How much will it cost to do my garden?

[babybouncer]

I live in a new build house with a north facing sloping (in two directions) garden which is a slightly odd shape but about 100m square. We barely use it, so I asked a garden designer to take a look at it and she came up with plans to turn it into three levels (lawn, patio and AstroTurf for under the climbing frame) with raised beds around it.

She thought we should budget £60-100 per square metre, but the first quote we've had has come in at £17, 000 which just seems ridiculous for such as small garden. I'd only just go my head around paying £8000ish.

Is my budget just too optimistic? Or am I getting quotes from the wrong people?

How long is a piece of string? . But I would faint at the idea of spending £17k on a garden that size. And frankly, I would expect something that would win a bleeding gold at Chelsea for that.

I think you could do it significantly more cheaply if you were prepared to do some of the easier work yourself, like sourcing plants and putting them in place. You could, for example, get a local builder to do the basic terracing and bed structure for you for you and to fill with topsoil for significantly less than your quote (I wouldn't expect to pay more than £3k for this unless it's really steep or there are other issues, or you live in a very exclusive area). You could then sow a lawn, and plant up yourself. Rather than putting in very expensive mature plants, why not start with smaller ones and watch them grow? You could then stock a garden for less than a grand quite easily.

Thank god it's not just me! We've already paid £700 for the design with all the different levels and everything on it, so a local builder is a great idea.