Garden Design Services WA 2026 - Get Quotes

What a Garden Design Actually Delivers

A garden design is a set of decisions made on paper before anyone spends money in the ground. At its simplest it is a concept plan showing the layout, the zones, the circulation and the broad planting character, and at its fullest it is a documented package with levels, setout dimensions, construction details, a planting schedule naming every species and size, a reticulation layout and a lighting plan. The difference in price between those two is large and so is the difference in what you can build from them. Knowing which one you are buying is the first conversation to have. Ask for examples of both from any designer you are considering, since the drawings tell you more than a portfolio of finished photographs.

A concept plan suits someone who wants direction and intends to build in stages themselves. It answers where things go and roughly what they look like, and it lets you get a feel for whether the garden will work. What it does not do is tell a contractor the finished levels of a paved area, the depth of a limestone footing or the exact plant sizes, which means two contractors quoting from it will price two different gardens. For a small courtyard that is often perfectly adequate.

A documented design exists so that several contractors can price the same thing. Dimensions, materials, finishes, quantities, levels and plant schedules give every quote the same basis, which is the only honest way to compare them. It costs more up front and it routinely saves that back in the tender, because contractors pricing a vague brief price the risk as well as the work. On a larger garden it is the better buy almost every time. Contractors also price a clear document faster, which matters when everyone is busy. On a garden costing tens of thousands, the documentation fee is a small proportion of the total.

Design and construct arrangements bundle the two together and they suit plenty of households. A single firm designs the garden and builds it, which removes the coordination problem and usually shortens the timeline. The trade off is that you are not comparing the construction price against anything, so the design fee is often nominal and the margin sits in the build. It works well where you trust the firm and poorly where you are shopping on price. Ask what the design fee would be if you took the plan elsewhere to build.

What a good designer brings is not drawing ability. It is knowing that the west facing wall will radiate heat until late evening, that the sand in your suburb will need serious amendment before anything will hold water, that the tree the neighbour planted will shade half the lawn in five years, and that the paving level you want will put water against the slab. Those judgements are what you are paying for. The landscaping page covers the construction side that follows.

The brief matters as much as the designer. Households who describe how they actually use the space, how much maintenance they will genuinely do, whether children or dogs are involved, where they eat outside and what they want to look at from the kitchen window get gardens that fit. Households who present a folder of photographs from a different climate get a plan that fights the site. A designer who spends the first meeting asking questions rather than showing their portfolio is doing it properly. Bring photographs of the site as it is now rather than only images of gardens you admire. A short walk around the block with the designer usually surfaces more than an hour at the kitchen table.

Reading a Western Australian Site

Soil is where every Perth garden conversation should start. Much of the metropolitan area sits on deep sand, whether the grey Bassendean sands through the eastern suburbs, the yellow Karrakatta sands through the central corridor or the limestone influenced Spearwood sands nearer the coast. Sand drains freely, holds very little water and almost no nutrient, and it is the reason a garden that would look after itself in Melbourne needs constant attention here. Understanding which sand you have changes the preparation budget significantly. A soil test costs very little and removes the guesswork from the preparation budget.

Non wetting sand is the specific problem that catches new arrivals out. Over time a waxy organic coating builds on sand grains and water beads off rather than soaking in, so irrigation runs straight down the gaps and past the root zone while the soil around the plant stays dry. Wetting agents, soil amendment with clay or bentonite and organic matter all address it, and a garden built without that step will underperform no matter how good the reticulation is. Any WA designer worth engaging raises soil preparation before they raise plant selection.

Limestone sits under the sand across much of the coastal plain and it shapes what can be built. Tamala limestone can be a metre down or at the surface, which affects excavation for footings, pool shells, tree planting and service trenching, and it is why so many Perth gardens use limestone walling as a building material in the first place. A site with rock close to the surface prices differently from one with four metres of sand. Ask whether any test holes have been dug before a quote is finalised. Rock hammering adds both cost and noise, and neighbours appreciate being told in advance. Existing limestone on site can sometimes be reused for walling, which is worth asking about.

Orientation drives comfort more than planting does. A west facing back garden in Perth takes the full force of the afternoon sun through summer and radiates it back off walls and paving well into the evening, which is why so many outdoor living areas built to face the view end up unused. Shade structures, deciduous planting and tree canopy all address it, and they need to be in the plan rather than added later. The shade sails and awnings page and the pergola builders page both cover the built options. Deciduous trees on the western side give summer shade and let winter sun through, which is a genuinely useful trick here.

