Are you planning to meet with a landscape designer soon? Do you know what to expect during your consultation with them? Do you know the most important questions to ask them to make sure you get the most out of your meeting? Do you have clear expectations in your mind of what you wish to achieve from your discussions?
Having had literally hundreds and hundreds of design consultations with prospective clients over the past 30 years, we are very experienced in how these consultations tend to run.
We'd like to share our experience with you in this article to help you get the most out of your consultation (whoever you might be having it with). Hopefully, it will be the beginning of a fruitful path that leads you to your ideal garden.
Whichever landscape designer or landscape architect you will be meeting with, there are a few simple steps you can take to ensure you are properly prepared for your initial consultation so that you will get the most out of it.
These steps include:
- Having a clear idea of what you want to achieve from the consultation
- Knowing what questions to ask your designer or architect
- Understanding the key aspects that need to be covered
- Recognising if the designer or architect is the right fit for you
- Knowing what information to provide before the consultation
- Choosing the right device for the consultation (if online)
- When to send relevant information to the designer
- How to approach the subject of budget
Taking a few moments to read this article is probably the best preparation you can do for your meeting because it will give you a clearer understanding of what to expect.
What do you want to achieve from the consultation?
Surprisingly, instead of telling you what to expect from your design consultation, we often have to begin by telling people what not to expect. Because so many people assume that a design consultation will involve the designer getting out a pencil and starting to design something for you on the spot. Some people even assume the designer might come to the consultation with some plans already sketched out because they just instantly know already what you want and they're going to explain to you in detail.
The truth is, before a landscape designer or architect can put pen to paper (or stylus to computer screen) they must first get to know you and what your goals, hopes, dreams and aspirations for your new garden might be. They can't design anything without a proper brief. And to do that they have to get to know you better.
Not surprisingly, the consultation is your chance to get to know the designer better too. We strongly recommend that you use the session to assess them for their skill set, experience and ultimately whether you feel that you gel with them. Do you feel comfortable working with them on your new garden?
Conversely, the designer will also be using the session to feel you out as well. They will be asking themselves "Are these people a good fit for what I do?" or perhaps "Could I see myself working with them on their new garden?".
The initial consultation is very much a discovery session for both sides to discover more about each other.
On a practical level, the initial consultation is also used to give you a bit more of an understanding of how the landscape designer or architect works, what the process is, possible time frames, probable cost ranges, etc.
Knowing what to ask
We always recommend you think about what questions you might want to ask during the consultation and write them down ahead of the session. This helps ensure you don't forget them and find yourself saying after the session "Oh I really should have asked them.....!"
We've had so many occasions during consultations where a couple look at each other and one says, "You had a question you wanted to ask..." and the response is, "Um... I forget now!"
Some questions to begin with might include things like:
- How does your design process work?
- How do we know we'll get the garden we want with you?
- Have you worked on a project like ours before?
- How long does the design process take?
- What should I budget for my landscaping?
Engaging a landscape designer for a new garden that could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars is a vitally important decision. One not to be taken lightly. You want to make sure you are choosing the right designer for you.
Any good landscape designer or architect should be comfortable with you asking them as many questions as you feel necessary to discover whether they are right for you. (We certainly are!)
You want to walk away from the session with clarity and feel good about the people who could be creating your new garden.
What are the Key Aspects
There are probably many questions that you will already feel like asking in your design consultation. Questions that might easily come to mind.
But surprisingly there are many other aspects to your potential relationship with a landscape designer or architect that you probably didn't even know you had to know.
Those 'unknown unknowns' - the ones you didn't know about!
In essence, your design consultation is a bit like an interview because you are assessing whether or not the person or company is right for you.
We've written a couple of articles that might be helpful to read before your consultation with your designer because they will most likely raise questions you didn't even know you needed to ask.
The first is called What to ask a landscape designer before engaging them. It covers some very key points that, if not resolved at the start of the process, could lead to very big issues later on.
The other is called Which landscape designer will you choose? This is a much deeper interrogation of the designer or architect than you probably had in mind with your initial questions. But it could provide some very insightful answers which hopefully lead you to a very clear decision. Either "Yes, they feel right for us!" or "No, I don't think they are the right people for us!"
Either way, you really want this resolved clearly for you by the end of the initial consultation.
We hope that you will walk away from your initial consultation feeling confident about your decision.
Is your project a right fit for the designer?
As well as establishing, from your viewpoint, whether you think the landscape designer or architect you are meeting with is right for you, the other viewpoint is equally true.
The designer or architect also needs to discover if your project is suitable for them.
Although usually, you are the one who made the initial contact and are providing the designer with an opportunity to work with you, if the designer is being honest they should admit that not every project offered to them is something they necessarily want to take on.
