A garden you love, and a clear path to get there.
I walk you through every decision, talk budget from the first conversation, and stay involved through the build.
Three things to expect
You steer at every step
We meet at key points during design, so you shape it before anything is final.
Cost ranges with the first sketches
Early cost ranges sit beside the first design options. They're planning numbers, not quotes, but they keep the design pointed at what you want to invest.
I'm there through the build
Helping you weigh bids, placing plants, and answering the contractor's questions.
Working with an architect, builder, or developer? I run alongside your team, schematic design through construction administration. Here's how →
We talk budget from the start.
Most designers show you a plan and leave the cost for later. I bring early cost ranges into the first design options, so the design is shaped around what you want to invest. Construction pricing moves, so those ranges guide the design; contractor bids set the final number.
Most of the work costs about the same
In any version of a design: mobilization, demolition, grading, irrigation, planting.
The big features move the number
A shade structure, an outdoor kitchen, a water feature. That's where the investment moves.
Priced phase by phase, in writing
My design fee is separate from what it costs to build the garden, and we talk about both from the first conversation. Each phase gets its own scope and price, agreed before it begins.
Phasing is an option
If the dream is bigger than the budget, I can design the whole master plan and scope it in phases, so you build what matters most first and add the rest over time.
A note on the numbers: early figures are planning-level estimates, built from the quantities in my drawings and the unit costs I track. The market moves, so they guide the design; they aren't a quote or a guarantee. Contractor bids on the finished plans set the actual cost.
The phases, step by step.
Here's the same project at each phase, getting more resolved each time. The phases scale to the project: a single planting plan or a courtyard refresh is a fair project too.
Schematic Design
what you get: the master planAfter we walk the property, I sketch options for your site, each with a rough cost range. We refine one into a master plan with materials, a preliminary plant palette, and a planning-level construction range, checked against current pricing with a contractor I work with.
Design Development
On larger projectsWhen structural, civil, or arborist consultants join the team, refining the design becomes its own phase, scoped and agreed before it begins. On a simpler garden it folds into the drawings.
Construction Documents
what you get: the buildable drawingsThe detailed, dimensioned set a city reviews and a contractor builds from. Materials and details still get adjusted for cost here, while changing them is cheap. When a permit is required, I prepare the submittal and shepherd it through review.
Construction Administration
what you get: an advocate on siteBefore ground breaks, I help you weigh the contractor bids. Once it does, I'm your advocate on site: placing plants, reviewing material mockups, and answering the contractor's questions.
The build runs in this order: setup and protection, demolition, grading and drainage, paths and paving, irrigation, planting, then lighting.
Already have an architect? Even better.
Many of my projects run alongside a house remodel or new construction. I coordinate directly with your architect, builder, and consultants, from the first plans through construction, and document the landscape for water, stormwater, fire, and accessibility review. Where a project needs structural, civil, or arborist expertise, I flag it early and coordinate with those consultants.
Architects, builders, and design teams: see what I bring to a collaborative project →