The garden you step into this summer begins the autumn before. The design takes about two months, winter is for calm decisions and procurement, and in April the crew starts on site. By July, the planting is settling in, and in its first season the garden is living rather than being built. That is when to call us: three to six months before work starts on site.
Why not spring?
In spring, everyone gets in touch at once. The design still takes about two months: an enquiry in April means a start on site in July, at the hottest point of the year, when planting struggles most to establish, and for part of the season the garden is a building site. An autumn enquiry separates those two months from the growing season: we think while the garden sleeps and build as it wakes.
What gets done over winter
The first conversation takes 30 minutes online and is free: we look at the plot on the map and give you a price range. Then come the site survey, the concept design and the detailed design with its itemised specification, where every line shows the make, quantity and price. Payment is split into two 50% stages. By March you have the drawings and a cost estimate based on them, not on guesswork. What remains is to decide whether to build the garden in one season or spread it over several: the order of works is the same either way.
When is it too late?
It is never too late, but it can cost you time. An enquiry in May means, plainly: this summer, the garden will not be at full strength. If the house is still being built, there is only one best moment: while the interior fit-out is under way. Then the terrace levels, water and electricity are planned from the start, and the paving never has to be relaid.
What to do in September
Go out onto the plot in the evening and look at it honestly: what annoys you, where you want to sit, what you can see beyond the fence. Those three answers are enough to start the conversation. We will bring the rest.