The sea breeze is a genuine design factor along the coast and through much of the metropolitan area. It arrives most summer afternoons, it is welcome for cooling and unwelcome when it is stripping leaves and knocking over umbrellas, and it carries salt for several kilometres inland. Gardens in Cottesloe, Scarborough, Hillarys and Mandurah need plants that tolerate salt laden wind, and structures that will not become sails. A designer who has worked the coast knows which species burn and which do not.

Levels and drainage need working out before anything is drawn. Perth blocks are often flatter than they look and the fall matters enormously, because stormwater is disposed of on the property rather than into the street, and a paved area that falls towards the house is a permanent problem. Where the block does slope, retaining becomes part of the design rather than an afterthought. The drainage page covers getting the water side right. Falls should be shown on the drawings as numbers rather than described as adequate. A spirit level on the existing paving will tell you a great deal before anyone is engaged.

Existing trees are assets and constraints at the same time. A mature tuart, jarrah or lemon scented gum shapes what can be planted beneath it, where paving can go without damaging roots, and how much light the rest of the garden receives, and it may also be protected by the local government. Designing around a good tree is almost always better than removing it. Where removal is genuinely necessary, the tree lopping and arborist services page covers the assessment. An arborist report is worth obtaining where a significant tree sits close to proposed works.

Designing for the Watering Rules

Perth and much of the south west run on a two day a week sprinkler roster set by the day rostered to your street number, with watering prohibited during the middle of the day and sprinklers switched off entirely through the winter months. Those rules apply to bore water as well as scheme water, which surprises households who assume a bore buys them freedom. The practical consequence is that your garden receives water on two mornings or evenings a week and has to survive on it. Designing around that constraint is the single most WA specific skill in this trade.

Hydrozoning is the technique that makes it work. Plants with similar water needs are grouped together so each irrigation zone can run for the time that group actually needs, rather than watering a whole garden to suit its thirstiest member. Lawn goes in one zone, established natives in another, a productive bed in another again. It sounds obvious and a great many Perth gardens are still watered as though every plant were identical. Watering on the wrong day attracts a penalty, so the roster is not a suggestion.

Station run times are limited by arithmetic rather than by preference. There are only so many minutes before the daytime ban starts, and each station has to run within those minutes, which caps how many stations a property can support on a given flow and pressure. A designer who specifies more zones than the available window allows has created a system that can never complete its cycle. The irrigation and garden watering systems page covers how that calculation is done. Ask for the hydrozones to be marked on the plan so you can see the logic.

Drip irrigation belongs in garden beds and sprinklers belong on lawn. Drip lines deliver water slowly to the root zone with very little evaporation loss, which is exactly right for shrubs and perennials, while lawn needs the even coverage a sprinkler provides. Mixing the two on one station is the most common fault in Perth reticulation and it guarantees one of them is wrong. Ask for the zones to be separated properly at the design stage, because retrofitting it later means digging.

Mulch is not decoration, it is part of the water system. A good layer of coarse organic mulch over garden beds reduces evaporation substantially, moderates soil temperature and breaks down to feed the sand over time, and in Perth conditions it makes the difference between a bed that holds moisture between watering days and one that does not. Coarse mulch performs better than fine, which packs down and sheds water. Keeping it clear of the slab edge matters for termite reasons, which the pest control page covers. Retrofitting drip into an existing sprinkler zone rarely works well and usually needs its own valve. Ask for the zone schedule to list run times as well as station numbers.

Lawn is the biggest water decision in any Perth garden. It is genuinely useful where children or dogs use it and genuinely wasteful where it exists only to be looked at, and shrinking the lawn to the area that gets walked on is the most effective water saving available. Warm season grasses suited to this climate include couch, kikuyu, buffalo varieties such as Sir Walter DNA Certified and Palmetto, and the finer zoysias including Sir Grange. Each has different water, shade and wear characteristics worth matching to the use. Top it up annually rather than treating it as a one off, since it breaks down steadily in this climate.

