The size of your property will determine how long the design process will take and, therefore, how much you will be charged by the designers. Established designers charge between $7,500 and $16,000 for larger spaces. As a fee, designers can charge you a percentage of your overall landscaping budget. For small and medium garden projects, they typically charge 15% to 20% of the client’s budget. Landscape designers sometimes charge flat rates for projects based on the estimated hours the project will take. Remember that a project-based rate limits the number of design revisions and excludes time spent with landscapers.
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A well-executed landscape design increases the enjoyment of a home and the actual square footage of precious usable space. With careful planning and expert installation, outdoor living areas may be a good investment. A well-designed outdoor space can attract people to the site and improve the property’s value. If you want to give clients an exact fee, use your hourly rate and design costs to create a flat rate. Shilan says he normally factors six to eight hours of design time into the rate.
Factors in Calculating Landscape Design Cost
Check out these hardscaping and design ideas for your yard. This can seem daunting at first, but it’s really just a matter of thinking about how you want to use your space, then figuring out how to add beauty and utility to your design.
How Can You Achieve the Perfect Front Yard Landscaping?
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When you’ve placed your bubbles in the best spots, make a clean, new final drawing. Each of these bubbles represents one project or phase of your landscape plan. Besides seeing the names of each plant, the plant key also tells you the number and size of each plant. This is critical information that is needed for ordering the plants, but can also help you imagine how the landscape will look when it is newly installed. For example, if the plans call for mostly 1 gallon plants, then the new landscape will initially look less grown in than if the plans called for mostly 5 gallon plants. Of course, this difference in plant size also corresponds to the overall cost of the landscape since larger plants cost more money. It’s important to consider plant sizes that balance your needs and budget.
That symbol corresponds with an identical symbol on the plant key. You can match the codes for the plants on the site layout with the codes on the plant key to find out what each plant is called. Landscaping is a profitable business with high profitability in custom landscapes, hardscaping, maintenance contracts, and specialized services. Knowing the difference between the Eastern and Western design styles is important in making the best landscape design for you. The landscape design style and aesthetics should complement the home’s architecture and reflect the homeowner’s taste.
After 20 years as a newspaper reporter, Deb melded her lifelong passion for gardening with her writing and photography experience when she became the garden editor for Midwest Living magazine. Since starting her freelance career in 2008, she has been a highly sought-after writer, editor, and creative project manager for a wide range of magazines, books, and online garden articles. Where she brings personal experience as well as deep connections to specialists in the world of horticulture. By understanding these factors, you can make informed decisions about the types of plants, materials, and features that will thrive and be most suitable for your property. For example, consider terracing for erosion control measures if you have a steep slope.
Draw what’s already there – gardens, paths, buildings, plants. And I guess I’ll briefly show you my little “design” for this garden here even though its not really a design so much as laying out the three sisters. The corn and the beans go where the “C”s are, the squash goes all in between them. And I draw in the water source so I know these food plants here are going to be able to get water very easily.
Figure Out Your Hourly Rate
However, “revision” can be a broad term – meaning anything from rounding corners on a patio to completely redoing the design — so be sure to specify what you will and won’t do. In a multiple-designer office, everyone should bill the same way, Cohan says.
