The Process
The Process
step 1
We will start by getting the brief together with yourselves, either in person or on a video call. The point of this is to explore all the things you’d like to achieve and to talk about practicalities of this. We would normally recommend that we meet for approximately two hours either way. At the same time we will ask you to complete a questionnaire regarding your requirements and invite you to collect any visuals you may have that may help illustrate your needs. This helps us to really get to bottom of everything you’d like from your new garden.
step 2
We will then survey the garden, this will include plotting a scale drawing of the site and marking out what plants are there and what state they’re currently in. At this visit we will also take soil samples, dig test holes, and carry out a full site analysis, also recording the surrounding property and environment that may impact the garden. This will give us a clear view of what we’re working with, avoid any costly oversights and allow us to have a scale drawing to begin the new scheme.
step 3
After the above sessions, we go away and create a full-scale drawing of the site, including key planting, and any other considerations for the design. We will send through a copy of this, the Site assessment and Brief document for you to read through. These combined with the initial ideas and mood boards form a firm foundation for the design process and this is where the fun starts!
step 4
The next stage will be to create the first draft, this typically takes four to six weeks, dependant on the complexity of the brief. You’ll now get to see the initial ideas for your new garden, and we can discuss any tweaks you’d like to make. You’ll receive a scale drawing of this draft, a breakdown of levels and hardscape/softscape drawings to help visualise the proposal. It will be sent through with some illustrations to aid this , either as further plans, axonometric drawings, and mood boards.
step 5
Following on from this, we expect to have another meeting, again either in person or via video call to discuss your thoughts and to get notes on how we need to redraft if necessary. This is your time to say exactly what your thoughts are, so that we can come up with the final draft and technical drawings. Its perfectly normal to have a few elements that need amending at this stage, so following on from a few amendments we create technical drawings that can be given to planting teams, contractors or structural engineers to look at.
step 6
Lastly, you will receive a final copy of the final draft, technical drawings of hardscape, planting plans and a schedule of works to use (in conjunction with the scale drawings) for contractors to quote against. This will be a full set of drawings that will allow you to appoint your own contractors to create the hard structures of the garden. We’ll be on hand to support you with the quotes if you’d like, and to help communicate with contractors to explain the specifications of your design.
step 7
At this stage you will have a full set of drawings that will allow you to get the garden built and created within your specifications set in the brief. Alternatively, if you’d like to take a bit of a back seat, we can talk about the possibility of full project management, where we can manage the build and budget and be responsible for the full delivery of the installation. After the hardscaping build, we’d like to come and plant up the garden to ensure your vision is materialised, however you will have a planting plan and spec list that will allow you to engage your own team to do this if you’d like to. We can be pretty flexible to allow the best way to get the dream garden to happen…