Artificial turf solves the water question and introduces others. It stays green through February, needs no mowing and suits small courtyards and rental properties, and it also gets extremely hot in direct Perth sun and needs proper drainage and a compacted base beneath it. Used in the right place it works very well. The artificial turf installation page covers the installation, and the lawn mowing and garden maintenance page covers keeping real turf in shape.

Alternative water sources are worth considering where the budget allows. A garden bore, a rainwater tank or a greywater system each reduce demand on scheme water, though each comes with its own rules and maintenance. Bore water remains subject to the roster, rainwater tanks in Perth fill mostly in winter when the garden needs least, and greywater systems have health requirements attached. The rainwater tank plumbing page and the greywater system installation page cover both. A cooler alternative is a shaded lawn area under established canopy, which stays usable through February.

Plants That Work in Western Australian Gardens

The south west of Western Australia is one of the most botanically rich regions on earth and the local flora is well suited to local conditions. Kangaroo paws, grevilleas, banksias, eremophilas, westringia, Geraldton wax, bottlebrush and the native grasses including dianella and lomandra all perform in sand with limited water once established. They also bring birds into a garden in a way an exotic border never will. A designer working with local species is working with the site rather than against it. Each source also has its own filtration and maintenance requirements worth understanding before committing.

Establishment is the phase that decides whether native planting succeeds. Even the toughest waterwise species needs regular water for its first one to two summers while the root system develops, and gardens that are cut back to minimal watering immediately after planting routinely fail. The design should include an establishment watering regime that steps down over time. Any designer who says a native garden needs no water at all from day one is overselling it.

Mediterranean planting suits Perth for the same climatic reasons and offers a different look. Olives, rosemary, lavender, westringia, agaves, succulents and clipped evergreens give structure through summer and tolerate heat and poor soil. The critical requirement is genuinely free draining soil, which Perth sand provides in abundance, though it is worth remembering that many of these plants dislike sitting wet through a winter in a heavy amended bed. Matching the amendment to the planting matters. Ask for an establishment watering schedule in writing as part of the design package.

Coastal gardens need species that tolerate salt laden wind and a great many popular plants do not. Along the coastal strip, leaves burn and growth becomes one sided within a season if the wrong species go in an exposed position. Coastal natives, succulents, olives and a number of hardy exotics handle it well, and a windbreak of tough planting on the exposed side protects everything behind it. A local designer will know exactly where the line falls in your suburb.

The hills and the South West are a different climate again and the planting reflects it. Higher rainfall, cooler winters, clay soils in places and genuine frost in some locations open up species that would struggle on the coastal plain, while also introducing drainage problems that Perth sand never has. Gardens through Kalamunda, Mundaring, Bridgetown and the Margaret River region are planned around those conditions. Advice written for a Perth suburb does not transfer up the scarp unchanged. A windbreak takes a few seasons to do its job, so it belongs in the first stage rather than the last. Salt tolerant does not mean indestructible, and even tough species suffer in an exposed corner.

In bushfire prone areas the planting plan becomes a safety document as well as a design one. Species selection, spacing, the separation between canopy and ground fuel and the treatment of the area immediately around the house all matter, and dense shrubbery against a wall is the classic mistake. The Department of Fire and Emergency Services sets out what fuel management around a home should look like in Western Australian conditions. A designer working in the hills should raise it before you do. Frost pockets in low lying parts of a hills block catch out plants that would be fine fifty metres away.

Plant size at purchase is a budget decision with a long tail. Tubestock and small pots establish faster, cost far less and catch up within a few seasons, while advanced specimens give an immediate result at several times the price and carry more transplant risk. Most gardens are best served by a small number of advanced plants for structure and everything else planted small. A planting schedule that specifies pot sizes lets you see exactly where the money is going.

Limestone, Paving and Levels

Limestone is the material that makes Western Australian gardens look like Western Australian gardens. Natural limestone blocks, reconstituted limestone blocks and limestone cladding are used for retaining, terracing, steps and feature walls right across the metropolitan area, and the warm colour suits the light here in a way imported stone rarely does. It is also locally quarried, widely available and well understood by local trades. The limestone retaining walls page covers the construction detail. Ask for the schedule to note mature dimensions as well, since that is what determines spacing.

