Garden design is a bespoke service industry where the product we create is unique by default.
No two gardens are the same, therefore no two designs are the same and thus no two sets of garden designer costs are the same, too.
You can think of pricing a garden in the same way you would price a new kitchen. There are many different potential components manufacturers and suppliers, but only one kitchen that is unique to you.
There are many factors that can affect how much a design will cost, some of these are:
The bigger the garden, the longer it takes to draw.
However, a smaller garden will usually cost more per square metre than a larger garden. This is because there will be a larger number of big-ticket items in a smaller space.
The more bespoke features added to a garden, patios, pergolas, pools, and planting, the more construction and layout drawings are needed – adding to the price.
The style of your garden can have an effect on the overall garden designer cost.
For example a modern style of garden with stepping stone plinths in across a pool will need bespoke design drawings.
On the other hand, a garden with larger borders and less paving will not require so much design detailing but will need comprehensive planting plans. Each of which has their own cost implication.
The nature of your site will also play a part in the design costs.
Steeper sites will require steps and retaining walls, sloping sites will require drainage, and therefore need additional drawings.
Adding outdoor lighting means creating lighting and electrical diagrams which, in turn, has an effect on the overall cost.
Garden designers usually have three ways that they charge for your services:
Let us explain how each of these services work before explaining our own method of charging.
This is possibly the most popular charging method. It uses a simple sliding scale to charge a percentage of your budget as the design fee.
However the fee scale used is now out of date, with the last update to this scale created in 2004.
Also the overall cost of materials has dramatically increased recently which means a designer using this scale will receive a proportionally higher fee value for the work they’ve completed, which we think is unfair.
A fixed cost system will charge a specific value for a garden size.
This is probably the fairest method of charging for a garden designer cost, as it presents an accurate picture of the work done to create your design.
Here at Jon Norman Garden Design we like to use project management software to schedule and keep track of your garden designer cost and the subsequent build.
We use this to give you an estimate of the total cost of the design along with an actual value for the work completed.
The final aspect that affects the cost of the design are the services you use.
Just as every garden is different the use of our services is bespoke too.
For example, we would always recommend creating a planting plan in every design. But if we created a hard landscaping design for a keen gardener we might dispense creating a planting plan for that project.
We create your perfect garden design and connect you with expert landscapers.
Includes full master-planning, planting plans, construction drawings, and project oversight.
Breathe new life into existing gardens with our expert border design service.
We’ll create stunning planting plans that provide year-round interest and perfectly complement your space.
A garden design specification is a set of information about the types of materials used in your garden and how these materials are constructed. It also sets out the expected timescales of the project, and the best practices for health and safety and ensures a good standard of work on site.
To help you visualise your garden you can download a mobile app that will display your design as a 3D Model. You can rotate this model and see what your garden will look like from every angle.
The app also has an Alternate Reality (AR) mode. This allows you to project your new design onto your existing garden space. Your phone will show you what your new garden will look like as you walk around your space.
A garden 3D view is an image created with our CAD software.
It allows you to see how your garden will look when complete.
We will arrange to meet you at your site to discuss your ideas for your garden and your budget.
This is an informal meeting where we ask you to guide us around your garden and share your ideas and aspirations for the space.
We also ask a series of questions to ensure we create the perfect garden for you.
