Business idea: Would you be interested in planting consultation services?

[Plantingconsultationservices]

I am not sure if allowed but I do know some MN have asked fellow MN for their views on business ideas - so I hope so 🤞

Not an ad and won’t be naming the business here or linking directly.

We have a garden design business already but the full package is not what everyone needs. I am thinking of starting a separate business which supplies plants only direct from really great British independent nurseries and offers planting design consultations to give guidance and help formulate the shopping list. Kind of like an expert and collaborative personal shopper service.

I am hoping this will help everyone. Some nurseries are struggling reaching customers, some clients have no idea where to start and have small budgets and prefer a diy approach.

Is this something you would be interested in and there is a market for?

If so please comment how much you would pay for such a service (bearing in mind the plants you access afterwards will be a considerable discount to garden centre prices).

POLL:
YABU - no one wants or needs this
YANBU - I like the idea and would or know someone who might engage such a service

Thank you 🙏

This is exactly what i need!

Oh really 🥳 that’s a good start 😅

What would you imagine you would want or would be most important when picking someone for this? Loose questions but any insight would be great.

I am thinking of 3 tiers;

1. 1 Hour of Expert Planting Advice
£100
Best for: Quick, focused advice to get clarity and direction.
In this power hour, we’ll explore your planting questions and give you confidence to move forward. Ideal for those who want:

• A visual diagnosis of soil type and site conditions
• Plant family and species suggestions based on your light, soil and space
• Inspiration on planting styles (e.g., naturalistic, cottage, low-maintenance)
• A discussion of potential layouts or combinations

No follow-up notes or documents are included — this is a pure idea-sparking session.

2. 2.5 Hour Planting Scheme Consultation
£250
Best for: Creating a planting plan for one or two beds, or refreshing existing borders.
We’ll walk through your garden together and co-create a planting scheme on the day. Perfect if you have an existing layout or are making small structural tweaks.
Includes:

• Measuring and mapping existing beds or minor layout adjustments
• Design of a custom planting scheme in person
• Style and mood exploration
• Plant palette designed for your garden’s conditions

Afterwards, you’ll receive:

• A digital Planting Scheme Calendar (seasonal interest & key features)
• An itemised Plant List with quantities and sizes
• 3 practical guides to empower your DIY implementation:
• Prep Guide – how to prepare your beds
• Setting Out & Planting Guide – placing and planting like a pro
• Establishment Guide – how to water your new planting

3. Full 5 Hour Planting & Layout Design Visit
£500
Best for: Larger or more complex areas, bed layout changes, or soft landscaping updates.
This immersive session is a creative deep dive. We’ll reimagine your planting and soft landscape layout together — whether that’s overhauling tired borders, reworking large beds, or introducing a cohesive new style.
On the day:

• Visual survey and soil/site diagnosis
• Designing your planting scheme and softscape layout on-site
• Style direction and plant palette creation

Afterwards, you’ll receive:

• A digital Planting Scheme Calendar
• An itemised Plant List with quantities and notes
• A simple Digital Layout Plan showing updated bed shapes or features
• The full suite of implementation resources:
• Prep Guide
• Setting Out & Planting Guide
• Establishment Guide
• Aftercare Guide - maintenance guide for your chosen plants

What do you think?

I'm not sure if I'd want level 1, I'm not sure how much extra value I'd get vs e.g. googling planting suggestions for a north facing border. Levels 2 and 3 seem good value though.

Also, a 5 hour visit seems quite long and might be better split over a couple of visits. Depends how much of that time will be you taking measurements etc vs chatting about the plans.

You’d be exactly what I’m looking for! Old cottage garden, very pretty but lots of weeds and overgrown beds. Clearing it and putting in a new patio/beds we’re fine and would like to do ourselves but totally clueless about what plants would do well and where. I’d opt for Tier 3

I would love this OP and would happily pay however I think your prices are too cheap. If the 2.5 is billed as f2f how much time are you taking doing the rest? I appreciate you’ll have some templates that you can ‘cut and paste’ to save time.

Also what’s the plan for on-going revenue?

Will you offer ‘we’ll plant it for you’ as well?

Yes, this is absolutely something I would have been interested in when starting out or starting a new project. When I was in London and had a small patio area I'd have loved to talk through with someone how to make the most of the space and have that back and forth with someone with genuine knowledge.

I would have been particularly interested if the service had highlighted that it could do specific projects not just general. I.e. what I wanted in London was someone to help me plant a kitchen garden with containers to make the most out of the small space and that side by side planting thing where the plants compliment eachother.

If this is something you would do highlight it in your advertising as I would have certainly paid middle tier probably higher tier for it.

I personally just ask my mum! But even if I didn't have her knowledge, I wouldn't pay those prices. I'd rather do my own research and spend the money on plants.

