Garden design - would it increase value of house?

[SecondaryBurnzzz]

Hi there,
We live in a beautiful 1910 house (which we bought in Decemeber) and it has a blank odd garden. The house was enough to tempt us, and the price was in our budget, but I am wondering whether doing up the garden would improve our chance of selling when we come to move in about 10 yrs time (DD leaving home, we downsize). It would cost about £10k I think, and it would really improve my quality of life whilst we live here, but is it one of those costs that increases the value of a property?
What do you think?

It’s well worth it, if only for your own quality of life.

Re your actual question, yes a good well-tended garden will make it easier to sell, but may not add to the value if the buyers have very different tastes.

Enjoy your new place :-)

Yes TidyHouse we'll keep the design classic rather than 'out there' and the plants should be nicely established by the time we sell.
In our last place, I spent so much money over the years on plants that died or were too big for where I planted them, I hope that this way everything should live and be right for the job.

Anything that means a buyer won't have to spend money can add value to the house

When you design a garden give it a hard structure. So seating area, paths, structure for shade, zones for relaxing and eating for example. Think about how the garden can be an extra room.

If you get a great permanent structure (paving/gravel, steps, edged paths, lighting, seats) which flows within the space and gives you the required zones, then anyone in the future can plant it. You can use Structural plants too. Don’t have huge beds to weed. Go for some shrubs with planting of perennials and bulbs around them.

Look at garden magazines and buy a few books for ideas. A good garden structure is a massive selling point. Who doesn’t love a great garden?

Thanks Bubbles - I would be getting a designer and landscapers to do the work, so a professional job. It would cost c£12k, so I guess the question is does everyone love a garden that much! I could do a reasonable job myself I guess but it wouldn’t look as good.

It’s only a matter of concern if you were selling in 10 months not ten years!

12k won’t stretch to any grand designs but you should be able to tart it up a little for that.

In terms of seeing a monetary return, it depends on how bad it is at the moment. It’ll definitely make it a lot more sellable.

The designer assures me she will endeavour to make it half decent for that JoJoSM2 - maybe even working in a hanging basket or two.

It’s a very oddly shaped London garden with not much sun and just a lawn, so I think it’ll be worth the money, but £12k is quite a lot of money to us, so thinking of it as an investment would make the decision easier.

The hard landscaping will be an investment. It is like a skeleton. You build your planting around it. So get that right and it’s pleasing for you and anyone in the future. Think of it as an extension! If your house is London prices and in a good road I don’t think you have anything to lose. Don’t go for fussy planting. Keep it simple. Even “green” looks great!

Please avoid hanging baskets. (Was that a joke?) They drink water! You want soil specific plants that work in your space. You don’t even need a lot!

Well, we recently sold a house for 15 % more (about 115k) than we bought it for (4 years earlier) and the only significant thing we'd done was have the garden designed/landscaped!

It cost a bloody fortune though (big garden)! But it was lovely. My top tip is don't put in too many perennials unless you have lots of time for gardening. Won't make that mistake again...

My garden designers tip was don't spend more than 15% of the value of the property as you won't see any benefit/price increase from a bigger spend.

Exactly so Bubbles. I made lots of mistakes in my last garden, but it was bigger and I was a lot younger and more vigorous then, so very happy to move large shrubs around and spend my weekends with a spade and wheelbarrow. Now however, I am more inclined to get someone else to do the heavy lifting, and I will appreciate their work from a thoughtfully placed chair.
A smaller, shady garden is less forgiving and easy to get wrong I think so I think paying for a professional would be appropriate. My DH on the other hand, will need some convincing!

How lovely ButIDontWantto I'd love a massive garden (and a big budget).

That's a good figure to know Pashazade, I will quote it during my pitch!

We spent £13K on our small London garden, will post before and after pics, I'd be keen to know if people think we've added value! Mind you our house was a wreck inside and out so it's part of the bigger picture.

We've included hard landscaping such as a dining/bar area, the pergola has a removable shade sail for summer, and a cobbled path to the rear gate. Also the "studio".

Here's before and after. Hopefully not too outing!

can't see the pics @goldpendant :(

looking forward to seeing them though!

Oh trying again! Before....

And after!

That’s amazing gold it’s almost like you created another room!

I think bearing in mind that lots of people only see the places they are buying in 15 minute bursts, yours will seem like it offers a lot. My taste would be to put in loads of plants but yours looks neutral and like it has a lot of 'lifestyle' potential for a buyer.

That was the plan, it's not huge so having the studio at the end of the garden means it actually gets used! DH and I can often be found there with a glass of wine and a good book! In summer it was lovely, it all connects really well.

So I'd say yes, do it, it's very much been worth the investment to us!

There are more plants now, mostly in big moveable pots and mostly evergreens.

I doubt it will add as much as you spend, but it will make it more desirable. And if it increases your quality of life, then surely it's worth it? I added a pool which has been fantastic for us, but in full knowledge that it will turn as many people off as entice when we come to sell, and i dont think I'll get anything like what i spent on it back, but it was worth it for us and we've got alot of great memories.

It certainly can add more than you spend. I think if you have a lovely house in an expensive area, but not having the garden done is a fault and won’t necessarily be overlooked by buyers.

I think if a garden is done (as well as the rest of the house), you are more likely to get the full asking price (whatever that may be).
In my experience of buying we have gone under the asking price if houses don’t have a great garden, but happy to go up to the full asking price for houses that have a well thought out garden space.
Also for me I love a garden and would put either time or money into making it nice.

I agree keep it classic and don’t plough money into anything likely to look dated ‘in 10 years time’. I’ve seen some landscapes gardens recently which have put me off a house as I would need to dig up a lot of expensive whatever so it doesn’t make financial sense. Eg gardens with too much decking/hard landscaping. Sterile overbuilt etc. We’ve all got different tastes !
Actually you should do what pleases you as you’re not planning to sell for 10 years !