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  Mike Bradley May 20, 2010 at 10:15am

  As a north east based designer I have established contacts with many landscapers over a number of years throughout the area; although probably only two of them do most of my work - based on my recommendation to the customer. The client selects the contractor based on price, meeting them, location and seeing their portfolio. This enables me to work on behalf of the customer for construction monitoring, project management, arbitration, advice etc. without me being 'in bed' with a particular landscaper. The customer obviously also has the benefit of getting competitive prices for the same work. There are clear defining lines with this but obviously where a custmer wants a 'complete package' by one organisation it can be a disadvantage - you have to explain the advantages of construction monitoring/project management by an independent person. This system works well for me.
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  Kirsty Blair May 20, 2010 at 10:41pm

  I think there's pros and cons for both ways - I've got an inhouse team - inc me, bit partial to the wall building etc. I like being able to give the whole package and nothing but..
  
  I'm probably a bit of a control freak which is why its inhouse, I have looked to outsource some jobs but at the moment taking on more people to cope with the demand.
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  Kieran Ray May 24, 2010 at 10:38pm

  Thanks for the replys Kirsty and Michael, I posed the question mainly to see if people did sub contract landscapers etc, as I love building realy well designed gardens but I am not much of a designer. Too most of my work is fetures in gardens say doing a patio or a sleeper wall.
  
  I am also looking for designers retitivly local to me that I can build for. Mainly the Beds Bucks Herts area.
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  Kirsty Blair May 24, 2010 at 10:53pm

  I think the hardest thing is finding a good contractor that you can rely on, I'm sure most designers would welcome someone contacting them for work, I know I would.
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  Kieran Ray May 24, 2010 at 10:59pm

  Its a shame your soo far away! But I dont think I could travel to fife to undertake much work.
  
  Kirsty Blair said:

  I think the hardest thing is finding a good contractor that you can rely on, I'm sure most designers would welcome someone contacting them for work, I know I would.
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  Kirsty Blair May 24, 2010 at 11:08pm

  my thinking too! hey ho
  
  Kieran Ray said:

  Its a shame your soo far away! But I dont think I could travel to fife to undertake much work.
  
  Kirsty Blair said:

  I think the hardest thing is finding a good contractor that you can rely on, I'm sure most designers would welcome someone contacting them for work, I know I would.
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  Keith Barker May 24, 2010 at 11:37pm

  We give our clients the choice - either we will manage the whole process of design and build; or we provide the design and give the client tender documentation and a shortlist of suitable landscapers. We don't offer to manage the tendering process - we leave that up to the client.
  
  We find that the vast majority of our clients go for us undertaking the design and build. I think they prefer to have one company responsible for the whole process, as opposed to having to go through a tendering process and having to deal with two companies, us and the landscaper.
  
  In an ideal world, with ideal market conditions, we'd like to get to the point where we are doing much more design and much less build. Unfortunately I don't think we're going to see ideal market conditions for a few years yet.
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  Sarah Russell May 26, 2010 at 7:58pm

  I outsource my contracts to landscapers I know and trust, and tend to oversee the work to make sure it is going to plan. I then generally do the planting myself, and any 'finishing touches' to the work. It is really important to have a good working relationship with the person carrying out the work for you, it is like letting someone look after your child!