When Should You Commission A Garden Designer?

Monday, 25 April 2016

It’s that wonderful time of year when the sun has started to shine, kids are out playing in the street, the evenings are stretching longer every day and flowers, leaves and blossom are unfurling everywhere. And with that, our phone and email are going like tickets for an Adele concert with enquiries from people wanting their garden done. So when is the right time to to commission a garden designer?…

One of our recent garden designs

Well, obviously we are delighted to hear from you all year round. The most difficult thing we have to deal with at this time of year (other than a massive workload and two energetic under-5s!) is managing clients’ expectations in terms of time-scales. Every year we know that as soon as the sun shines the phone will ring with people wanting their garden transformed before summer and sadly, we can rarely work to those time-scales. So here are a few tips on when is best to commission a garden designer and some info on our process…

Creating a magical garden takes time

The optimum time to get in touch with us is in Autumn. Take the summer to spend lots of time in your garden, take notes of what you like (and don’t like). Where are the sunny areas? What plants do you want to keep? What do you want to include in the garden and use it for? A good designer will be booked up several weeks (or at this time of year a few months!) ahead so figure that into your schedule. A well considered design will be created over 6-12 weeks ensuring we have covered every detail and ticked all of your boxes. By taking our time over the design process we will have an opportunity to build up an even better working relationship and make sure you are happy through every stage of the design and build.  Our in-house landscaping team are commonly booked up three months in advance too (they are pretty wonderful so you can understand why!) so if you allow six months before you want your garden build to commence then you should have plenty of wiggle room.

Perfecting your garden design takes time

As well as a “masterplan”, there are often other drawings which need to be pulled together including construction drawings, lighting layouts and planting plans. There are no “back of a fag packet” sketches to be seen around these parts!

At all stages of your design we will keep you posted on our landscaping schedule so you will have an idea of when the build is likely to take place. We will keep you posted on costs too so you can decide if you want to phase your garden build or do it all at once.

There may be third party elements to your garden build which we need to factor in as well. Items such as sculptures, water features, bespoke gates etc will all have lead times which need to be considered.

An amazing sculpture by Steve James going into one of our garden designs

In some gardens we may even have to get planning permission which can easily add another 8-12 weeks to your lead times.

So there is a lot to consider when you are thinking about when to commission a garden designer and we want to ensure that such an exciting journey meets your expectations every step of the way. We are incredibly lucky to have wonderful clients who are very patient and are happy to wait for our services. We would be delighted to help you too, just don’t ask us to come round tomorrow 😉

All at Vialii