Published on 24 August 2026 by Neal Baker
This is probably the question we get asked most, usually on the phone before anything else has been discussed. People know they want the garden doing, they are just not sure how to go about it.
There are three ways to do it and they all work, they just suit different jobs. Here is an honest run through of each one, including where our route is not the right one.
1. Go straight to a contractor and get a written quote
The simplest route. You get a landscaper round, you talk through what you want, they send you a price.
For the right job this is absolutely fine, and I would not tell anyone to spend money on a design they do not need. If you want a fence replacing, a patio relaying, or one specific thing sorting out, then a decent contractor with a clear brief will do a good job and you have saved yourself a design fee.
The problem comes when the job is bigger than that. What you are getting with a quote is a price against a conversation. Nothing is dimensioned, nothing is drawn, and the levels have usually not been worked out. Key details like drainage, retaining, step heights and where the water actually goes are often not settled at all, they get decided on site as the job goes along.
Two things tend to happen from there. The first is that you get three quotes back and they are all different numbers for what you assumed was the same job, when really each contractor has priced something slightly different in their head. The second is that decisions get made during the build, quickly, by whoever is stood there at the time. Sometimes that is fine. Sometimes you end up with a step in an awkward place or a patio that falls the wrong way.
If you do go this route, and for a lot of jobs it is the right one, get everything written down properly before anyone starts. Materials named, the actual product and not just "porcelain". Areas and quantities. What the levels are doing. How the drainage works. What is included and what is not, waste removal especially. And a clear price with plus VAT stated. If a contractor will not put that in writing, that tells you something in itself.
2. Use a standalone garden designer
Going to a designer is a great way to end up with a fantastic garden, and I mean that. A good designer does this all day, they will see things in your space you would never have thought of, and the finished garden will almost certainly be better for it.
The only real disconnect is that most designers do not build. So when it comes to keeping track of what things are actually going to cost, it can be harder. Some very good designers are excellent on this and will give you a realistic steer as they go, but ultimately they are specialists in design and not in build, and they are two different jobs.
Where it tends to bite is at the end. The design comes back, you love it, it goes out to a few contractors, and the prices come back higher than anyone expected. Now you are taking things out of a design that is already finished, which is the expensive way round to do it, and quite often the bits that come out were the bits holding the whole thing together.
The other one is during the build. If the ground throws up something unexpected, and it does, the designer is not there. You are relying on a contractor to interpret a drawing somebody else did, and if it does not work out, the two of them will each tell you it was the other one.
None of that is a reason not to use a standalone designer. Plenty of people do and get a brilliant result. Just go in knowing you are managing two relationships, and a gap in the middle of them.
3. Use a design and build company
This is what we do, so read this section accordingly, though I will try to be straight about the trade off as well.
The main thing you get is one contract from start to finish. One company, one point of contact, from the first phone call through to the last plant going in.
In terms of cost, and this is the big one, because we build what we design we know what things actually cost to construct. So at concept stage, part way through the design, we give you concept costings, a realistic view of what the design in front of you would cost to build. If it is coming in over what you want to spend then we deal with it there, while the design can still change, rather than at the end once the drawings are finished. Designing to a budget is never a guarantee, nobody can honestly promise a figure before a garden has been surveyed and designed, though having the build knowledge in the room from day one makes a big difference to how close you get.
The other one is during the build itself. Unexpected ground conditions come up on a lot of projects, old foundations, a drain nobody knew was there, made up ground where you did not want it. When the people who designed the garden are on hand while the lads are building it, that gets resolved the same day. Nobody is waiting a week for a designer to come back on an email, and nobody is guessing at what was intended.
The trade off is that you are putting the whole project with one company, so it matters more who you pick. Check the reviews, check they are properly accredited, and ask to see gardens they have actually finished rather than just visuals. And the design should still be a standalone piece of work that belongs to you, with no obligation to build with them afterwards. If a company will not design your garden unless you commit to the build as well, I would be wary of that.
So which one do you go for
Roughly how I would put it:
- A single job, a fence, a patio, one area sorting out. Go to a good contractor and make sure the specification is properly written down.
- A whole garden, you want something special, and you are happy to manage the design and the build as two separate relationships. A standalone designer will serve you very well.
- A whole garden where you want one point of contact and you want the cost kept under control as the design develops. Design and build is worth a look.
There is no wrong answer here, there is just a wrong fit. What actually goes wrong on landscaping projects is not usually which of the three routes somebody picked, it is the work starting before it had been properly thought through.
If you want to talk any of it over, the consultation call is free and there is no obligation at the end of it, and I am happy to tell you if I think one of the other two routes suits your project better.