Kindred Resort — Keystone, Colorado
The Project
Kindred Resort in Keystone, Colorado is a premier mountain destination sitting at over 9,000 feet elevation. When the development team needed custom planters for the property, spread across terraces, pool areas, and common spaces throughout the resort, they needed more than an off-the-shelf solution. At altitude, with dramatic temperature swings, high UV exposure, and a remote mountain location, the planters had to be engineered to perform.
Tikal was brought in to provide a value-engineered solution that could compete with the largest names in the industry, and deliver more.
The Challenge: Performing at 9,000+ Feet
High-altitude environments are unforgiving on landscaping. At Keystone, planters are exposed to rapid freeze-thaw cycles, intense UV radiation, and temperature swings that can stress or kill root systems if the vessels aren't properly insulated. The resort also required integrated sub-irrigation in every planter — a practical necessity when maintaining plantings across a large mountain property with limited on-site labor.
The project scope was substantial: 74 fiberglass planters of various sizes, some exceeding six feet in length, to be placed across multiple areas of the resort. Bids came in from all the major competitors. Tikal won on value, and then went further on engineering.
The Solution: Factory-Engineered, Ready to Install
Rather than shipping planters and leaving the site crew to figure out insulation and irrigation on-site, Tikal engineered everything at the factory level.
XPS insulation panels were adhered directly to the interior walls of every planter before shipment. Doing this in a controlled factory environment eliminated messy on-site adhesive work, minimized material scrap, and arrived ready to plant, saving meaningful labor at a remote jobsite where every hour counts.
Custom sub-irrigation reservoirs were sized individually for each planter and shipped inside them. The built-in reservoir system delivers water directly to the root zone, reducing surface evaporation and watering frequency, a critical advantage at altitude where conditions dry out plantings quickly and maintenance access isn't always immediate.
Drainage pot feet — small 1/8" risers — were factory-installed on every planter to ensure proper drainage and airflow beneath each vessel.
The result: planters that arrived at the jobsite complete, coordinated, and ready for installation, with every performance detail already handled.
The Delivery: On Time, to a Mountain Village
Coordinating a full truck load delivery to a resort jobsite in a small mountain village isn't the same as a standard commercial drop. Tikal managed the logistics directly, coordinating timing and delivery to the site without issue. Seventy-four planters, some over six feet in length, arrived on schedule.
The Outcome
Kindred Resort has since opened to guests, and the feedback has been nothing but positive. The planters perform exactly as engineered across the property's varied outdoor spaces.
What This Project Demonstrates
- Engineering at the factory level saves money in the field. Pre-installed insulation and irrigation means less on-site labor, less waste, and faster installation, especially valuable on remote or difficult jobsites.
- Sub-irrigation built in-house. Tikal manufactures custom reservoir systems in-house, sized to each individual planter. These aren't cheap thermoformed plastic, but FRP composite sub irrigation.
- Competitive on value, ahead on engineering. Tikal competed against the largest names in the industry and won not by cutting corners, but by delivering more for the budget.
- We handle the logistics. Seventy-four large custom planters, coordinated and delivered on time to a mountain resort. That's what a real manufacturing partner does.
Specifying planters for a challenging environment or complex installation? Contact us We'll engineer the right solution and turn around a quote in 48 hours.