Frequently
Asked Questions

Our office is open all year apart from between Christmas and New Year. People often choose the spring to rethink their garden design. 

In our experience qualified Landscapers are fully booked by springtime, so we always suggest that the winter is the ideal time to have the garden design generated so a landscaper can be booked ready to start the garden’s construction in time for the spring.

We are often asked whether a garden could be designed and constructed under £5000. From our experience we know that this is very difficult because a proportion of this will go into the design process that includes taking a detailed survey, drawing a concept and finalising all the plans with refinements, plus 3 or 4 visits to the site.

On top of this a landscaper has to be found to construct the garden within the budget including VAT. All in all it is unlikely that the job could be done.

The only other option will be to obtain guidance on how the garden can be organised on a one to one meeting and obtain a local gardener or a general maintenance person to carry out the work.

Our consultancy service provides this, which includes meeting with you at your garden and offers advice and guidance for a cost effective plan to be implemented. If you would like to know more go to our Consultancy page for more information.

Yes, a survey of your garden is extremely important if you obtain the services of a professional garden designer such as First Garden Design. We need to measure its perimeter to obtain its shape and log each retained structure and element. We have to log the different levels, as these are important to monitor the amount of waste that needs to be removed and new materials that will be required in the garden’s construction.

Once the survey is taken all the data is transferred into our CAD (computer Aided Design) system so we can design your garden with the elements you would like. Through this process we not only generate a beautiful garden, but also one that provides the physical structures that you require.

We are asked many times “Is there a place where we can encourage wildlife” In most gardens, even those contemporary designs with rendered raised beds and slatted fencing can be home for wildlife. 

We find when we are surveying the garden that there can be a place for housing a Mason Bee haven by placing a small pile of broken paving slab pieces and just left in a hidden corner. A bird table or hanging feeders and a shallow bath where they can find food and water will attract the birds. 

Children will also enjoy building a bug hotel behind the shed or in a corner.