Landscape design Cost Calculator
A landscape designer charges £100–£300 for a consultation visit, £500–£2,500 for full scaled design plans on a typical garden, and around 10–15% of build cost to run the project. On any build past £15,000, design usually earns its fee back in…
Open the calculator →How this calculator works
Every figure in this calculator is the one published in the cost table on our landscape design guide. Pick the option that matches your job and the calculator returns that published range, adjusted for your region - it does not model anything the guide does not already say.
That is deliberate. A calculator whose rates drift from the page it sits under is worse than no calculator, because two numbers on the same site disagree.
What it cannot know: access, the condition of what is already there, and anything structural. Those are what separate three real quotes from each other.
Published landscape design costs (2026)
| Option | Typical 2026 cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Consultation visit | £100–£300 | |
| Concept plan | £400–£900 | |
| Full design package | £900–£2,500 | |
| Planting plan only | £300–£800 |
These are the figures from our landscape design cost guide.
What drives the price of a garden design
Design costs less than most of the build, but the range is wide because the word covers very different things. A landscape design consultation is an hour or two of advice on site; a concept plan is a sketched layout you can build from; a full package adds scaled drawings, a planting plan and setting-out detail a contractor can price and follow. The table above prices each of those stages separately, so you can buy only the one you need.
Two things move the fee within a stage: the size and complexity of the garden, and whether the designer also tenders the job and oversees the build. Level changes, drainage, retaining and hard landscaping all add drawing time. If you want the designer to manage contractors and site visits, expect a fee of around 10-15% of the build cost on top of the drawings, which is why design earns its keep on larger projects and rarely on small ones.
The planting is specified but not supplied, so budget separately for stock and read the plan for plant sizes as well as species. If your project is as much construction as planting, the garden landscaping cost guide and the landscaping hub show where the design fee sits in the wider budget.
Landscape design calculator — FAQs
£100–£300 for a consultation, £500–£2,500 for full plans on a typical garden, and 10–15% of the build cost if they also tender and oversee the work.
Under ~£10,000 of build, usually not - a good landscaper designs as they go. Past £15,000–£20,000, design fees are routinely saved in avoided re-work, right-first-time levels and planting that survives.
Registration and scale: landscape architect is a protected title for degree-qualified professionals who handle planning-scale work; garden designers design domestic gardens. For a house garden, a good designer is the fit.
No - plans specify plants, the plants themselves are bought separately. Expect £1,500–£5,000 of stock on a designed garden, which is why the planting plan states sizes as well as species.
A concept plan is a single layout drawing that fixes the shape of the garden, roughly £400–£900. A full package builds on that with scaled construction drawings, a planting plan and setting-out detail at £900–£2,500, so a contractor can price and build it without guessing.
Yes, if the hard landscaping is already done or you are doing it yourself. A standalone planting plan runs £300–£800 and gives you species, sizes and spacing - the part most self-planted gardens get wrong. You still buy the plants separately, usually £1,500–£5,000 of stock on a designed garden.
Related cost guides
- Landscape design cost guide — The full price guide
- All landscaping services — Browse the hub
- All BestBuilders services — Every trade we cover
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