A professional garden designer brings creative vision, horticultural knowledge, and practical experience to your outdoor space. The result a garden designed specifically for your home, lifestyle, and conditions often exceeds what a homeowner or general landscaper would produce. But design services carry a cost, and understanding what you are buying helps you choose the right level of service.
Garden Design Fees in the UK
Service Level
Typical Fee
Initial consultation only
£100 – £300
Online garden design service
£150 – £500
Planting plan only
£300 – £800
Outline concept design
£500 – £1,500
Full design package (concept + details + planting)
£1,500 – £5,000
RHS qualified/award-winning designer
£2,500 – £10,000
Chelsea-level/celebrity designer
£10,000 – £50,000+
What a Garden Designer Delivers
A professional garden design service typically includes some or all of:
Site survey and analysis: Measuring the garden, recording existing features, assessing soil, sun patterns, and drainage. A good designer visits the site — online services rely on the client measuring and photographing.
Brief discussion: Understanding how you use the garden, your preferred style, budget, maintenance commitment, and any specific requirements (children’s play area, dog garden, vegetable growing, entertaining space).
Concept design: The overall layout showing where key features will be — patio, lawn, planting areas, structures, paths. Usually presented as a scaled 2D plan with mood images.
Detailed design: Technical drawings showing precise dimensions, levels, surface materials, and construction details for hard landscaping elements.
Planting plan: A detailed plan showing exactly which plants go where, with species names, sizes, and spacing. The basis for quoting and ordering plants.
Plant schedule: A list of all plants in the scheme with quantities, sizes, and costs.
Material specification: Details of exactly which materials are specified for paving, walls, fencing, etc. to enable accurate quoting.
Project management/contract administration (premium service): The designer manages the build, liaises with contractors, and visits site regularly to ensure work matches the design.
Factors Affecting Garden Design Costs
Designer Experience and Reputation
An RHS-qualified designer or one with a track record of award-winning gardens commands premium fees. For most residential gardens, a competent local designer with good reviews and a portfolio of comparable projects provides excellent value.
Garden Size and Complexity
A larger, more complex garden with changes of level, multiple zones, water features, or unusual conditions requires more design time. A courtyard of 20m2 and a one-acre garden require very different design time even if the brief is similar.
Level of Service
Some clients need only a planting plan (they already know where the patio will go). Others need full design from blank canvas, including all hard landscaping details. Defining exactly what you need before approaching designers avoids scope creep and unexpected fees.
Location
London-based designers generally charge more than those in other regions. However, many designers now work remotely for clients outside their immediate area, which can offer better value.
Online Garden Design Services
Several services offer garden design online at significantly lower cost than a traditional face-to-face designer:
Patch Plants online design: From £129 for a planting plan
Houzz Pro design services: Varies by designer
Garden design apps (Planter, iScape): DIY tools from £30/year
These services work well for planting-only briefs or simple gardens where the layout is already decided. They cannot replace a designer who walks your garden, understands the microclimate and soil, and designs the hard landscaping.
Is Garden Design Worth the Cost?
For a landscaping project of £15,000 or more, a professional design costing £1,500 – £3,000 is usually worth every pound. Benefits include:
Accurate planting plans that ensure plants are correctly spaced and suited to your conditions
Detailed drawings that enable competitive, like-for-like quoting from contractors
A coherent aesthetic vision that a piecemeal approach rarely achieves
Added property value from a well-designed garden
For smaller projects (under £8,000), an initial consultation (£100-£300) may be sufficient to provide direction, combined with your own research and a reputable contractor.
Finding a Garden Designer
Society of Garden Designers (SGD): Professional body for UK garden designers. Members must meet qualification and experience standards.
Association of Professional Landscapers (APL): Includes designers and build-and-design firms.
RHS Affiliated Designer Register: Lists designers with RHS design qualifications.
Houzz.com: Portfolio-based designer directory with client reviews.
