Site visit, plan, then build
Owners who have never hired a designer worry about the unknowns: what design costs, what they get, and whether the price moves. Each step below has a reason, and each ends with something in writing.
01 · Week 1
Site visit
About an hour on your property with a designer. We look at slope, wet ground, sun, access and the trees worth keeping, and talk about budget openly.
Why: Most yard problems are water and grade, and you only see them standing there.
In writing: A short written summary: what you want, what the site asks for, and a budget band.
02 · Week 1 to 2
Design agreement
If you go ahead, you sign a design agreement with a fixed fee. It is a separate step, so you are never committed to the build before you have seen the plan.
Why: You should know what design costs before it starts.
In writing: The design agreement, with its fee and what it covers.
03 · Weeks 2 to 4 (example)
Concept
Two layouts that place the outdoor rooms: where you sit, cook, walk and look. Concept drawings are labelled as concepts.
Why: How the space is used decides where the budget goes.
In writing: Two concept plans and a materials board.
04 · Before any digging
The plan and build price
One measured plan with grades, drains, every material and every plant named. The build is priced from it, line by line, before a machine arrives.
Why: The plan is what the price is based on, so the price does not drift.
In writing: The plan set and an itemised build scope with one price.
05 · Your schedule
Build
One crew lead on site every day. The designer visits at each stage. Changes, yours or ours, are written and priced before work on them begins.
Why: The person who drew it checks it is built the way it was drawn.
In writing: Weekly photo updates and written change orders.
06 · The first year
Care
New planting is watched through its first summer, irrigation is tuned, and lighting is re-aimed after the first winter.
Why: A garden is finished when it has grown in, not when the crew leaves.
In writing: A season-by-season care sheet, and a care plan if you want one.
Want to see a finished plan?
On the site visit we bring a sample plan and a sample build scope, so you can see exactly what the design fee buys.