Retaining walls are structural elements and they are regulated accordingly. Beyond a modest height, and in some circumstances below it, a retaining wall requires local government approval and engineering certification, and walls near boundaries bring the neighbour into the conversation as well. Drainage behind the wall is what determines whether it survives, and it is the part most often skimped. The retaining wall approval and certification page covers the process. Ask whether the limestone is natural or reconstituted, because the two look and weather differently. Sealing limestone is an option worth discussing at design stage rather than after staining appears.

Paving choices in Perth run from clay and concrete pavers to liquid limestone, exposed aggregate and natural stone. Liquid limestone has become very popular around pools and alfresco areas because it stays cooler underfoot than dark paving and suits the local palette, while pavers offer easier repair and access to services beneath. Every option needs a properly prepared and compacted base, which in sand means more than a rake and a hope. The paving and driveway installation page covers the work.

Levels are where a garden either works or feels wrong. The relationship between the house floor level, the alfresco, the lawn and the pool surround determines whether the space reads as one connected area or a series of awkward steps, and it also determines where water goes. Finished levels must keep paving below the damp course and fall away from the building. A design that sets those levels explicitly prevents the most expensive category of landscaping mistake. Liquid limestone also needs control joints placed thoughtfully, since they are permanent and visible.

Decking suits the sites where paving does not. Where levels need to be bridged, where a deck can sit over sand without excavation, or where a warmer material underfoot is wanted, timber or composite decking earns its place. In Western Australia jarrah remains the traditional choice and composite products have become common for their low maintenance. The decking page covers material selection and construction. Getting the levels documented also protects you if a dispute arises about what was agreed.

Edging is a small item that does a great deal of work in a sandy garden. Without a defined edge, mulch migrates onto paving, lawn creeps into beds and the crisp lines a design depends on disappear within two seasons. Steel, concrete, brick and limestone edging all suit different settings. The garden edging installation page covers the options.

Lighting extends when the garden gets used, which in a Perth summer is mostly after dark. Low voltage path lighting, uplighting on feature trees and walls, and lighting on steps for safety transform how a garden functions in the evening, and the cabling has to go in before the paving and the planting. Retrofitting it later means lifting what you just built. The garden lighting installation page and the outdoor lighting installation page cover the work. Edging also gives the mower a clean run, which makes ongoing maintenance easier.

Staging the Build

Very few households build a whole garden at once and staging it properly is a design decision rather than a compromise. A staged plan sequences the work so that nothing built in stage one has to be disturbed in stage three, which usually means services, levels, drainage and retaining go in early even if the planting waits. Reticulation mains and lighting cable are the classic examples, since both are cheap to lay in an open trench and expensive to retrofit under finished paving. A designer who plans the stages is saving you real money. Twelve volt systems are safer and easier to extend later than mains voltage garden lighting.

The order that works in most Western Australian gardens is reasonably consistent. Demolition and clearing, earthworks and levels, retaining and structural elements, drainage and soakwells, service trenching for reticulation and lighting, hard surfaces, soil preparation, planting, mulch and then the finishing items. Skipping ahead to the visible parts and returning to the invisible ones later is how gardens end up dug up twice. A contractor who insists on the sequence is protecting your budget. Ask for the staging to be marked on the plan so each stage can be priced on its own. A stage that can be paused without leaving the garden unusable is a well planned stage.

Soil preparation deserves its own stage rather than being folded into planting. In Perth sand that means bringing in improved soil or amending in place with clay, compost and wetting agent to a genuine depth across the planted areas, not a scoop in each hole. A plant in improved soil surrounded by raw sand sits in a bathtub that drains too fast and roots that will not leave it. Ask exactly what soil preparation is included and to what depth, because it is the line most often thinned out to win a quote.

Seasons matter and they matter more here than in wetter climates. Autumn and early winter are the right time to plant in Perth, since roots establish through the mild wet months and the plant is ready for its first summer. Planting in November commits you to keeping everything alive through the hardest possible conditions in the year it is least able to cope. Building the hard landscaping through summer and planting in autumn is a sensible way to stage a project. Ask what the contractor does if the budget runs out partway through a stage.

Pools change the sequencing entirely and they need to be first. A pool shell, its plant, its plumbing and the machinery access needed to install it will destroy anything built before it, and pool fencing requirements affect the layout of the whole garden. Where a pool is planned even years ahead, the design should account for the access route. The swimming pool construction page and the pool fencing installation page cover that work. Plants put in during a Perth November need daily attention to survive, which is rarely realistic.

