The Complete Garden Design Package
Initial Contact and Site Visit
Congratulations! If you have taken this step, it is the hardest one, and you have put in motion having the garden of your dreams.
This is the chance for you to tell Sara about your garden and your aspirations for it, and for Sara to ascertain how she can help you achieve them.
If it is deemed Sara is the right person for your requirements the initial site visit will be scheduled.
Meeting face to face, this is an opportunity for Sara to view the garden, during which she will ask lots of questions and use her years of client experience to uncover your lifestyle, how you will use the garden and how you will maintain it.
Client Brief and Design Fees Quote
The client brief will outline your requirements and scope of works, based on the discussions during the initial site visit, and the design fee quotation is based on this.
If needed, Sara will put a mood board together to help express the vision she has in mind for the project, with indicative style, features, materials and planting. This will help you decide if you want to appoint Sara to design your garden.
By reviewing and discussing the mood board, this should also help to prevent delays from redesigning further down the line by weeding out any instant dislikes early on in the design process.
With these documents everything is clearly defined, and her fees costed so there are no surprises later.
Survey and Site Assessment
Once Sara has been appointed, she will undertake a site visit to take measurements, level heights, take photos, soil pH readings and notes for reference.
For larger gardens Sara will arrange for a full topographical survey to be undertaken by a surveying company, quotes for which will be provided separately.
It is really important to understand how to work with different levels, from a topographical, practical and construction perspective and is is crucial to the success of any garden design.
Sara’s years of experience in the house building industry and technical expertise means you are significantly less likely to encounter any ‘nasty’ unexpected cost surprises later, from ill-considered levels and alike, which can become an unwittingly money pit and blow your contingency during the garden's construction.
Concept Design
This will outline the proposed design for the garden, showing the different areas and their purpose, whether entertaining, relaxing, growing vegetables, or planted areas etc.
This is all presented with a bird’s eye plan of the garden, a specially crafted 3D ‘fly through’ video of the proposed garden and accompanying photorealistic images.
The beauty of working with Sara is that means there is no need to try and imagine what the garden will look like from 2D hand drawn or printed coloured plans and sketches when she presents her concepts with a personal tour of how your beautiful garden will look.
Sara also provides mood boards and samples for possible materials that could be chosen for the final design after scouring suppliers for materials that will make the design perfect.
Masterplan
Once the concept plan has been refined and agreed, the masterplan is developed with all the detailing required for the landscapers to bring the garden to life.
Details include proposed materials, finished levels, lighting, garden structures, specimen trees, works of art etc and is accompanied with notes. From this drawing the full garden specification can be taken for the tender process.
This scale drawing is critical for the landscapers to understand the garden from a hard landscaping and construction point of view, and it is important for it to be accurate.
Sara's 20 year career producing detailed techinical drawings, means that every detail has been considered.
Planting Plans
After discussing the style of planting you want for your garden, Sara will collate a long list of over 100 possible plants that could work in the garden’s planting scheme. This will be whittled down one by one, until less than half remain, ensuring that each plant is truly worthy of its place in your garden, is cohesive to the overall scheme, provides good interest for a long period of time.
Every planting scheme will be unique to each garden.
Sara produces scale plans of each planting area, indicating each plant labeled with its name, shown at its mature plant size, accompanied with itemised list of all plants, quantities, and pot size, for plant sourcing.
Images of each plant will also be provided for reference, along with a season of interest chart, showing what will be in flower each month.
Tendering Process
A full specification document is produced detailing all materials, with quantities, areas, and take-offs along with any fixtures and fittings required, and material finishes.
This can then be issued to professionally accredited landscapers recommended by Sara, or other landscapers if you have someone in mind, along with the masterplan, site survey and any detail drawings required for them to produce their quotation from.
This full specification document is required for the landscaper to accurately quote for the works and build the design as it was intended, and not an interpretation of it.
Construction Phase
Sara will have given the landscapers a full set of drawings, showing finished levels, sections through level changes and construction drawings of structures or elements in the garden like pergolas or outdoor kitchens etc. Also provided will be lighting, power and irrigation plans if needed.
Now the landscapers have everything they will need to construct the garden this is when the garden will start to spring to life on site.
Although in the capable hands of the landscapers Sara will always find time for a visit during the build to see how it is progressing.
Additonal Services Available
These are outside the design scope of works and can be quoted for separately if required.
Project Monitoring During the Construction Phase
If you would prefer Sara can visit on a more structured basis, monitoring the works and making sure the project is being delivered as intended.
Plant Sourcing and Setting Out
Sara can source plants and trees from a vast network of nurseries, which is a very cost-effective way of planting your garden, and she is happy to check the delivery of the plants from the nursery and set them out ready for planting by yourselves or by her team.
Maintenance Plans
Sara can provide you with a monthly maintenance plan, on how to tend to your new garden and keep it looking as good into the future.