As the saying goes, ‘first impressions are everything.’ When it comes to property renovations, this rings especially true for your outdoor spaces.
In this blog post, we’ll explore why early garden design and landscaping planning are essential for a successful renovation project.
We’ve just had a really productive and positive meeting in the showroom with a client who’s undertaking a full property and house renovation. It’s an important scenario to note if you’re considering a property project whether a new-build or full renovation, and landscaping is a large part of it.
I wanted to share this story to emphasise how crucial it is to get your landscape design and landscaping plans arranged and sorted as soon as possible.
The client left our studio and showroom, like all the clients we work with, with a clear picture of a revised 2D concept design and associated mood-board, knowing exactly what the future plans are for all their outside spaces, including their driveway. This means that the main building contractor and architect now have a clear understanding of the project’s scope, and the planning, schedule, and budget can be thought about from now on.
This can also be very helpful at the planning permission stage of a house project too. We can move straight on to working on the finer details of the landscape design, whilst the house renovation is underway – these design detail plans will then be completed with plenty of time for our landscaping team to produce their final costs and reserved time in their schedule.
Landscaping is more than often best timed with the second fix of the house, typically due to logistics and parking – you want to avoid too many teams and tradesmen onsite at one time.
At the second fix stage, it’s usually just the plumber, electrician, and kitchen fitters remaining onsite, for example. The landscapers then have a good amount of space for skips, deliveries, etc – making the best use of their time and are able to work efficiently.
We often get asked “When should we start looking at a garden design and landscaping”, and the answer is – there’s no time too soon! It’s super important to get this aspect of your renovation project sorted as early as possible.
Many people also often mix in the landscaping costs of a project with a design fee and service, but this is very much the same as an architect and builder services split. Design is first and foremost regarding garden design too, the design process is then used for the final planning and budgeting of your project. You can find a further breakdown of how our design process can progress into landscaping here.
Once a design has been completed that works for you, the landscaping can of- course be phased. Most clients phase external works in some way shape or form. The size of areas we deal with externally are often 10x (or more) of the square meterage of a house, therefore a much larger space to consider when planning and budgeting.
We know how it is when you’ve carried out a full renovation project, sometimes you just need some breathing space and to live in your new house for a while before you have another round of tradesmen to communicate with – we get it and we’re here to guide you through the process.
The key is to tackle and complete a landscape design first for a smooth, hassle and stress-free process – the exact same as you should have received working with your architect.
Don’t miss the boat and leave it too late with a mess of a driveway and mud pit of a garden once the builders are finished – streamline and plan ahead by booking in your landscape designer, schedule the design and landscaping and ring fence a budget for the landscaping from the start of your project to avoid an underwhelming and disappointing finishing touch to your dream house project.
Are you ready to transform your outdoor spaces? Contact us today to start planning your garden design and landscaping project!