Budget honestly by stage rather than optimistically overall. Landscaping costs are dominated by the invisible items, with earthworks, retaining, drainage and soil preparation frequently exceeding the planting and the furniture that everyone photographs. A design that comes in at double the budget is a common and avoidable outcome. Telling the designer the real figure at the first meeting produces a plan you can actually build. Where a pool is possible rather than certain, at least leave the access corridor unbuilt. Machinery access for a pool shell typically needs a clear corridor of three metres or more, and fences, walls and established planting all get in the way.

Approvals, Verges and Neighbours

Local government sets most of the rules that affect a garden and they differ between councils. Retaining wall heights requiring approval, fence heights particularly in front setbacks, permitted verge treatments, crossover widths, tree protection and stormwater disposal requirements are all local, and the answer for a friend's project in another suburb may not apply to yours. One call to the planning or engineering counter settles your address. Council contact details are published through wa.gov.au. Contingency of ten percent on a landscaping project is sensible rather than pessimistic.

The verge is council land and it comes with its own rules. Most Western Australian local governments now publish a verge treatment policy setting out what may be planted, maximum plant heights for sight lines at driveways and corners, whether hard surfaces are permitted, and what the owner is responsible for maintaining. Many actively encourage waterwise verge gardens in place of lawn and some offer plants or rebates. Reading your council's policy before designing the verge avoids being asked to remove it.

Street trees on the verge belong to the council regardless of who waters them. They cannot be removed or heavily pruned without permission, and damage caused during landscaping works can attract a penalty and a replacement cost. Where a new crossover is planned, the tree question is dealt with through that application. Tell your contractor clearly which trees are council property before machinery arrives. Some councils also supply verge plants at low cost or run rebate programs worth asking about.

Fences and boundaries involve the neighbour whether you want them to or not. Dividing fences in Western Australia are generally a shared responsibility subject to the local government's fencing local law, and height limits apply particularly in front setbacks and near driveways where sight lines matter. Replacing a boundary fence as part of a landscaping project is much easier with a conversation beforehand. The fence and gate installation page covers the work itself. Photograph any verge tree before works start so its condition is on record.

Pools bring the most prescriptive requirements in any garden. Barrier requirements are strict, they are inspected by local government on a cycle, and a garden design that puts a climbable object near a pool fence has created a compliance problem rather than a feature. Gates, latches, boundary fences forming part of a barrier and the non climbable zone all have specific rules. Designing the garden around them from the start is far easier than moving a planter later.

Stormwater has to be dealt with on the property in most of the metropolitan area. Adding paving, a patio or a large shed increases the impervious area and therefore the runoff, and a soakwell system sized for the original house may be well short afterwards. Councils generally require the disposal to be shown in an approval where one is needed. The french drain and subsoil drainage page covers one of the tools for managing it. Barrier compliance is checked at sale as well, which catches out owners who altered a garden years earlier.

Contracts matter once the numbers get serious. Landscaping work of any scale should be under a written agreement naming the scope, the materials, the stages, the payment points and what happens to variations, and where the work includes structures above a value threshold the state's building and contract requirements come into play. Consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law, administered nationally by the ACCC, apply to the work as to any trade service. A handshake and a lump sum is how landscaping disputes start. Adding a soakwell during the landscaping works is far cheaper than retrofitting one through a finished garden.

Costs in Detail

A concept plan for a small garden runs $600 to $1,800 and delivers a layout you can work from rather than a document a contractor can build from. A full design with planting plan, levels, construction details and reticulation layout runs $1,800 to $6,500 depending on the size and complexity of the site. Larger properties, steep sites and gardens involving pools or significant retaining sit above that. The fee is often credited against construction where the same firm builds it.

A site survey establishing levels and existing features runs $650 to $1,800 and is worth it on any sloping or complex block. Without accurate levels a designer is guessing at the earthworks, and earthworks are where budgets are won and lost. On a flat suburban block with simple boundaries it can often be skipped. On a hills site it never should be. Ask whether the design fee is credited against construction if the same firm builds it.

Soil preparation runs $12 to $35 a square metre depending on depth, the amendment used and whether improved soil is imported or the existing sand is treated in place. This is the line most often reduced to win a job and the one most responsible for gardens failing in their second year. Ask for the depth and the specification in writing. It is the cheapest insurance in the whole project.

