Costs for garden design and planting plan

[OrangeChocolateOrange]

I've been given a quote for garden design drawings and a planting plan, and I think it sounds quite high, but then I know it's easy to underestimate the work that goes into these things. I might get some other quotes to compare, but it's a bit awkward because the garden designer is a friend of mine, also she really gets the aesthetic I want to go for etc, so ideally I want to use her. I'm in the South East, not far from London (everything is more expensive here!).

If any of you have had quotes for this kind of work were they anything like the numbers below?

Garden design plan £ 1950.00 + vat £390 = £2,340
Planting plan £1200.00 +vat £240 = £1,440
Total: £3,780

Planting plan, as in, recommending what plants to put where in your garden?
Seems a bit of a crazy thing to pay for IMO. The great thing about gardens is you plant stuff, it basically guaranteed grows, you grow something else if you don't like it :D

Yeah, a planting plan is deciding what plants go where. I have zero gardening knowledge and my own attempts at putting plants in the garden mean I've put the wrong stuff in the wrong places (too big, not right conditions etc). My garden is a sad mess - I don't have the skills or knowledge to do it myself, nor the time to learn.

This quote is for the first stages of one of those full-on garden transformations like you see on TV! A person designs it, then someone else comes along and digs it, landscapes it, puts the well-chosen plants in etc.

Frankly, as a gardener who's was about to have to set up a decent planting plan, from a vaguely thought out 'design', it's worth the money.

There are lots of facebook groups where keen gardeners will help you with this. If you just pay someone else to do it unless you then carry on paying for a very regular gardener it won't look like what you expect it to after a couple of years.

You can expect to pay £25 per hour for a qualified garden designer as a bare minimum in the SE, this could go up to £50 or more an hour depending on experience. Also how big is the garden, and what landscaping are you having done? Buildings, paving, decking etc?

If you are having hard landscaping in a large garden then the first number seems OK to me.
The planting plan does seem high - it will likely be repeats of groups of plants in 3s, 5s or 7s across the planted up areas and unless you want something really exotic / unusual most gardeners will know a large range of plants or will quickly refer to a book like 'right plant right place' to draw this up....
You have to bear in mind she is probably paying for software to draw it all up and this takes time to use, as well as research on materials and plants.
She'll have to have professional indemnity insurance as well as she is giving you professional advice.
But, hard to say without knowing the size of the garden tbh and also if you have a challenging context e.g. loads of shade all day, acid soil, a dog that likes to dig things up, small children that might eat plants etc.

It depends on the size and complexity of the garden to be honest. Also someone cheaper may not fully understand what you want and you may end up with something less suitable or less to your taste.

Thanks for the replies. My garden is long but thin, so around 100 feet in length. I'm not sure of the width, but it's not wide, just wide enough for our house (only one room and a narrow hallway).

It's quite shady as next door have a huge tree (that they refuse to cut down even though it belongs in a forest).

Re garden maintenance, I've asked the gardener to leave me clear plans of what jobs to do, and I'd probably get her back 2-4 times a year to do stuff (and show me where I'm going wrong).

I like the idea of doing some garden maintenance myself, but do need to be realistic about my lack of time and garden knowledge.

UPDATE - I just got another rough quote by email that is waaaaaaaaay more than my original quote, making the first quote look like a bargain!

Here's the new quote:
Our studio fee is £800 per day plus VAT and the estimate of 3-5 days is the cost of providing a design masterplan and presentation only. It does not include the survey, specification, project monitoring, or planting plan. Our studio fee for a project of this size would usually be around £25k exc VAT.

That is about the right budget for the level of work and size of garden you are describing I'm afraid....

Hi,
If you are happy for the designing including planting scheme done by the designer liaising with you remotely but for a very reasonable fee, I can recommend someone I've used.
Due to a tight to non-existent budget I used her after doing my own research. Rachel works with you with photos of your garden with you providing measurements instead of on site visits.

