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March 8th, 2024
3 min read
By Andrew Whyte
To the untrained eye, a design could look fabulous.
Have you ever gotten to the end of something and thought, "If I had my time again, what I would do differently is..."? Hindsight has a sour taste.
This article will outline those things you might only become aware of 'after' having completed your design. If you have the knowledge beforehand, you can make informed decisions.
When talking to a prospective landscape designer or landscape architect, always ask about their experience.
When you ask this, you have the chance to inspect a design and see it has the following details:
This is where you need to ask the designer, "How do you design with building codes in mind?" When you ask this, a positive answer like, "We have decades of designing complex projects, let me show you an example of one to explain this." should be expected. If you get a, "Well er, I leave that up to your chosen landscaper", it best you consider how complex your project is and what you need your designer to know.
If you create a design because the designer is 'cheap' and then think, "Oh well, the landscaper can help me with that" please understand, that the landscaper who now has to wear the designer hat may want to re-design it and spend time with you changing it all to what they like to build. Do you want to start revising the design, without access to the CAD file to change anything in the design, and have to add notes on Word docs of what all the changes are? It's messy.
Avoid having to go backwards by engaging the right designer from the start.
There are further articles on our website that answer this in full but, if you engage a designer who does not understand the true cost to build it you are heading for upset. The screenshot of a part of the design shown above was provided to the client with the landscape architect stating a list of costs that showed it would be $100,000. When we cost the project it was just over $200,000. Most designers avoid even talking to you about costs and those that do, get it wrong. So ask the designer how they can confidently know the design will meet the budget.
Hopefully, this article has helped but there are many other articles I suggest you read on our website that will widen your understanding of the answers to this question.
What is a 'Concept Design' in Landscaping?
When is the right time to engage a landscape designer?
What should I ask a landscape designer before I engage them?
Founder of Whyte Gardens
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