When employing a professional to carry out work on your home and garden, you need to be sure that you are getting the most out of them. This way, not only do you get your money’s worth but you will also be delighted with the results.

When it comes to garden landscape designers, it makes most sense to find one that covers your local area. This way, travelling time will not be an added cost and they will be close at hand if you want to look at examples of their previous work.

But with so many garden designers to choose from, how do you find the one most ideally suited to interpreting your ideas? Always check out portfolios and past work and try and find a designer with whom you can gel and have good rapport. Garden landscaping services vary – some garden designers specialise whereas others are more generalist. Depending upon the type of landscape work that you want carried out, make sure that they have done something similar before.

Tips to get the most out of your garden designer
Here are our tips on how to get the most out of your garden landscape designer in Birmingham and the ideal process that will be followed to get the most out of your garden. We will also look at potential pitfalls and how to avoid them:

1. Start with a plan
You need to know the layout of your new garden so will need a plan created by hand or computer showing the layout of the whole site. Things like beds, borders, hedging, fences, decking, paving, seating, water feature – all will need to be mapped out. A top professional garden designer will work with your brief, add into it their own creative ideas and present you with a brief. Making sure you are happy with the plan at the start will avoid changes later on.

2. Know what is included
Is your garden designer working on a design-only basis or are they taking full control of all the work including appointment of contractors? Some provide a full design-and-build package where everything is done in-house. The latter is the best service to go for as this way, you will know that your designer is going to provide you with a total finished product and won’t have to worry about added extras.

3. Choose a garden designer that understands your needs
Take the time to choose a garden landscaper who you feel is able to interpret what you want in your garden. It also helps if they are forthcoming with creative ideas. Ideally you both need to be on the same page and have the same final picture in your head as to how the finished design will look. This should match with the drawings or 3D interpretation of the design provided by them. If you don’t understand each other easily or communicate at the same level, the whole project may be a struggle.

4. Do they have a specialism?
If their specialism is water features and you want this, then great. However, more important is that they have a general understanding of garden planning law, drainage, hard landscaping and plants. They will also need to take into account the more mundane parts of the garden, such as where bins or garden equipment/furniture will be stored. Look at the key points of your garden such as pergolas, garden structures and garden ponds and be sure they have worked on them before.

How to find your garden designer
But before you can begin with any of the points above, you need to find your perfect garden designer in Birmingham. Do you need contemporary garden design, garden landscaping or architectural landscaping? Look at their website and talk to them. Have a face-to-face meeting and imagine yourself working alongside them. You need to be able to banter ideas back and forth easily and they need to interpret them correctly.

Do read testimonials fully and look at the finished results of gardens that have been previously designed by them. Ask about their training and background and the type of projects they have worked on before yours. If they have a reputation for providing amazing results and the sort of garden that you have always dreamed off, then put them at the top of your list. Fees will need to be taken into account but this should not be the only deciding factor as employing the best person for the job is paramount to success.

Your garden is going to be with you for many years to come and by getting the most out of your garden landscape designer, your time and money will be well invested.