Cost of landscape gardener?

[CaipirinhasAllRound]

We have a 100ft garden that has is split into thirds and has way too much concrete and grotty slabs.
I would love to have someone tell us what to do with it but have no idea how much it would cost to get someone to come up with some designs and maybe do it for us.
Any idea? we live in Berks

Thanks

Design is cheap; it's hard landscaping - both materials and labour - that cost. Try phoning a few local garden designers (contact the Institute of Garden Designers for a list) and asking if you could pay them for a couple of hours of their time to pick their brains for ideas. I'm sure many would be happy to do that for £50 or so. I certainly would (I'm a garden designer). Or many will do free consultations, but they will understandably be cagey about making actual suggestions unless you pay for a design.

As for the cost of a fully designed, built and planted garden, the old cliche is think of it as a kitchen; there is a vast difference in cost and quality between something off the shelf from a DIY store, and hand built units in solid wood. As I say, most of the cost is in labour and materials so it depends how much patio/walls/steps you need building and whether you want natural stone or concrete slabs etc etc.

Obviously I'm biased, as this is what I do for a living, but I do recommend you speak to some local designers and get some quotes. Design costs are typically only about 5% of the total cost of a garden and make a vast amount of difference to the finished result. Ask about qualifications, and to see photos of previous jobs. Or you could contact your local garden design college to see if a student might consider doing a freebie to get some experience. If you don't like their design you don't have to go ahead with it!

Sorry I meant to add, as an illustration, I've just done a 100ft London garden with a lot of major hard landscaping involving mini diggers and grab machines, and the cost was £20k for the design and build, excluding planting plan and plants - this would add another few thousand potentially.

Thanks Rhubarb