The design service
Six stages, and you own the output of every one.
This is how a garden design actually runs — from the first walk round your garden to handing a priced, drawn, specified scheme to a contractor. Take all six stages, or stop wherever it makes sense for you.
01
Initial consultation
Everything begins with a visit. We walk the garden as it is and talk properly: what you want from the space, who uses it and when, the styles and plants you're drawn to, the things you'd rather never see again. I look at aspect, levels, soil, drainage, boundaries and the views in and out, and flag anything that might need planning consent or a specialist opinion early, rather than three months in. You come away with a clear sense of what the garden could become; I come away with a brief.
02
Design proposal & fees
After the consultation I put everything in writing. The proposal sets out the design brief as I've understood it, the scope of work, a realistic timeline, my design fees stage by stage, and any third-party costs you should budget for — a measured topographical survey, for example, or arboricultural advice on a protected tree. Nothing is ambiguous and nothing is assumed. You know exactly what you're buying and when each fee falls due before you commit to anything.
03
Outline design
The outline design is where the garden takes shape. You get scaled layout drawings showing the new arrangement — terraces, lawn, paths, levels, seating, screening, the flow from the house outwards — together with 3D perspectives that bring it to life from the angles you'll actually see it from. This is the stage to react, argue, move things and change your mind; it's far cheaper to redraw a terrace than to relay one. We iterate until the layout is genuinely right.
04
Construction drawings
Once the layout is agreed I produce the technical package: detailed construction drawings and a written specification document covering setting-out, levels, materials, finishes, edge details, drainage and build-ups. It's the document a landscape contractor needs to price the job properly and build it correctly. Good construction drawings are the single best protection against the two things that wreck garden projects — vague quotes that balloon on site, and details being invented by whoever happens to be holding the trowel.
05
Planting plans
Planting is where a garden stops being a layout and starts being a place. I design the planting for each new area — structure and evergreen bones first, then the seasonal layers over the top — choosing plants that will genuinely thrive in your soil, aspect and exposure rather than sulk for two years and die. I source quotes for plants and trees so you can see what you're paying for, and once the hard landscaping is finished I'm there to set out and oversee the planting so it goes in as drawn.
06
Tender process
If you'd like, I'll manage the tender. That means issuing the drawings and specification to suitable landscape contractors, chasing and collating their quotes, and then sitting down with you to review them line by line — because the cheapest number on the page is rarely the cheapest garden. I'll explain where prices differ and why, what's been excluded, and what a sensible contingency looks like, so you choose a contractor with your eyes open.
What does it cost?
There is no price list, because there is no standard garden. Design fees are quoted per project and confirmed in writing after the initial consultation, once I know the size and complexity of the site, how many stages you want and what the build is likely to involve. The proposal also flags any third-party costs — a measured survey, for instance — so the number you see is the number you plan around.
The one thing worth saying plainly: the design fee is a small fraction of what the build will cost, and getting the design wrong is expensive in concrete.
Not sure which stages you need?
Tell Jen what you've got and what you'd like to be doing out there. She'll say honestly how much design the job actually warrants — sometimes that's the full package, sometimes it's a planting plan and a good contractor. Rated 5.0 on Google.