Thinking of landscaping your garden? Unsure of how to approach the design of your garden?
Did you know there are basically 3 different approaches you can take to your garden design? (This is one of the many things we have learnt from over 30 years of experience designing and constructing over 500 gardens for our clients.)
You may not realise it, but the way you approach your garden design will generally fall into one of these 3 categories. We hope that when you get to the end of this article you will have a better understanding of what these 3 different design approaches are and which one you may suit your needs best.
An introduction to the three design approaches
While in theory there are an endless number of different ways you could approach designing your garden, basically they boil down to 3 different overall approaches. The approach that you take says a lot about you and the mindset you bring to your garden project.
If you understand what these different approaches are, you will be better positioned to brief your designer correctly right from the start. This could save you a lot of angst in the design process and help ensure you end up with a garden that is better suited to your needs.
Many people understand these 3 different approaches intuitively but they might not be able to articulate them. So we will explain them clearly for you here so that when you brief your designer, they will better understand which overall approach you have in mind.
Knowing this will give the designer a clearer direction of what to include and, more importantly, what they should probably exclude in their design suggestions.
Let's take a look at all three...
The Aspirational Approach
This is the 'Don't hold back, I'm all in' approach.
Some people say to us, "I want the wow factor in my garden." Others may ask for the design to maximise the available potential of the garden in terms of quality of finishes or the sophistication of the materials used. They may even wish to stretch the limits of creativity by including additions beyond what most people would normally include. This approach is for the style-minded individual who appreciates and is willing to invest in, a garden that will be admired.
These are, as you can imagine, projects that need a substantial investment in both time and resources. If this is what you want, your designer needs to know this right from the start.
You can see an example of a project we have done for a client who took this 'Aspirational Approach'. If you look at the pool you will see it includes a 'beach' section as well as waterfalls, both expensive additions. The surrounding verandah that was added also includes a concrete floating BBQ bench. And the pavers she chose were more than twice the cost of typical pavers used in such projects.
But the client had requested a garden that was created to impress and that's exactly what we gave her. She loves it because we understood right from the start she was taking an 'aspirational approach' to her garden.
The Conservative Approach
If you're like most people, you want to create a new garden to enhance the existing space you have to better meet your current and future needs and wants.
Perhaps you want to add an outdoor kitchen, a pool or a large number of plants, or even all three. Maybe you want to restyle your garden to allow you to entertain your family and friends in a more beautiful and aesthetic space. Or possibly you are just 'sick' of your existing garden and want something better all round.
This more conservative approach tends to be one where you may wish to stretch yourself a little in terms of what is possible, but without feeling you're going overboard on what you ask for.
You will probably have some attention on the possible costs. You are unlikely to want to over-capitalise the project so you very much want to ensure costs don't get out of hand. You want your garden to be a luxury item that will elevate the lifestyle you live without breaking the bank.
An example of a client of ours who took this more conservative approach is shown below. Again it involved a pool. Now the client did invest in quality materials, as well as several aesthetic and functional design elements. However they did so without adding the extra luxuries that may have blown the budget.
The Economical Approach
This final approach is one we often see taken by people who have just bought or built a new house and may find their budget is a bit tight.
If you have just built a new home, you will have to landscape the entire property. However you may have already gone over budget on your home so you now have to create a garden but your funds don't stretch very far. Or it may be that you want to elevate your way of using the garden but don't wish to over-capitalise.
Whatever the reason, you want a new garden but your budget is top of mind.
Here's an example of a project we completed for a client who was in that exact situation. Again you can see we installed a pool but to keep costs down, we added a pavilion finish concrete surround instead of paving as this is around half the cost. We included structural elements such as sleeper walls, decking and gravel. However in this case we did not include any planting as the client felt they could do this over time as funds became available again.
This is just one example of how taking a more economical approach can save a considerable amount of money.
Why clarifying your approach first is so important
We hope you can see from the above examples that each different design approach will require different solutions. If your designer knows right from the start which of these 3 design approaches you are likely to be taking, they will be able to design a garden for you that better suits your needs.
For example, if you are someone wishing to take a more economical approach to your garden and we assume you are taking a more 'Aspirational Approach' that can lead to disappointment. It's a bit like taking a luxury car for a test drive and then finding out how much it costs. Your heart tends to sink. The same feeling applies if you are given a design for a garden that you fall in love with but when it's costed you find out it's not achievable for you. As one client put it, "It's like death from a thousand cuts" - you slowly look to change the design to cut back the costs and one cut after another leaves you feeling a little more despondent.
Ultimately, as designers, we can create anything your heart could possibly desire but we need to be realistic too.
What's the ideal approach?
If after reading this article, you're still not sure which of the 3 design approaches really does apply to you, we tend to suggest this approach. Dream first and compromise later. While this approach can cause you to feel one of those 'cuts' every time it's still a better approach than aiming too low first.
Can we be honest for a moment about budgets and expectations for landscaping projects? Based on our very long experience with previous clients, in about 80% of cases the design will be way more than you thought or hoped it would be. In fact, we used to ask our clients before starting their designs to tick a box indicating their anticipated budget ranging from differing choices - $50,000- $100,000; $100,000-$150,000; $150,000-$200,000; etc
Typically the budget the client had hoped for would end up doubling. Approximately half of our clients would still go ahead and landscape with us regardless of the increase because they really wanted to have the garden we designed for them. The other half would either give up on doing anything at all or because of feelings of embarrassment, they would seek out a cheaper quote to build the garden from someone else. If we ever had the chance to see the final result it would always be not the design we created for them but some drastically cut-down version.
Why is this important for you to know before you begin your garden design journey?
How to establish your budget
If you are at a complete loss on how to establish a budget for your landscaping project and how to better control it we've written another blog on this very subject.
You can read it here: How much will my new landscaped garden cost
When a landscape designer and client work well together, the ideal garden can be designed and created with an end result that everyone loves. The secret is having transparent communication on what is achievable right from the start and evolving the steps along the way.
But the whole journey can begin with recognising which of the 3 basic design approaches you will be taking. And understanding what each entails.
If you have more questions about the points raised in this article, please feel free to contact us by phone or email. We will be more than happy to answer your questions or if we can't, to refer you to someone who can.