There can be a thousand reasons for this ranging from the size and scope of the project, the location of it, the unique and/or peculiar demands of the project (or the client), the challenges involved in it and even the personalities involved.
Ultimately, just like you might feel that a certain landscape designer or architect doesn't 'feel' right for you, they too might think you don't 'feel' right for them.
One of the methods that some designers use to try and eliminate wasting your time with them is to ask you to complete a short, pre-consultation survey. This can help them to better understand you and your project in advance of the consultation to see whether or not you might be a good fit for them (and if they might be a good fit for you.)
Some of the questions you will be asked are:
- What is your budget range?
- Are you after design-only or an end-to-end service from design to build?
- When is your ideal start time to landscape?
- Tell us about any concerns or challenges you feel you have?
- How would you describe your ideal garden? I.e. Are you after a basic rejuvenation of the garden or creating an aspirational sanctuary?
- What difference would your ideal garden make to your lifestyle?
- Are you interested in a garden to be used for social gatherings?
The answers you provide to the questions will help guide us to set up a better consultation session with you. The questions might also provide some insights for you on what issues are important to designers before they start working with clients.
If we end up not being suitable for you, then we can use your answers to our questions to perhaps guide you towards someone who might be better suited for you.
What to send prior to your design consultation
There are some very practical things that your landscape designer or architect will need to see before the consultation. So it's vital you send them to the designer in advance.
If you are building a new home, you will need to email your house plans. This is critical for the landscape designer to get an overview of your home, how it will sit on the block and where key elements of the house are, such as front door, rear door, garage, master bedroom, kitchen, living room etc.
If the consultation is online, you will need to send your designer photographs of the existing areas of your garden you are planning to redesign. As they will be used in the consultation, they are absolutely vital.
If you have any other additional information you want to refer to in the design consultation, it's also a great idea to send that in advance by email too. (Or Dropbox link, etc if the files are big). You might want to share images of the pool you have in mind, other garden designs you've seen that you like, quirky or unusual features of your block or home we need to allow for when designing, etc.
Even inspirational mood boards, particular plants you love, a style of deck you like or outdoor kitchen etc.
Don't try to overwhelm your designer with too much information but if in doubt, send it anyway. We can tell you whether it's relevant or not.
Below is an example of a photo you might send us of your new home's existing site conditions.
Which device to use for an online consultation
Some people think that the best way to conduct an online consultation is to do it on their mobile phone. This can often be because they want to show the designer a live Facetime view of the garden.
While this might seem like a good idea, in reality, most designers would much prefer you to send them static photos of the site, well in advance of the consultation, so the designer can spend some time reviewing them and getting familiar with them before the consultation. If you think a video would be better than still images that's okay but it's best to film one in advance and send it to the designer before the meeting. Then the designer can share it with you in the consultation.
The other reason NOT to do a Facetime live on your phone is because your phone is the worst possible device to do a consultation on. A mobile phone screen is simply too small for us to see anything properly and if the designer wishes to share any visual elements with you during the consultation, you won't be able to see them clearly on your phone.
We strongly recommend that if you are having an online consultation with us that you use a tablet or iPad at minimum BUT we prefer if you actually have a full-screen desktop or large laptop computer.
Below is an image of trying to have a consultation on an iPhone.
When to send house plans, images, etc
One of the most frustrating aspects of a consultation for a landscape designer or architect is if the potential client sends their plans and images through just 30 minutes prior to the consultation.
The reason for sending them is for the designer to review and analyse so they have a very clear idea of your existing garden scenario before the consultation begins. They can then formulate the relevant questions they will need to ask you in the discussion.
Sending your images and plans at least 24 hours in advance of your consultation will help you get the most from your consultation as your designer will be well prepared for the session.
If you do send them just before the session you might find your designer postpones your consultation to another day. (We certainly will!)
A final word on budget
Ultimately, the decision of whether or not your designer will proceed with you as a potential client may come down to the budget you have in mind. Even if the designer thinks you would be great to work with and they like the ideas you have in mind for your garden, if you simply don't have anywhere near enough budget available to achieve them, they might decline your project.
It's not necessarily a comfortable conversation to have but it does need to be brought to the table at some stage and generally, it's better to have it raised earlier than later. We've had clients come to us with dreams of recreating the Botanic Gardens but only have the budget for an average suburban garden.
If you're unsure of what things cost when it comes to landscape design and would like some guidance to help you formulate a potential budget range, we recommend you read this article. How much will my new landscaped garden cost?
We hope you've found this guide to preparing for a design consultation helpful and we hope that it means you will get the most out of your session, with whichever designer you have chosen.
If you are booking your consultation with us, we look forward to meeting you and discussing your hopes and dreams for your new garden with you.
Please remember to send through all relevant plans, photos, videos and other reference material well in advance of our session.
See you soon!
