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11-02-2009 at 12:28 PM
Malvagia
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Joined on 05-05-2007
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Malvagia is not online. Last active: 11-20-2009, 12:04 PMNewbie

How do I hire a landscape designer?

I want to hire a landscape designer to design my front yard garden but I plan to do the gardening myself in the spring due to budget. How and where do I hire a landscape designer? Can I just call a landscaping company and ask them to design the garden without building it?  Any idea how much they charge per hour?  Can they design it in a few hours?
 
11-02-2009 at 7:14 PM
Dr.Loretta
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Joined on 05-24-2005
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Dr.Loretta is not online. Last active: 11-21-2009, 5:35 PMGold

Research places near you. Ask them if they come out and do free estimates, and how much they would charge for a plan only. Many of them will draw up a plan for you for one (usually small) fee, and will let you either DIY, will plant for you, or will refer you to someone.

Prices vary depending on a lot of factors. The first time I hired one, she was just starting out and charged $50/hour. She came to my house for an hour, drew up a plan with a list of plants, etc., and let me go from there. The last guy we hired was overpriced, but for $500 we got a plan for our (rather large) front yard, and could shop the plan around for people to do the work.

Good luck.

11-03-2009 at 6:55 AM
dirtyred
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Joined on 01-17-2003
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dirtyred is not online. Last active: 11-22-2009, 10:36 AMBronze

What Dr. Loretta said.

Look in your yellow pages for landscape architect or landscape designer.  Ask about fees and see if they have photos of previous work or can give you names/numbers of previous clients.

We got estimates for plans alone, plans plus plants, and plans plus plants and all the work.   We went with plans plus plants so we wouldn't have to drive all over creation to find the plants and then have to haul them back home.  It was great to just have everything you need delivered to your door.

 
11-05-2009 at 5:29 PM
~NB~
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Joined on 02-26-2007
at my desk
15,991 Points
~NB~ is not online. Last active: 11-21-2009, 11:23 AMBronze

http://www.apld.com/apldmembers/index.asp

Prices vary, but you can expect most to charge $45-$95 per hour. Some firms only design, some firms are design-build companies.

A landscaping company is NOT the same thing, most have no design based education; and sadly, many designers have only scant horticultural knowledge.

Free estimates are almost unheard of among professional landscape designers; usually the ones who offer any services for free are those who are associated with nurseries, and the design is free if you buy all the materials from that nursery. Free estimates are common, however, among landscape contractors, but most of them look like the ones on the BGH website: they are not creative, they are not based on the architecture of the house in ANY way, and they are overloaded with expensive "gee whiz" features like illuminated waterfalls.

 

 
11-09-2009 at 11:10 PM
ilat84
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Joined on 04-16-2008
poway,ca
96 Points
ilat84 is not online. Last active: 11-19-2009, 1:15 AMNewbie
if you are in San Diego call my dad. hes a landscape architect.
 

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