We then chatted for a lengthy spell a couple of times to find out what I want to achieve and use the garden for etc. The caveats are that she will design everything including hard landscaping but we and the contractors are responsible to ensure measurements etc work and tweak if necessary. Which was not a problem for me as I am detail oriented and our builder was also reliable and skilled.

We were also given the planting scheme and more importantly written care instructions for each plant which are invaluable as I am a novice gardener with not a lot of spare time.

Fees vary but to put in context our garden is 7m x 12m approx and the fee was under £1k an year ago.

Hope this helps.

See if you can get a post onto All Horts Jobs on Facebook - there are plenty of gardeners in the SE who do design on there, they are qualified and experienced, and won't take the piss with their costs. £800 a day (+ VAT!) for a domestic garden is ridiculous.

It sounds fine to me and I can't stress enough the importance of a good planting plan. It's a make-or-break thing.I've been in the business for 30 years, but not as a garden designer, so I carry no brief for them as a race. If your friend gets the aesthetic you're looking for, that sounds an ideal quote.

@OrangeChocolateOrange would you be able to PM the details of your friend please? I’d be interested in getting a quote too. Thank you 😊

I’ve had a similar quote of £1.8k plus VAT for the initial plans showing the new layout and then additional £950 plus VAT for each planting plan on A1 size. I really liked her portfolio, but she had the cheek of sending me an invoice for the 30 minutes she spent showing me her portfolio!! I didn't mind paying her for the time we spent in my garden, but definitely not for the sales pitch she did whilst drinking my tea and biscuits 😂

Then another quote of £75 plus VAT per hour, estimated at £2k plus VAT, but zero idea of how much the hardscaping would cost.

Then another quote of £5k plus VAT for an initial design, plus £200 plus VAT per hour and £100 plus VAT per hour for travel to and from site. So that was a definite no as the costs seemed to have potential to spiral.

This needs to be my priority as we head into spring!!

We paid £2,500 + VAT for a 45” garden in London, hard landscaping and planting plan. We estimate we’ll spend £50k on the build so as a proportion of costs it seemed okay.

Thanks for all the helpful thoughts and replies. I've decided to go with the quote, this thread helped me make my decision, and also getting a second quote for a stupid amount of £££ helped me feel my first quote was reasonable.

As @Bideshi says, this designer gets my aesthetic, and I've seen her garden and know that her planting works and has longevity.

@PearTreePie why don't you DM me the area you live in and I'll let you know if she'd work in your area? I'm in a town outside London and I'm not sure how far she'd travel (she usually works in my area).

We made the same mistake you are making OP. We paid £2k to a London company for a “garden plan”. Ended up not liking it. Found a local gardener, she gave us some ideas and planted the whole garden. Much cheaper and she did a better design job!

How did that work? Did you pay an hourly rate and she gradually did it over time? Or a one-off fee to design and plant?

Just messaged you @OrangeChocolateOrange . Thanks

@Spaghetti201 oh how annoying! I'm confident that we'll like the plan that our gardener produces - she's been to our garden a couple of times already, and spent a long time talking to us about what we want, and suggesting things. The price includes an extra iteration, so if we don't like her initial plans we can go back to her and she will change them. Also I've seen her own private garden as she's local to me and it's lovely. From everything she's said she 100% gets the mood and space and style we want to create in our garden. It sounds like you got very lucky with your cheap but excellent gardening woman, sadly there's nobody like that on my radar in my area.

Hi, sorry, I realise this is an old thread but if still possible, I'd be interested in details @Slightlybemusedstill if you don't mind sharing? I'm just starting to looking into whether getting a garden design plan is feasible for us and it's a bit of a black art understanding costs. Would really appreciate it if you could let me know, thanks 😊

Sure! Have messaged you directly. 😊

Hi @Slightlybemusedstill could I also have the details of the remote designer?

Hi, I have just been reading this chain and wanted to pop my website as this is exactly what I offer. Conceptual garden drawings. I'm over here if you're interested www.EmilyWainwright.com

Thanks
Emily

I realise this is an old thread. A long time since I’ve been here, but garden consultation, border designs etc is something I do. On FB roses garden & consultancy services.
thanks