The Price Tag

There are two basic costs involved when contracting a landscaper;

1. DESIGN COSTS – The cost to design the garden, similar to an architect’s fees when building a house.

2. INSTALLATION COSTS – The cost of installing the design, similar to construction costs when building a house.

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Garden design fees vary.  Factors including the scale, scope and complexity of the design influence the design fee.

Consequently, the installation fees for a garden are also determined by the scale, scope and complexity of the site and also take into account elements such as access, ground substrate, existing obstacles like cables, piping, etc.

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A GARDEN FOR EVERY BUDGET

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The good news is that yes, there is a garden for every budget.

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The foundation to any garden is a good design.  This is your road map and can be divided into multiple stages for installation.  If you’re a DIY type of person, you may want to take on the installation project yourself thereby creating your paradise as and when your time and funds permit.  Alternatively, you could have the installation divided into phases either working a layer at a time or a location at a time.

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Understanding landscaping pricing is easy.  Consider going to the supermarket to buy groceries for dinner.  You could buy a frozen easy meal for a small price or could buy exotic fruit, smoked salmon, truffles and imported ice-cream for a much greater price.  Both meals will fill the void but which will give you the greatest pleasure? 

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Now put this train of thought into a garden context.  Landscaping includes mostly plants and features added to your garden. An exotic and incredibly expensive shrub could look just as attractive in your garden as a cheap and abundantly available shrub. The same goes with features.  The more features and plants you have and the larger the area to be covered, the more it will cost. Generally speaking, Landscape installers with larger infrastructure and higher levels of supervision also cost more. 

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Internationally, the guideline is to budget approximately 10% of the cost of your house for your garden.  This is not a hard and fast rule, it is simply a guideline.  The smaller garden spaces of most modern properties find themselves costing between 6%-8% of the cost of the house.

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In conclusion, the less one does in terms of landscaping, the less it costs.

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