How a designer can save you money

It seems counterintuitive that paying for landscape design can actually save you money, especially when many landscape contractors will design your project for free. For simple gardening work or repairs you probably don’t need to hire a designer, but for the vast majority of projects it will save you time and money. Here’s how;

1. Planning helps streamline construction

Starting a project without a detailed plan usually means costly delays later on. The design process is essentially a dry-run of the construction process, where each phase of the project is carefully considered. Many potential issues are discovered and resolved during the design phase which may have otherwise gone unnoticed. It is far easier to preemptively solve problems on paper than to find on-the-fly solutions when the job is underway.

2. Value engineering

Design is largely a process of solving problems, and value engineering is a systematic approach to finding cost-effective solutions. A well-crafted design serves all of the functional and aesthetic needs of a project in a simple and elegant way. In each iteration of the design:

• The purpose of each element is considered
• Unnecessary pieces are removed
• The space is refined and often simplified

3. Access to a team of trusted contractors

Working with a designer allows you to skip the entire process of seeking out and vetting contractors. Instead, you have direct access to a large network of trusted and reliable contractors who consistently delivery high quality work at a fair price. A designer will often engage several contractors and find the most appropriate one for the job, or even divide the work among two or more contractors when it is appropriate.