In need of a handy illustration for clients about the economic and environmental benefits of residential landscape design? Or are you interested in learning about costs associated with landscaping and the resale value it will add to your home? Or are you just curious about how much money fabulously wealthy celebrities such as Wayne Newton (aka Mr. Las Vegas) put into landscaping their estates to accommodate for peacocks and dozens of other zoo animals? Whatever the case may be, make sure to check out Line//Shape//Space’s first-ever infographic on landscape architecture.
Do you have any cool stories to share about a landscape-design project? Do you have a success or disaster story? Make sure to share it in the comments section!
This post originally appeared on Line//Shape//Space, an Autodesk blog dedicated to inspiring small businesses in the architecture, design, and drafting space.
Published in Blog
Ted
OK, so I’ll be the first to critique this. First the good:
WhenEVER the general public is reminded of the benefits of landscaping (particularly a well-thought-out one), I’m grateful for the plug. And I’ll acknowledge that What Things Actually Cost, after a client falls in love with a design, is always the most vexing hurdle….so good again, to give them some solid info here. Plus I like the many bases covered about good benefits & trends in a limited chart.
Now for the bad:
First, why do we have to use that cutesy term “pimp my [whatever]”? Try explaining THAT one to your five- (or even nine-)year-old.
Second: the “Getting Started — Set Price” info sets the expectation for a $500 design (human nature to focus on lowest possible price). We didn’t go through 5 yrs of school to produce “$500 plans”; leave that level of quality to the contractors with a Design 101 course. It looks like this is what the least expensive “architect” [meaning LA] routinely charges, from they way they word it above that.
Third: $30 for a LV lighting fixture? Installed?! You’re kidding, right? $200+ is realistic.
Fourth: under “Design Plans” showing levels of project complexity (again with the “pimp” stuff), it just reinforces that cut & paste, component-checklist, HGTV approach; can we instead try to educate the consumer of our value in tying it all together holistically? And I find the categories inaccurate: while you may be able to [just barely, with the cheapest components] get a kitchen as described with grill/sideburner/sink/roof structure for that amount, a “budget” consumer’s budget is gonna be all about a roll-around grill, simple deck or patio, and modest plantings. The “Ivy League” consumer will hopefully have better taste than the description of their dream yard. And the “Big Shot” — well, I wish I could say they’d have more-refined-still tastes….but sadly those kinda budgets are just as likely to buy tacky as often as good taste.
Tonie C.
I agree with both of you.
Melissa Mourkas
I can’t agree with all the values being put forward, but I love the idea of being able to show clients what stuff might actually cost. I always ask them what their budget is and they never have any idea how much things cost, so they cannot give me a budget. I don’t want to design something they cannot afford to implement.
Now, that landscape design cost is WAY OFF! No way do most designs fall into the $500-$1000 category. And the average “high-end” designer could be employed over the course of years and many thousands of dollars. This part of the graphic needs some editing. Design is usually devalued by the contractors and often given away and that is what bothers me most about this.
Jason T. Radice
Kind of reminds me of the ‘homebuilder’ cookie-cutter communities and their sales pitch.
“We have landscape ‘A’ available for your home for $20k, which is the basic package. Package ‘B’ is an upgrade with a larger Japanese Maple and a concrete paver sidewalk, and is $35k. Option ‘C’ is our deluxe package with real brick, two Japanese Maples, better sod, and another three perennials. ‘C’ is $50k. We would suggest ‘B’ at a minimum, but it seems all of your neighbors have purchased option ‘C’.”
Can’t I landscape it myself? I am a Landscape Architect and I don’t really like the plans or the plants they will put in.
“No.”
Bryan Rahija
Melissa, Jason, Tonie, Jim and Ted –
Thank you all for taking a look and providing great feedback.
What do you all think is a reasonable range for the price for drawing up a design plan?
Melissa Mourkas
It is very hard to put an average on cost of design because there are so many variables, so I’ll tell you what I tell my typical prospective residential clients: my designs usually start at $1,500 and top out typically around $2,800-$3,000. This is also an effective screening tool.:-) As irrigation plans have gotten more complex in CA due to WELO, that is with a caveat that if WELO kicks in, the cost for irrigation plans double and will add another $500 to the package.
Andrew Spiering
I think the hourly price is range is close, $75-$150 is probably more accurate. Also, the prices for the “design plan” are more likely a schematic design plan. Most designs need to go through all phases of the design process – SD, DD, CD, CA – where each phase has varying cost associated with it. Perhaps explaining the ‘design process’ is worth its own infographic… 🙂
Patrick A. Trisler
I agree with a lot of these comments, so I’ll just say this: Thanks for the work, it looks great, but can we not use a more agreeable term than ‘Pimp?’ I would never show this to a perspective client just because of that term. I’m trying to offer a professional service, not one I wanted equated with prostitution 🙂
Patrick A. Trisler
*Prospective