Landscape design plans

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TRC
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Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:38 pm

Landscape design plans

Post by TRC »

I need a frond yard makeover - namely the plantings in front of our house. Last year I contacted a reputable person here in Massachusetts and she wanted to charge me $5,000 to design plans. $5,000! All I'm looking for is a plan to tell me what to plant and where. A blueprint if you will.

Does anyone know of a cost effective option for getting this done? Maybe even something that's virtual where I upload pictures and they are able to do a before & after with what the plantings will look like?
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JoeRetire
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Re: Landscape design plans

Post by JoeRetire »

Bring your pictures to a good local nursery.
This isn't just my wallet. It's an organizer, a memory and an old friend.
PaunchyPirate
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Re: Landscape design plans

Post by PaunchyPirate »

Are you also looking to have someone supply and put in the plants according to the design? When I wanted this done in my area, I hired a landscaping company and they first drew up the plan and shared it with me along with the proposed cost to put it in. I suggested a few changes. They redrew the plan and sent me the revised cost. I approved it. They did the work. I wrote the $10,000 check.

Doing the plan first was a part of getting my business. But maybe it's not that way in all areas of the country.

If you're looking for a drawing plan that you will then do yourself or take to someone else to put in, then I would expect to pay for that. But probably not $5000.
graspau
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Re: Landscape design plans

Post by graspau »

Strange. Around here, a boutique landscape company with great reputation will do a design for you (pool, patio, gardens, water features, whatever) for $250, and if you use them the $250 gets credited to the project. Other landscape companies are similar. One bills $100 an hour for the time spent walking the property with you, collecting measurements. The design time is free back at their shop, and the time spent on site with you is credited to the project if you select them. In both cases, if you don't use them, you can keep the design they present.
Normchad
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Re: Landscape design plans

Post by Normchad »

JoeRetire wrote: Sat Apr 03, 2021 7:30 am Bring your pictures to a good local nursery.
I’ve done this twice. Our local nurseries will spend 30 minutes designing something (for free) based on your preferences and pictures. In both cases, the design was really nice. I never could have come up with something so good.

After that, you are free to buy the stuff and install it yourself, or have the nursery do all of the work.
regularguy455
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Re: Landscape design plans

Post by regularguy455 »

Around here, $5k would get you a design, plants and the install. A design only typically costs a few hundred bucks.
delamer
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Re: Landscape design plans

Post by delamer »

Are you sure that the $5,000 wasn’t an estimate of total project cost?

We just had plans drawn up for a total backyard design — hardscape and softscape — for $600.
One thing that humbles me deeply is to see that human genius has its limits while human stupidity does not. - Alexandre Dumas, fils
sk2101
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Re: Landscape design plans

Post by sk2101 »

Some nurseries will do the design for you. I have used one near me, they came over to take the pictures and later sent photoshop drawings and a complete list of what to buy. They charged a few hundred $, which is credited if you buy the plants from them.
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JoeRetire
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Re: Landscape design plans

Post by JoeRetire »

Normchad wrote: Sat Apr 03, 2021 8:48 am
JoeRetire wrote: Sat Apr 03, 2021 7:30 am Bring your pictures to a good local nursery.
I’ve done this twice. Our local nurseries will spend 30 minutes designing something (for free) based on your preferences and pictures. In both cases, the design was really nice. I never could have come up with something so good.

After that, you are free to buy the stuff and install it yourself, or have the nursery do all of the work.
Same experience with our nursery. Nice people, nice products, great advice.
This isn't just my wallet. It's an organizer, a memory and an old friend.
Monsterflockster
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Re: Landscape design plans

Post by Monsterflockster »

Normchad wrote: Sat Apr 03, 2021 8:48 am
JoeRetire wrote: Sat Apr 03, 2021 7:30 am Bring your pictures to a good local nursery.
I’ve done this twice. Our local nurseries will spend 30 minutes designing something (for free) based on your preferences and pictures. In both cases, the design was really nice. I never could have come up with something so good.

After that, you are free to buy the stuff and install it yourself, or have the nursery do all of the work.
Local nurseries are great! Just don’t do the bogglehead thing of getting the design for free then shopping around other nurseries to save a few bucks on plants.
theplayer11
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Re: Landscape design plans

Post by theplayer11 »

a local nursery can tell you what to plant and where, but if you need a more complicated plan, hiring a landscape architect is money well spent.
DoubleComma
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Re: Landscape design plans

Post by DoubleComma »

I’ve done this twice in last couple years, one for the front and a second for the back. Both times I used local master gardners that I found through the local gardening clubs online. I paid $150/hr each time and both plans took about 3 hours to create. In the end I received a printed and digital plan that included a plant list and suggested irrigation circuits.

It was worth every penny. Not only did we have a plan that included plants suitable for our microclimate and soil conditions, but the plan and plat list made getting bids very simple.
Normchad
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Re: Landscape design plans

Post by Normchad »

Monsterflockster wrote: Sat Apr 03, 2021 11:02 am
Normchad wrote: Sat Apr 03, 2021 8:48 am
JoeRetire wrote: Sat Apr 03, 2021 7:30 am Bring your pictures to a good local nursery.
I’ve done this twice. Our local nurseries will spend 30 minutes designing something (for free) based on your preferences and pictures. In both cases, the design was really nice. I never could have come up with something so good.

After that, you are free to buy the stuff and install it yourself, or have the nursery do all of the work.
Local nurseries are great! Just don’t do the bogglehead thing of getting the design for free then shopping around other nurseries to save a few bucks on plants.
I completely agree!
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