After reading this section, if you'd like more information contact me at [email protected]
Or 021 462 605
Specializing in cost effective landscape concept plans, “quick landscape concepts” only designs landscapes for new homes in suburban subdivisions. how is it different to other landscape plans, and how do you know if it suits you or your home? Conceptual’ plan basically means
what it suggests. The plans are an ‘over view’ drawing of what the landscape looks like and what goes where...
Gardens
Trees
Plantings
Patios
Decks
Pathways
Lawn areas
Driveway etc. These are the elements or components that make up the basis of a new landscape for new homes. However it doesn’t necessarily stop there as there are often other components that the home owner would like to have included in their new landscape. Some of these may include...
Pergola
Outdoor fire place
Fixed seating
Shade Sail/s
Petanque area
Child's play area
Garden shed location
Vege Garden, to name a few.
2. The location of each component is drawn to scale and in “correct proportion”. How important is this? Probably the best way to explain this is; have you ever looked at a landscape and thought “far out” that looks really nice... well part of that reason, apart from perhaps liking the style or the plants, likely will almost certainly be because the landscape was designed and implemented using “correct proportions”. Correct proportion is not just important when landscaping. Can you imagine how silly a big car would look if it had wheels the size of a wheel barrow, or oppositely, the size of a quarry dump-truck. Imagine someone wearing the wrong sized clothes – we’ve all seen people that have tried to squeeze into clothes that are far too small for them. So if it needs to “look right” then proportion is important; however with landscapes and design unless you know what you’re doing it’s not that simple. For example:
New days urban sections are usually smaller (compared to say 20 or 30 years ago) and because of this outdoor living area/s are usually smaller also. A really common mistake that home owners make when doing their own landscape or gardens is to make the garden bed areas too narrow – and it’s very common, especially when there’s no plan to help guide them. The reason this happens... people are attempting to preserve as much lawn area as possible, the misconception is “we need to save space” or “we can’t take up too much lawn area with garden or that will make the ‘back yard’ look small”, after all... a bigger back yard generally equals more lawn space right. However in reality it doesn’t work that way with smaller residential sites. Here’s why. If the garden beds are made too ‘narrow’ then the appearance given is one of ‘lack of space’. This is especially true when the gardens beds run directly along fences or the house itself. Instead if the garden beds are ‘comfortably’ and of proportional width (without over doing it - because the same is also true in reverse) then the illusion of space is created. Generally speaking, and from a practical perspective, the lawn area otherwise saved would not be sufficient to make any plausible difference in most cases anyway. It’s for this reason that the plans are also drawn to scale so that homeowners, when doing their own landscape, or engaging landscape contractors, can create the correct proportion by taking the guess work out if things. The plans are easy to use and follow, and again this is why they are drawn to scale. The average home owner with the ability to do their own gardens will have no problem using them to create a nice landscape and outdoor area. When it comes to items that need to be constructed... unless you know exactly what you’re doing we highly recommend that a professional is engaged. Unless you truly really know what you’re doing, constructing your own driveway for example, will be a complete nightmare that will almost certainly end in disaster. It’s important to note there are no dimensions on the plan however again the plans are to scale and are easy to measure. Even though it is easy, we also give you access to a short online video that shows you how to read and use the plan, and how to use a scale rule. This is no extra charge.
3. When do we come and see you. Well we don’t actually. Instead we have a special process that we follow and it allows us to gather all the info we need to draw you a great looking plan that will work. For this type of plan there's actually no need for us to visit the site in order to achieve this for you. Besides, chances are we don’t live in the same town, even if we do we still don't need to visit the site. Instead we have a cleaver little form that asks you all the right questions. There’s no need to worry it really only takes a matter of minutes to fill out as much of it is a series of tick boxes. Once complete you send that to us along with a copy of your house plans, and we can very quickly draw your landscape concept, have it produced and emailed to you within 5 - 10 working days.
4. When do you pay? Glad you asked. If you would like one of these pans for your place, then just let us know and we’ll send you an invoice for the correct amount. Once payment has been received and confirmed we send you the form I was just talking about. Yes - This is a pay up front process. Why do it that way? The main reason is the price. You’re getting a ridiculously good deal, and to be quite open we want payment up front prior to spending any time designing the landscape. That way we can give you 100% of our attention while we’re drawing your plan, and it gets the yucky bit out of the way and done first. We completely understand how this might seem a little back to front for a landscape designer, so think of it this way - it’s like booking a ticket on an airplane, it’s paid up front, taken care of there and then so you can sit back and enjoy the ride.
5. What happens if you don’t like your new plan? Which is a completely fair enough question, and that’s why we give a 30 day (no make it 90 day), 100% satisfaction, iron clad money back guarantee. And here it is...
“If for any reason (what so ever) during the 90 day period you decide you don’t like your landscape concept plan, then we will refund 100% of you money, no questions asked – no ifs, no buts... and we’ll do it immediately! The 90 days starts from when the finished concept plan is emailed to you. As you can see that’s a ZERO risk guarantee. Yes I know we must be half mad right.
6. How do you know if your section/site/home is suitable? This offer applies to new 'suburban' sections or home, BUT it’s restricted to sites that have a blank canvas landscape wise (driveway and patio/s are OK), and lets also say a basic garden across the front of the house that perhaps the developer did as part of the house package. These can also be considered a blank canvas. The reason it’s important to have a blank canvas...
Again, and most importantly for the new home owner it's all part of keeping the cost right down. Anyone who has built a new home will fully understand the importance of keeping cost under control. Blank canvas sites are relatively easy to work with compared to sites that require landscape re-design and/or re-development. This lets us keep the cost right down for you. You can probably imagine the extra work load when having to account for and measure up for a whole bunch of existing 'things' that the owner of a re-development landscape wants to keep etc, and then having to incorporate these items into the new design.
7. Plus... and this may seem a little back to front compared to what you might expect, but we literally don't need to visit the site for a consultation. All we need is a copy of your section and house plan, and along with the information you provide on our ‘cleaver little form’, we even send you a short checklist so you can double check you are sending us all the right info. From there we are easily able to draw you a plan you’ll love – remembering we guarantee it!
8. The colour plan is draw for you, saved a ‘picture file PDF’ and emailed to you. From there you can either do your own landscape, which will be a ‘piece of cake’ is the driveway, patios and fences etc are already done. Or if it suits you better you can get a quote from local landscapers to do the work for you.
9. We offer 4 options for concept plans depending on the size of your section. These are also subjected to the same guidelines.
1. Less than 400m2 - $119.00 incl GST
2. 351m2 - 500m2 - $129.00 incl GST
3. 501m2 - 700m2 - $139.00 incl GST
4. 701m2 - 900m2 - $149.00 incl GST
10. Here’s a quick recap plus a few other bits of information you will need.
1. All plans are drawn in colour.
2. All plans are drawn to scale.
3. All we need from you is a copy of your house and section plans along with the info you provide on our special form.
4. Plan shows the location and proportion of landscape components based on your likes.
5. 100% guaranteed you’ll love your plan or your money back.
6. We don’t visit the site for a consultation as there’s no need to.
7. Trees are shown in their correct location as are any generic planting requirements such as hedges or border planting
8. It’s important to note though that are individual plants species are not drawn and named on the plan, however you will be able to clearly see where proposed garden bed areas are on the concept plan.
9. If you require specific planting detail then this style of plan will not suit your needs.
10. Instead these plans are suited to those that wish to choose their own plants, have the ability to do their own landscape, but just want or need some guidance to make a start.
11. Also suits those that want a landscaper to price their landscape, but wish to ensure the landscaper has a solid understanding of their needs prior. Steve Oliver.
