What's On Offer?

Garden Consultancy:

A 90 minute consultation may be all you need to give you some ideas & inspiration to improve your garden. Using her experience Jill can identify the strengths & weaknesses of your garden, advise how to make the best use of the space, explain how to prune and generally maintain the garden & give planting recommendations. You may simply want to improve the front garden before you sell your house, Jill can advise the most effective method and arrange for the work to be done.

The cost of the consultancy is £95.00, travel expenses at 40p per mile are charged outside a 10 mile radius of the office (Guildford).

Planting Design:

A visit to your garden to discuss how you would like the planting to look, the type of plants you like, what style & colours you prefer, how much time you have for maintenance. Do you want planting at boundaries to enhance security, or tips to encourage wildlife, does the planting need to be child or pet friendly?

A return visit with the planting plan that wil include full details of plant names, number of plants, their position in the garden and how to look after them.

Good quality plants can also be competitively sourced and planted for you if you wish.

Full Design Service:

from the first consultation to building your perfect garden

Introductory Visit:

This is an opportunity to have a look at my portfolio of work and discuss the possibility of working together. No charge is made other than 40p per mile if your location is beyond a 10 mile radius of the office. Should you wish to proceed the following explains how the design process works.

1. Initial Consultation - a relaxed meeting to have a look at your garden, show you examples of previous work & discuss what you want from your garden. It's useful for you to make a list of your likes & dislikes before this visit & have an idea of what your budget is. This is an enjoyable beginning to the process of how your garden can be transformed into either a family friendly garden, a relaxing place to entertain family & friends or a peaceful oasis to return at the end of a busy day - or all three. Don't worry if you're not too sure about what you want, I can help you to see the possibilities.

2. Design Quote - I'll write confirming the brief & terms of business, including all the elements discussed at the meeting and including the fee for stages 1 - 4. Depending on the size & complexity of the site, prices can start at as little as £495 for the design of a small garden.

3. The Survey - Once you've agreed stage 2, the survey & site appraisal is carrried out to produce a scaled drawing of the existing garden on which to base the new design. This includes measurements, existing features, simple levels and soil samples for analysis. Should a specialist, such as a structural engineer or surveyor be required, the charge will be cost plus 10%.

4. The Plan - This is a drawing incorporating all the information from the previous stages, showing the new layout, existing & new features and a plant list. Sketches are also included where necessary to illustrate views and help you visualise what your new garden will look like. I'll also bring samples of materials and plant photos. This is a discussion document & gives you the opportunity to ask questions. Minor changes can be made at this stage at no extra charge, however any major changes will be charged at £40 per hour.

5 Building The Garden - Once the final plan has been approved, construction plans are drawn up for the contractor. These drawings, together with a specification provide the builder with all the information necessary to complete the work. Jill acts as your representative and arranges for competitive bids from 2-3 contractors, briefs them on site. Then helps you to choose the contractor and monitors the building of the garden by regular site visits to make sure everything goes according to the plan.

To be completely independent, this stage is charged on an hourly basis, agreed in advance, rather than as a percentage of the contractors fee.