A new beginning

Since our website first went live we have been publishing a monthly project diary to give a flavour of the work we’re doing, our design approach and our views on current issues. While this seems to be a popular page with visitors to our site it always took a fair bit of work to maintain, and as we’re not wizards at web coding it was tricky to insert any extra features into the diary.

As a result we’ve taken the decision to move the diary to a blog format as this will enable easier updating (hopefully more frequent than before) as well as making it simple to add extra content such as images or maybe even short video fly-throughs of some of our gardens. Other bonuses will be a full archive of all of the articles and the ability for people to add their own comments.

The first article on budgets is a direct copy of the last diary entry from the old page - this had already generated some interesting comments from prospective clients so we decided that it would make a good starting point for the new blog. We also used to give updates on some of our current projects but these will now be done on an ad-hoc basis rather than formally listing them each month.

How much???

Money - in Cabaret they said it makes the world go round, but Pink Floyd reckoned it was the root of all evil.  Either way, it’s a subject that always comes up when we’re discussing gardens with clients.  One thing that we always discuss is the likely cost of the project - and how this compares to the client’s thoughts on their budget.  This is one reason why our case studies specifically include the project’s budget to give some idea of the likely cost before they get in touch with us.  It’s difficult to come up with a precise figure for the garden’s cost at the initial consultation but we can at least make sure that the designer and client are both in the same ballpark.

Very few clients have unlimited funds for their garden so as designers we have to be realistic and work with an eye on the client’s budget.   This has a couple of effects on the design process.  For example, during the initial design of the sketch plan a lower than optimal budget will mean that hard landscaping such as paved areas, retaining walls and steps may be limited and of course there is less scope for things like water features, lighting and bespoke structures.  Once the sketch plan is agreed there are still areas where the budget can be manipulated such as specifying treated softwood rather than a more desirable timber such as cedar or oak, or selecting a different paving material.  We can even split the project into discrete phases for construction over several years - in such cases we recommend that we finalise a ‘master plan’ for the site in advance to ensure that the finished project works as a unified scheme rather than an assembly of disparate elements.

The outcome of this is that we will always work with our clients to achieve the optimum balance of design content versus project budget.  Obviously we can’t work miracles and there will always be a ‘rock bottom’ cost for any given garden, but we’re always happy to discuss options.