Fees & questions
The things people ask before they ring.
Money and timing, mostly — so they are at the top rather than buried at the bottom.
Fees
- How are your fees worked out?
- Per garden, never per square metre. What moves the number is size, complexity and how many of the five stages you want: a level rectangle that needs its borders rethinking is a very different piece of work from a sloping site where every level has to be resolved on a drawing. A written quote follows the consultation and comes before any design work starts.
- Why is there no price list on the site?
- Because a price list would be guesswork until the site has been seen. The consultation exists precisely so the brief, the size of the garden and the budget are all on the table before anyone quotes. That way the design gets shaped to a number you are comfortable with rather than presented as a surprise at the end.
- What will the build cost?
- That depends entirely on what gets designed, and anyone quoting a build figure before seeing the garden is guessing. What can be done early is an honest word about whether the brief and the budget are in the same conversation, and a design shaped accordingly — rather than a beautiful drawing you then cannot afford to build.
- Is the design fee worth it on a small garden?
- Often more so, because there is nowhere to hide a poor decision in a small space and every surface is on show. The design fee is a small fraction of a build, and the expensive mistakes — levels, drainage, a terrace in the wrong place — are the ones that only become obvious once they are in concrete.
Timescales
- How long does a design take?
- Weeks rather than days, and a good part of that is deliberately not drawing time. It is the gap while you live with the concept and work out which parts of it you actually like. Consultation, then survey, then concept and a second consultation, then the master plan and its supporting drawings — with a conversation between each.
- When should I get in touch if I want the garden built next year?
- Earlier than feels necessary. Good landscape contractors are booked months ahead, the design takes the weeks above, and autumn planting needs the drawings finished long before the planting weather arrives. Autumn and winter are the quietest time to design and the best time to be ready, which is exactly why they are the best time to start.
- Can I build it in phases?
- Yes, and plenty of people do. The trick is to design the whole garden first and then phase the build, so levels, drainage and services are correct from the outset. Phasing a finished master plan is sensible; building a garden in unplanned instalments is how you end up lifting a terrace you paid for last year.
Before you start
- Do I need a designer, or just a good landscaper?
- If the garden is broadly the right shape and it is the planting that has run out of ideas, a planting plan and a good contractor may be all you need — and you will be told so. Design earns its keep where there are levels to resolve, drainage to sort out, a layout that fights the house, a build of any real cost, or a garden that has simply never worked and nobody can say why.
- How do I brief a designer well?
- Talk about verbs rather than nouns. "We want to eat outside with eight people", "the dog needs somewhere to tear about", "I want to see something from the kitchen sink in February" are far more useful than "we want a modern garden". Photographs of gardens you dislike help as much as ones you love — and say the budget out loud, because it is the fastest route to a design that can actually be built.
- Do you do the building work as well?
- The build stage is project coordination with third-party contractors rather than a landscaping crew of my own, working alongside Trenton Landscapes and their twenty-plus years of installation experience. Keeping design and build separate means someone is always representing your side of the drawings. If you already have a contractor you trust, the master plan is drawn to be handed straight over.
- Will I need planning permission?
- Usually not for planting and paving, but it can come into play with outbuildings, raised decking, boundary heights, anything in a conservation area or affecting a listed building, and work near a protected tree — all of which are live considerations around Royal Tunbridge Wells. It is looked at early, so it surfaces at the beginning rather than after something has been built.
- Which areas do you cover?
- Royal Tunbridge Wells and the surrounding Kent villages make up most of the work, with commissions across Kent, into East Sussex and further afield — gardens in the portfolio have been in Tonbridge, Hadlow, Otford, Tatsfield and South London. If you are not sure whether you are in reach, the quickest thing is to ring and ask.
Question not here?
Ask it. Chris answers his own phone and email, monday to friday, 9am – 5.30pm.