Landscaping - rough costs?

[steved]

We have a small section (350m2 land) and an ignored garden. We are interested in knowing a rough ballpark price a landscape gardener would charge for a bit of paving, create some edge gardens and plant some new stuff? $5,000? $10,000? Cheers.

[Moki]

I'd like to find out myself. I'm on .5 acre and would like a bit of an extreme...well sort of...makeover. I would image around 250-300/day + materials would be reasonable. Don't really know I'm afraid.

[kickingzebra]

as with any construction project costs vary enormously depending on what you want done, what level or specification, expect to pay as little as 500 for an initial consult and basic plan, right up to 50/60 an hour for the labour side fo things, but these guys work fast...
I am a carpenter, and do a bit of work for some landscape designers, believe me, there is definitly more than meets the eye to what you need to know and do.

I live on 8800 m2, and am going to be paying roughly 1200 for landscape plan, so everything is relative.

[Timber020]

Landscapers are often people who have one trade (maybe) and try to do a bunch of trades, I used to work for a company that did landscaping and have seen alot of other landscapers work, and some of it wasnt good. Looked good at the finish but you could see the future trouble that were going to develop.


Gardeners (good ones) will be good to talk to about plants, landscapers all to often are like interior designers, they only work with current trends/fashions/fads/magazine spreads. I can go into alot of landscaped gardens and be able to tell within 3 years when the garden was "done" due to what was in vogue at the time. Nice but often doesnt make for a practical and managable garden in the long term. I find myself trying to explain to people "you cant prune these trees, you either leave them and have no sun or remove them" because certain species were all the rage 10 years back. Or finding that the owner has been convinced to get rid of a beautiful and valuable tree because its in the way of the landscapers vision of river rocks, tussock and a warehouse thatch fence thats going to fall apart in 18 months..

If you want paving, get a paving or bricklaying company to do it. Its what they do and they are more likely to do it well for a good price.

There are some good landscapers out there. But many are not aware of there own limits, or the limits of your budget

[kickingzebra]

oh, word of mouth, and longevity are the best ways of finding a good LS designer