Agree with PP that could maybe charge more. Especially if you highlight the discount you will be getting on the plants.

Where are you based pls? We’re very much in need of someone to revamp the plants/beds in our garden

I'm a keen gardener, would love the first one with some notes though. The second one I'm not so sure, the cost of the planta you suggest could be almost anything so I'd be conscious that it's coming out of the plant budget. If I bought £300 worth of plants for example I'm pretty sure the garden would look better so there are a few factors to consider

Your prices don’t take into account size of garden. Might need a fair use type t&c, or friendly language around areas a consult would cover. Just so you don’t get stitched up here with a massive property.

I’m not sure this would be for me - I just want to pay someone to come monthly or fortnightly and deal with the garden so I don’t have to. Appreciate that I don’t enjoy gardening so maybe not the target market here.

Thanks @JaninaDuszejko

Yes I was thinking that. I don’t want people to be put off thinking they are stuck with me for 5 hours 😂

I would need to test the timing with some friends and family.

From experience doing our garden design it’s often c. 30 minutes just walking round chatting about the garden as an intro to site. And then our mid phase design review consultations can be anything from 1-2 hours.

So I imagine:
30 mins - hi and garden walk chat
1-2 hours - measuring alone (whilst I give them a brochure of plant styles and inspiration pictures to peruse if they wish)
1-2 hours - sit down and make a planting palette together

So that’s how I got to the 2.5 and 5 hours. Depends on the scale of the job and how fast the client is really.

Oh wow! In writing the above comment, getting a tea and dealing with babe so much feedback. Thank you 😊

I'm in landscaping myself and freelance for several companies. One is an exclusive planting design company. They might do bits of gravel or edging but that's the extent of building work. He's been working in this way for over a decade so theres obviously a demand.

A different company also has a planting plan service that they include in their design package or just on their own.

You could definitely charge more than this- Garden On A Roll are almost similar prices and all they provide is the plants and a planting template.

The profit is my time on these days and then we would put a small mark up on plants from the nursery which would add up.

We have 15 years experience and a method for building planting schemes which takes very little time as pulls content from our existing templates. So we can make these calendars in a matter of minutes and the aftercare guides (bar the maintenance one) will all be templates (where I can delete out specific interventions for soil type for example).

As we grow the maintenance notes will also start to build so when we repeat plants this will begin to become automated like the plant scheme calendars.

On going revenue - the idea is this business does not have the model. You can come back for more plants or a new area/ scheme but the idea with this is the aftercare is limited and so the price reflects that protection of our ongoing/ future time. It’s an in and out model in a way.

When people say charge more… how much are you imagining.

Hi I would not want this, I like to choose the plant based on health. Also are you going to guarantee plant will survive in area selected

I would love to help! But I apologise I said I wouldn’t tout for work so will stand true to my word 😅

Where would you look out of interest to find something like this? Google, Social Media, somewhere else? If it’s meant to be perhaps we will bump into each other off mumsnet.

That’s ok, thank you for your comments though 😊

No we would not guarantee plants as we don’t have any involvement in aftercare. We would inspect/ pick plants before they get to you so choose good ones. And you would be able to reject immediately on receipt. But you wouldn’t be able to plant it, not water it, let it die and then want a refund.

In some garden designs we do we sometimes put in hedge your bet -plants (not to be confused with hedging but I don’t know another word). So say for example there’s a very poor soil new build garden, lots of rubbish in soil and rubble, poor drainage so water logs, but also poor moisture retention due to lack of soil structure. In these gardens we sometimes put in a couple of pairs of opposing species. With clients full knowledge that there’s a high chance one of each of these pairs might not survive. But we can’t tell which way it will swing until we try.

I would be interested I think. We have a nightmare garden with a +50° yearly temperature range, very unpredictable rainfall and leylandii next door, so I need a sort of extreme chatgpt of what will survive after many failures!

Yes, I would pay for this.

I was wondering if you could offer something by Zoom, perhaps for smaller gardens / rectangles. Or a shorter F2F visit and then you go away and put together the planting palette. Whilst I am sure you are lovely … I would be reluctant to spend 5 hours with a stranger and I make horrible tea.

£500 seems very reasonable for small town garden / courtyard. I think I would pay up to £800 plus VAT. Obviously you should be charging a lot more for a quarter acre £000s.

Thank you, I have been researching others who do similar and some do online. I am reluctant about that though. To do this right I really do need to look/ touch the soil and I just get an instinct when I am there to what will grow by looking at the surroundings, weeds and existing plants.

I like the idea of the option for full design day to be done part at home if you want. I just really want to limit the back and forth and revisions with this budget option. Getting it right first time and protecting our time is what the model is based around. As opposed our existing garden design business which involves a much more in depth back and forth and somewhat perpetual duty of care 😂

I would definitely be interested.