree hollies because “their roots are not invasive, they provide privacy quickly and they are easy to care for.”

Popular non-horticulture items implemented into Heritage Exteriors’ landscape designs feature boulders, Oklahoma chop stone, river rock, Apache stone and Texas black star crushed stone.


What else?

Heritage Exteriors works with various sub-contractors including a licensed irrigator, artificial turf contractor, paver installer and landscape lighting contractor.

“I have subcontractors I’ve worked with forever. They all have to be bonded and licensed because they fall under our insurance,” Wallace said. “All my contractors go out and meet my customers. I want them to know them, but my name is still on it so I’m very fussy about the contractors I use.”

Making an impact


Wallace meets with clients to discuss their landscaping ideas. Following the discussion, she creates a landscape plan using a computer aided design [CAD] program. Upon customer approval, Frank Montoya leads crews in the implementation of the design. Maria Montoya handles billing, payroll and takes the ‘after’ photos.

When Wallace initially meets with customers, she takes the ‘before’ pictures from certain angles. When the work is complete, Maria Montoya takes the after pictures from the same angle.

“I do a side-by-side [photo comparison] and that feeling is amazing. I like to show my dad and the rest of the family,” Maria Montoya said. “It's the feeling of completion and of making something beautiful.”