Paid landscape/garden design

[Deleted]

I think that there is something for interior design where you take photos of your space and send it to a designer and for a set price they send you back a design and furniture/decor suggestions. Is there something like this for exterior spaces? I'm not sure if I can afford someone to come out and do this in person, and we would be doing most of the work ourselves, I just kind of, don't know where to start. 

[dr.girlfriend]

Not exactly what you're looking for but I think the Better Homes and Gardens website has a planner where you enter your zone and it suggests templates and plants that work in your area? Otherwise, I think others have said local nurseries offer the service at a low cost or free if you buy the plants from them? Following since this is on our agenda for this year probably...

[doggielover]

Depending where you are the nurseries or landscape companies will do this for anywhere from $50-$100 and they usually give you the new layout with the plants they suggest. If you use them for the work they'll knock off their fee.

We did this probably 10 years ago and DH and I had every intention of doing the work ourselves but once we realized just how much labor was involved we ended up hiring the company that did the design to do the work.

[memenee]

Many nurseries do “We plan, you plant” services. They create the plan, you buy the shrubs from them and plant them yourself.

[mrspez07]

You could also ask some of the landscape design companies or Nextdoor. Most make their money on the construction, but there might be a designer or two just doing design work.

[treedimensional]

Feb 24, 2020 21:40:48 GMT -5 mrspez07 said:

You could also ask some of the landscape design companies or Nextdoor. Most make their money on the construction, but there might be a designer or two just doing design work.

If they make most of the money on construction, they're a landscape contractor. Most landscape contractors have no specialized design theory training.
A designer designs, either exclusively or as part of a design/build contract. 
www.apld.org/
The problem with sending pictures is they only capture part of the information a trainer designer collects during a site visit, and the problem with online designs is that they only collect partial info and then apply pre-determined, partial designs from a very limited plant palette. A designer collects soil info, slope info, sun exposure info, wind info, architectural info, budget and lifestyle info, etc. 

[mrspez07]

treedimensional
Why do you always discount every landscape post I Provide?

I’m a landscape architect, but not on the residential side.I would love for her to use a licensed landscape architect but she’s not looking for that cost, so I provided other suggestions.

Also, many design-build (Landscape contractors) have licensed landscape architects on staff, or LAs have created a company with this model. I know of many personally. Most of them charge for design but credit during construction So that they don’t just get used for the design up front.

There are also people trained in Landscape design thru various programs in universities or otherwise or are just plain good at it from being in the garden and having a knack for it, like those listed on the link you provided, or master gardeners. Some only do design and aren’t tied to contractors, and that would also be a good option as I mentioned.

Even with the professional designers, you are kidding yourself if you think they’re checking soil, other than a cursory look for sandy or clay.

[L]

Depending on the lawn size & what’s involved it might not be super expensive. We had our urban lot designed for $500. They were licensed and they owned the company/did do the actual work with assistants. The quote for the actual work was so high (due to concrete subs being really inflated due to market conditions) we passed on doing it. I also agree that a lot of nurseries offer services for reasonable prices.

[aspentosh]

gardengal - thoughts?

We had ^ her come out but she's local to us. Her price was very fair and she gave us great ideas for our patio and plants that would work. I wonder if she has any insight to online options.

[gardengal]

::shrugs:: I do soil tests for amendments as well as percolation tests if there’s been issues. I actually spend a lot of time on soil & site hydrology bc often that’s where my clients issues lie. I’m a landscape designer with an MA in sustainable landscape design.

Personally, I need to experience the space to do a design. I need to have a conversation with home owners. I agree that a strictly online service for landscape is different than interior.

You may want to see about garden coaches in your area. I do that as well. You could do a lot of research & then pay for an hour or 2 of a coaches time to go over whether your ideas are possible, any tweaks, etc.

I also agree landscape contractors are a possibility but just look at previous projects. Some are more contacting focus & designs are meh. Others really do focus on both aspects.

[treedimensional]

Mar 1, 2020 9:51:48 GMT -5 mrspez07 said:

treedimensional
Why do you always discount every landscape post I Provide?

I’m a landscape architect, but not on the residential side.I would love for her to use a licensed landscape architect but she’s not looking for that cost, so I provided other suggestions.

Also, many design-build (Landscape contractors) have licensed landscape architects on staff, or LAs have created a company with this model. I know of many personally. Most of them charge for design but credit during construction So that they don’t just get used for the design up front.

There are also people trained in Landscape design thru various programs in universities or otherwise or are just plain good at it from being in the garden and having a knack for it, like those listed on the link you provided, or master gardeners. Some only do design and aren’t tied to contractors, and that would also be a good option as I mentioned.

Even with the professional designers, you are kidding yourself if you think they’re checking soil, other than a cursory look for sandy or clay.

I apologize. I know you're a LA. It was not my intention to discount you, or slight you personally, in any way.

[dutchgirl678]

When we had our backyard done we had three landscaping contractors come out. The first one drew a very elaborate design for our space. I asked if we could have it but he said it would cost money (I don't remember if it was $250 or $400 or something like that). If we went with them, it would be included. The third company also drew a different plan and I just memorized it and drew it myself after the fact. But we went with that company to do the backyard since we couldn't do all that ourselves.

[Accountingcat]

Tilly-design.com! They have a couple packages and I think they are affordable.

(This was founded by a person local to me but I have no connection to them/the website)

Edit: fixed link

[Deleted]

Thank you everyone. I think that we're ultimately going to need someone to come out. We are actually looking at a much bigger project which will include leveling of our yard and grading around the foundation. We've never had a drop of water in our basement in the time that we've lived here and I'd like to keep it that way, so if we're going to be adding things around our foundation, I want to make sure that we've got everything all done correctly. Except now, I'm thinking we may need to wait until the fall. Now that it's March, you're lucky if you can even get a landscaping company to call you back let alone actually come out and do work. Shrug.