This was one of the first proper commissions I got when I left college. The client was brilliant, willing to experiment and wanted to go for something contemporary and low maintenance. There are 3 'rooms' - two stone terraces (one for breakfasting, the other for sun bathing) and a dining deck for entertaining. These are separated by a variety of plants (in raised rendered planters as well in the ground). Planting is structural - box balls, phormium, palms and the like. There is a limited colour palette of purple & red via foliage and flowers. We've also included lighting (inset into deck and along paths/steps), making it a garden that can be used all day & night.
It was a hugely enjoyable project to work on, I learned loads and on top of working with some great people, the experience was topped by getting chosen for one of the gardens in the Garden Design Journal Review of the Year 2008 - the only one in the whole of the country north of Sheffield!
Comments
Just one little query - how easy is it to get a lawn mower in and does the slate edging cause any issues with strimming / mowing the edges?
Don't forget to check out Ofer a member of LJN as he has some great prices for lawn edging.
I am amazed at the cost of the garden and how it was one of the first proper commissions you got...we are still (after 5 years) milling around between £5K and £15K mostly - and looking at that design we would probably have priced it between £10K and £15K...how have you managed to get such good quality and good value contracts so quickly and have you sustained that over the past 18 months? Was it just a good break or do you reckon your qualification puts you in a better position?
I have gotten to where I am now fairly naturally in that I started labouring at weekends when at school, and kept it on through college, rising to a small projects manager position and eventually being presented with an option to fully enter the film and tv industry OR the garden industry.
I have been reasonably successful to date but I often wonder whether I should, and conversely whether I need to, go ahead and take on a garden design degree course.
I trained in horticulture and landscaping at college quite a few years back and started building my own gardens, and the average budget was probably a lot lower at £3-10k. I was doing sketches for people during this time, but not really charging for them. When people started asking me for more formal copies of the drawings and telling me they'd be willing to pay for the design aspect I went back and trained as a designer. The luck part came in when I designed and built my own garden (which probably cost about a third of what it would have if I'd got someone else to build it for me) and built a website including it and other smaller projects I'd built previously. It was a contemporary rendered wall garden, and this client had seen it and just rang asking me if I could do something like that for her. She'd spent a fair bit doing up her house and I was just really fortunate that she was really design savvy and was willing to pay for a well designed and built garden. I’ve learned quite a lot since then and think I could have probably got it done for cheaper – but that cost did include the design, plants, landscaping, electrics, light, and water feature and they seemed pretty happy with it.
But of course all my projects don’t have such good budgets – they are usually £10-20k, but we do ones for a lot less (I got one designed and built for about £4k last summer). The thing is having ones like this in my portfolio has now been helping me get higher profile projects now too – got a few decent sized budget gardens on the go at the minute.
Where the hard work part comes in for me is that I studied as both a landscaper and a designer, so had quite a few years where I was earning very little, but I think that being trained in both has contributed to my fortunate situation. Clients really like the designs and well presented finished drawing, but are really assured about my ability because I understand the very precise technical details of what it takes to build the gardens too. I definitely think I am producing better designs as a result of my course, so if further training was something you were able to consider then I’d recommend it.
Lastly, I know a few designers over your way and they tell me too that the Glasgow and Edinburgh markets are very different from each other – not sure if that means budget or style wise, but I seem to have stumbled on a style of contemporary garden that is popular at the moment and is getting me a good amount of work. Might be worth with getting in touch with a few designers and see what they reckon.
Hope this helps. Tracy
Anyway good stuff and thanks for the response!
Also I wouldn't apologise for the price you charged, I think that the garden design and build market is massively undervalued up here and I believe that customers should expect expect to pay decent money for decent work - your project being a good demonstration.
Cheers for now! Nicky.
Glad to hear how busy you are, I know lots of folks who aren't. Tracy