Rough estimate to have garden totally redesigned and planted up

[wocka]

My back garden is roughly 12.5m long and 13.5m wide. Currently mostly grass.
I would like to have someone design and then carry out the work.
Ideally would like a large patio type area, pond large enough for fish and lots of planting. I would prefer not to have any lawn.

I have no idea how much something like this would cost. I know that one of the first things I will be asked is what is the budget - but I don't know what a realistic amount would be.

My garden has quite poor sandy soil and I live in East Anglia which has low rainfall. so a mediterranean type design would probably be best.

Any ideas?

[Floggingmolly]

Enter your details on Rated People. Hopefully lots of gardeners will respond with quotes.

[wocka]

Hi,

Thanks for that - I had never heard of rated people but just Googled it and it looks really good.

[ender]

My garden's just a bit smaller than yours and we paid around £10,000 for everything. I live in the SE. This included getting rid of the old garden, everything was removed, there was a lot of decking, paving and patio to get rid of and we needed loads of new topsoil.
The biggest cost was labour, it took 2 men nearly 3 weeks. The garden designer project managed everything.
You could spend a lot less, or more, depending on what you want and how complicated the design is. I think anything from £7,000 - 15,000 would be reasonable IMHO.

[DENMAN03]

Had mine done last year.. Designed and then landscaped including removing massive tree and asbestos garage. Spent just under £10k which included just under £2k on new plants. It looks amazing now and has made a massive difference. South east too and can give you great recommendation if you are in that area

[Billwoody]

Dawn Isaac who runs the mumsnet gardens/gardening for children courses is a garden designer based near Cambridge.

[bigwellylittlewelly]

I live in East Anglia too, have run the gauntlet somewhat about designers if you want to pm me I can pass on details? Most were looking at 10-12k to renovate our garden and a good £4-500 of that was on design.

Do you really need a design? I thought we did then I sat down and drew up what I wanted for the children, where I needed veg beds, what fruit trees we were keeping, what space DH wanted etc etc and we came up with our design. Then employed a gardening team (2 people costing £125 a day) to help put it into place.