I spoke with one of my landscapers this afternoon because I’ve just sent over the drawings for my project near Muswell Hill.  He can’t get started on his quote until next week because he’s working on a tender for a large job in London and this will take him the majority of the week to pull together.

As it’s a tender process he might not even get the project, and that’s part of running a business of course, but this got me thinking that most people probably don’t know what goes in to preparing a quote for the build phase of a garden project – even the smallest and most straight forward designs take at least a couple of hours to prepare.

If you’re a regular reader of my blog then you’ll know that I am really passionate about producing a specification and full set of working drawings for each of my projects.  Anything I can do to help the landscapers to price accurately is worth all the effort.  Without them there’s just too much open to interpretation and it would be impossible to provide an upfront cost that wouldn’t incur “extras” along the way.

My Leatherhead project, which is half way through the build, is a complex site.  When steep levels are involved a good design will try, where possible, to utilise the soil on site so that waste is kept to a minimum.  Any spoil from a hole will double in volume so the landscaper quoting has to work through some complex quantity surveying in order to calculate just how much waste removal is required throughout the build.

They need to calculate cost of materials and man hours for the whole job so that they can be sure that the job can be completed within the project budget and on schedule.  Good landscapers will take the time to calculate this properly.  Any figures must relate to the complexity of the build so that when they submit their price, it will only be open to amendment if the client changes things during the build or they uncover something that couldn’t be predicted before the work was started.

So, I guess what I’m saying is that quoting is a complex and time consuming part of a landscapers job so if you’re embarking on the build phase of a project, try to be patient – time taken at this stage will most certainly pay off in the long run.

As some of you may know, my parents have a nursery in Somerset.  They specialise in growing hardy perennials but they also sell shrubs, trees and some seasonal bedding such as primulas and violas. Read more

If you read my blog regularly then you’ll know that the construction phase has commenced at one of my projects in Leatherhead.  Sods law it rained the minute the garden was stripped out and this means that the conditions on site are now a bit challenging. Read more

I hope you had a great weekend… Read more

The construction phase started at my Leatherhead project on Tuesday.  I’m really excited about this project because it’s quite a sloped site and the new design will make it much more usable.  The clearance work has almost been completed and the machinery arrived yesterday so work will start today setting the new levels. Read more

Pathways are a crucial element to a well designed garden.  They take you on a journey from one area to the next so they need to be practical but also provide some interest along the way.  It’s therefore important to plan them carefully to ensure that they are fit for purpose. Read more

I have recently been working with a new client near Muswell Hill to help them to redesign their front garden.  At the moment it’s quite scruffy and there’s not really enough room to park the car comfortably. Read more

Easter holidays are often a great time to be outdoors with the family.  It would be great if it warmed up a bit here in the UK, but even if this cold snap continues to linger, it’s still worth getting outside in the fresh air. Read more

Rather excitingly, I was approached before Christmas to write the feature article for the March/April 2013 edition of FOCUS magazine. Read more

I always know when summer is around the corner because I start to receive the latest furniture catalogues.  I suspect that most companies are keeping everything crossed that the weather will be kind enough to allow people to sit outside in the garden this year! Read more