Reply To: Landscape Designer Prices

[Andrew Garulay, RLA]

Check your state laws on how much you can legally ask for up front. I think California limits that to 10%.

The simple yet complex answer as to what landscape designers charge is this – whatever someone is willing to pay. We are not selling something that comes in a box that is the same thing in the box that the next landscape designer is selling, therefore pricing is not one size fits all.

However, like any product in a box, the higher the price, the more likely the buyer needs to know what is in the box. If you are a known commodity like Bob, it is fairly easy for a potential client to understand the value they are getting for what they are being asked to pay. That value is built on a portfolio of built work, a reputation established by a body of work, and by direct referral from people that have used the designers services.

The thing that most people coming out of school have been convinced of as being of high value are credentials such as a degree, LA license, or membership in professional associations. Those on their own have little value unless there are regulations that exclude others from engaging in the same services. However, the process of gaining those things typically gives one a lot of experiences that can generate those other things that I mentioned that are valued.

Your rates need to be based on the value that your potential clients perceive and how they perceive your skill set and experience matches their project. A big influence on that perceived value is what others offering the same potential are charging. If you value yourself more than the potential client does, you are not going to get work very often.

If you don’t get work very often, you are limiting your ability to produce a body of built work, a referral network, and a portfolio.

My opinion is more important for a new designer to invest in building his/her value to establish a good billing rate, than to declare a good billing rate which can limit your development.

There are millions of good designers, many of which are not getting much work. You will see that some “good designers” get a ton of work while other “better designers” get overlooked. The key to this business is not that you have to be a better designer than the next person, but that you have to be better at getting the jobs than the next person. Ninety percent of that is from building a body of work, getting known because you built a body of work, and getting referrals from those you have worked for or with in the past.

If you are buried in work, you are charging too little. If you lack work, you are charging too much. As your body of work increases your schedule will fill and you adjust your rates accordingly.