Is it normal to pay a landscaper for a design up front?

[drgoatboy]

Hoping to get our garden landscaped at Goat towers in the coming months so have started to talk to local landscapers.

1 such outfit came round to have a look but want to charge £300+VAT up front for a design (non refundable).
The landscaper comes highly recommended but I have never heard of this before, not even as much as a sketch before I stump up £360.
Is this normal practise?
I see that they will invest time and money into doing a proper design so I get where they are coming from, but what happens if the design is rubbish?

Garden is about 100ft long so its big (for the greater London area) but not exactly massive, we don't want anything too fancy just a bit of levelling out and creating some more usable spaces (mostly for a climbing frame and a trampoline)

Thanks, DRG

[PositronicRay]

drgoatboy said:

Hoping to get our garden landscaped at Goat towers in the coming months so have started to talk to local landscapers.

1 such outfit came round to have a look but want to charge £300+VAT up front for a design (non refundable).
The landscaper comes highly recommended but I have never heard of this before, not even as much as a sketch before I stump up £360.
Is this normal practise?
I see that they will invest time and money into doing a proper design so I get where they are coming from, but what happens if the design is rubbish?

Garden is about 100ft long so its big (for the greater London area) but not exactly massive, we don't want anything too fancy just a bit of levelling out and creating some more usable spaces (mostly for a climbing frame and a trampoline)

Thanks, DRG

Not unusual, if you go ahead they'll probably refund the cost. Pals of mine paid £2k for plans on a £20k landscaping job, they went ahead but several yrs later as funds allowed.

[crankedup]

I would expect the designer to take the brief and keep you posted as the design takes shape.
It’s not a case of them just accepting the brief and then presenting the finished article. Hey should at least consult at several sectors in the design to ensure you are happy with the progress toward your finished idea.

I would have thought that payment in those stages would be reasonable.

[drgoatboy]

Thanks, yes the design is refundable against the build, and consultations can be made along the way. Also once the design is done we own it and can do with it what we please.
Overall budget is around £10K (which designer is already saying may not be enough), just wasn't sure if this was normal practise....

[B17NNS]

drgoatboy said:

Thanks, yes the design is refundable against the build, and consultations can be made along the way. Also once the design is done we own it and can do with it what we please.

Sounds fair enough to me.

[jamoor]

drgoatboy said:

Thanks, yes the design is refundable against the build, and consultations can be made along the way. Also once the design is done we own it and can do with it what we please.
Overall budget is around £10K (which designer is already saying may not be enough), just wasn't sure if this was normal practise....

Design agains the build is bks.

Just inflate the price by £300 then reduce it.

[Tahiti]

I'd think that someone coming in and jotting down a few ideas, a brief sketch and outline costs would be all part of the cost of securing work, but a proper design considering your requirements - I'd expect to pay for that.

All that said, if you have £10k to spend, and the landscaper is implying you won't get what you want, has he given an idea of the likely end cost he'd expect?

[drgoatboy]

Tahiti said:

I'd think that someone coming in and jotting down a few ideas, a brief sketch and outline costs would be all part of the cost of securing work, but a proper design considering your requirements - I'd expect to pay for that.

All that said, if you have £10k to spend, and the landscaper is implying you won't get what you want, has he given an idea of the likely end cost he'd expect?

Tahiti, your train of thought is exactly the same as mine and no they havent said their thoughts on cost. Feels like once I've said yes to them to do the design I'm in bed with them and they can tell me whatever they like in terms of construction cost... maybe i am being too sensitive. Will try another local company too and see what they say...

[B17NNS]

A good designer will work with budget in mind surely? Maximising what you get for your £10k, coming up with creative solutions to achieve what you want within budget.

[Marcellus]

I think this is fairly standard these days unfortunately.

A friend who is a garden designer was saying that too frequently they did designs but never heard any more onky to pass quite some time later to see their exact design implemented!

So, they now charge for designs, they're as busy as ever, but don't get caught out!

Can't say i don't blame them.

[Equus]

crankedup said:

I would expect the designer to take the brief and keep you posted as the design takes shape.
It’s not a case of them just accepting the brief and then presenting the finished article.They should at least consult at several sectors in the design to ensure you are happy with the progress toward your finished idea.

For £300? Really?

That's about 4 hours worth of work we're talking about.