If there’s one thing I’ve learnt over the many years that I’ve spent designing gardens, it’s that there is no such thing as a standard design project. My role is to bring clarity, experience and ideas, however, each project is always shaped and moulded by you the client; how we get from concept to completed project is not always simple. Those years of experience have given me knowledge and insight into what really matters to you as a client; I know how important to you are qualities such as honesty, clarity, experience, integrity, skill and really listening to your brief. I’ve also leant how to manage my own strengths and weaknesses in a customer facing service. I have found that the best way to achieve success is to quickly find ways of combining your wishes with my input. I believe there’s no better way to achieve garden design success than for us to meet in your garden and cover everything that needs to be considered, this will include your plant and style preferences, how the garden might need to evolve due to changing family priorities, solving specific issues such as overlooking neighbours or improving the view from the garden. This meeting is then followed by the delivery of an illustrated report clearly describing the changes I would recommend to transform your garden into a beautiful and satisfying space. This consultation service offers an excellent way of managing costs; you decide when and how to implement the recommendations. For instance, you might want to employ a landscaper to carry out all the recommendations in one go or you might want to do it incrementally as the budget allows. After reading the recommendations you might also decide to do some or all of the work yourselves to a time scale that suits your priorities.
How does the Consultation Service work?
Together, we follow a number of steps:
- After your initial contact with me I’ll ask you to send your address and post code as well as some dates and times when you’re free for me to visit
- We then arrange a mutually convenient day for the consultation
- The consultation may only last a couple of hours, or may take a full day or more depending on the size and complexity of your garden
- Following the consultation visit, I will send a brief summary of our discussions to confirm I have interpreted your requirements correctly
- Your fully illustrated design consultation is then compiled and sent to you either via email or as a printed document
Testimonial for Geoff Carr
We were conscious that our garden needed a makeover and Geoff Carr’s consultation service seemed ideal. After sending him some photos of the garden he visited us for a fact-finding meeting: we walked round the garden while Geoff asked questions, took copious notes and photos of the garden and of the surrounding landscapes. He quickly followed this up with a summary of the meeting and his interpretation of our brief.
Over the next few weeks Geoff sent us comprehensive notes and photos as to how we could improve the hedges and boundaries of the garden, how to take advantage of the focal points and views around the house, ideas for moving and replacing some shrubs and ways of ensuring colour throughout the seasons.
We have started working on his ideas with renewed enthusiasm (which had waned over the years!). There is lots of work to be done but we are looking forward to seeing the improvements coming to fruition over the coming months.
Paula and Anthony. Midsummer Cottage
(The full report can be seen in the Case Study section on this website)