F.A.Qs.

 

1 WHICH IS THE BEST FOR MY PROJECT.

    GARDEN DESIGNER. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT. EXTERIOR DESIGNER ?.

 

With me you have all three in one.

 

GARDEN DESIGNERS. normally only design small to medium size gardens, and most just do design and planting schemes and makeovers for the average garden.

Being part of a recognised association does not guarantee the designer.

 

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS do larger gardens Woodland, etc and planning.

 

Designing greenfield sites, extensions, and group or country planting, and draw up specification and tender documents.

 

They are much more technically skilled and adept at coping with water, the environment, planning issues, and dispersements(GROUND LEVEL USAGE) and where to use it to save money.

Also are able to solve NOISE AND VISUAL PROBLEMS. together with large scale projects.

 

EXTERIOR DESIGNERS.

Exterior designers are the opposite of interior designer and normally work closely with them, they can change room make ups on plans. 

 

Also draught out changes , so that the layouts, move into the landscape and the house and rooms are more effective especially the link areas (TRANSITION FROM HOUSE ROOMS TO GARDEN).

 

 

2 WHAT KIND OF GARDENS DO YOU DESIGN ?.

 

I design all different types. CONTEMPORARY, MODERN, TRADITIONAL, ENGLISH COUNTRY, ORIENTAL, MEDITERRANEAN. depending on three main critirea.

 

A THE  HOUSE  AND LANDSCAPE

B THE CLIENTS INNER SELF AND MAKEUP.

C THE COSTS BOTH TECHNICALLY AND THE TIME SPAN NEEDED TO CREATE THE DREAM.

 

 

 

3 HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO DESIGN MY GARDEN ?.

 

On average a small to medium design (not complicated) around 8 to 10 days this includes

MASTERPLANS. AXONEMETRICS. 3D ELEVATIONS, PLANTING PLANS AND PLANT SCHEDULES.

 

4 WHEN THE DESIGN IS COMPLETED WHAT HAPPENS TO START THE WORK ?

 

Big question most go to a contractor without specification and tender documents. 

 

But if you do not have these your leaving yourself wide open to escalating costs, working off plan, and the contractor can demand more money if the budget does not fit the design.

 

Fact you cant build a designed garden in six weeks only a token one. trust me ive been there.

So i give all my clients a specification and tender document for building the garden.

 

Which is a legal document, and you complete it over 2 to 3 years with you as the project manager and jobing tradesman doing the work.

This could save thousands.

You could have a £60.000 garden for £25.000.

 

 

 

5 HOW MUCH DOES A GARDEN DESIGN COST?

 

This varies from designer to designer , some charge on an hourly basis (avge)£40 to £60 per hour this has to take in costs of JOURNEY TIME .TIME SPENT WITH CLIENT. ETC.

Very much like any professional be it Lawyer, Achitect, Accountant.

 

Most charge for a PROJECT SURVEY FEE. this is around £200.00 for a small garden

generally plus travel, and upwards.

Larger schemes needing a site survey of 1 to 2 days on site could cost £3.000 or dearer.

 

Most designers work on DRAWING BOARD TIME.

The time it would take to compete the drawings on a clients project this would include from the simple to the most difficult and demanding drawings.

 

Other designers base there fees  on a percentage of the budget.

BUDGET £20.000 FEE 15%

BUDGET £60.000 FEE 12%

BUDGET £80.000 FEE 10%

 

I work on DRAWING BOARD TIME.

An avge,.small garden design package would cost around £1500.00 to £2000.00 including planting plans and planting schedules

which are normally extra.

 

 

 

6 HOW MUCH SHOULD I BUDGET FOR MY GARDEN?.

 

How long is a piece of string! to give you an idea 90% of people have no real value

of their property. I use this analogy to bring this home.

 

I have designed a few riverside houses in Henley on Thames. going price.£5 to £6 million. I say to them if a tornado demolished your house tomorrow, it would only cost the insurance company £900.000 to rebuild your home, leaving over £5.million on the land value.

 

So if you have a kids football pitch for ten years, as a garden,  its a pretty expensive

football pitch, and you are not maximising your full potential of your investment.

 

Extending the outdoor living areas, would put another £1.5 million on the property.

With structured planting and hard landscaping it would appreciate not become stagnent. 

This is the same for a smaller property, but scaled down.

 

So a detached 4 bedroomed house in Driffied would cost say £300.000. to rebuild about £130.000. so land cost worth £170.000 in this case 130% more than the house is worth.

So by maximising the garden areas, you have a relaxing outdoor environment, to come home to and its putting £50.000 on your house price value at sale.

 

 

 

7 WHICH AREAS DO YOU COVER ?.

 

YORKSHIRE. CHESHIRE. AND THE NORTH.EAST AND WEST MIDLANDS. SHROPSHIRE. OXFORDSHIRE.  AND ALL THE UK.on specialist or difficult sites especially in the SOUTH EAST where costs are important.

 

 

 

8 WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO DESIGN A GARDEN ?. 

 

Anytime is the answer, but usually at least 6 months in advance of starting work.

 

And for GREENFIELD SITES and new house builds as soon as you have the sale of the land.

I always say before this because a land survey on your purchase ,can save you a multitude of worries that the land has no pitfalls before you buy.

 

As from 2017 all 96 planning authorities in the uk. have employed a environmental officer, whos remit is to examine every outline planning application passed in for planning consent.

You must submit landscaping details, with your outline plans.

So its good sense for you and the landscape architect because you should be thinking new build budgets.

 

The golden rule being 2 THIRDS HOUSE TO 1 THIRD EXTERIOR. thats the balance

if not you will be in trouble with your project and overspend.

 

 

 

9 DO YOU DEAL WITH PLANNING APPLICATIONS ?

 

Yes I do, I have outlined that in the last question or you could go to my services page.

I also have the skills and experience to get even the most difficult or no go sites passed in example A.N.O.B. AREAS. NATIONAL PARKS .NEIGHBOUR DISPUTES OR BOUNDARY PROBLEMS.

 

 

 

10 DO YOU BUILD THE GARDEN ?.

 

No I used to have a team of 18 doing design and build.

Now i use all my experience for people to be their own project managers with my help. 

With detailed specifications and tender documentation and all the resources of planting and hard landscaping passed on at discount.