Planting supplied and installed runs $35 to $95 a square metre depending on plant sizes, density and species. A bed planted from tubestock at sensible spacing sits at the bottom of that range and a bed planted with advanced specimens sits well above the top. Mulch, staking and initial watering are usually included but worth confirming. Plant sizes on the schedule are what make two planting quotes comparable. Ask for the amendment to be specified by product and rate rather than described generally.

Reticulation designed and installed for a typical garden runs $2,200 to $6,500 depending on the number of stations, the split between drip and sprinkler, the controller and the length of mains required. Adding a station later is straightforward where the system has capacity and expensive where it does not. Design it for the finished garden rather than for stage one. That single decision saves a trench. Advanced plants also need staking and more water through establishment, which adds to the figure.

Design and construct figures vary enormously with scope. A small courtyard designed and built runs $8,000 to $25,000, while a typical rear garden with paving, planting, reticulation, lighting and some retaining runs $25,000 to $80,000, and gardens involving pools, substantial limestone terracing or extensive decking run well beyond that. Regional Western Australia adds travel and material freight, with contractors in Bunbury, Albany, Geraldton and the Goldfields working at comparable rates within their own areas. In smaller towns, the availability of specialist trades is usually the tighter constraint.

What to Look Out For

Check that soil preparation is specified with a depth and a method. A quote that lists planting per square metre with no preparation line is a quote for a garden that will struggle, because Perth sand will not support a planted bed without amendment. Ask what is being added, to what depth and across what area. A designer or contractor who talks about soil before they talk about plants understands this climate. A larger project is usually quoted stage by stage, which makes it easier to compare and to pace.

Be cautious of planting plans that ignore the watering roster. A scheme full of thirsty exotics on a two day roster is a scheme that will need constant intervention or will fail, and the person who drew it will not be there in February. Ask directly how the planting has been matched to the available watering hours. The answer separates a designer who works here from one who works from a catalogue.

Watch for reticulation being treated as an afterthought. Retrofitting zones, separating drip from sprinkler, or running a new mains line after the paving is down are all expensive and disruptive, and every one of them is avoidable at the design stage. The reticulation layout should be part of the drawings rather than something the installer works out on the day. Ask to see it. A scheme designed around the roster also tends to look better in February, which is when it matters.

Take the retaining wall approval question seriously. Walls above the height your council nominates need approval and engineering, and a wall built without either can be the subject of an enforcement notice years later when the property sells. It also affects your insurance position if it fails. Ask who is obtaining the approval and get the certification documents at the end. Ask whether the reticulation designer and the installer are the same person.

Be careful with verge works before reading the council policy. Verge gardens are encouraged in many WA local governments and regulated in all of them, with rules on plant height, sight lines and hard surfaces. Building something that has to be removed is a painful way to learn the policy. It is a five minute read on the council website. Keep the engineering documents with the property records for the next owner.

One last thing, be wary of a design that arrives with no cost estimate attached. A beautiful plan you cannot afford to build has cost you the design fee and produced nothing, and it happens frequently. A designer should be able to give you an indicative construction range at concept stage and refine it as the design develops. If they will not, tell them the budget again and ask for the plan to be drawn to it.

How to Get Comparable Quotes

Gather the site information before you make contact. The block size and dimensions, which areas you want addressed, the orientation, any slope, what is there now and what is staying, whether there is an existing reticulation system and a bore, whether a pool exists or is planned, and your honest budget range. Photographs from several angles and, if you have it, a copy of the site plan from the house build all help. Designers quoting from that information can tell you what is realistic. A designer who asks for your budget at the first meeting is trying to avoid exactly this outcome.

Be clear about which product you are buying. A concept plan, a fully documented design for tender, or a design and construct package are three different purchases at three different prices, and asking three firms for quotes without specifying which will produce three incomparable numbers. Say which one you want. If you are unsure, ask each to price the concept stage and decide after seeing it. Rough dimensions taken with a tape are better than nothing if no plan exists.

Give every contractor the same scope when it comes to construction. Areas and quantities, materials by name, soil preparation depth and specification, plant schedule with pot sizes, reticulation zones and controller, lighting, edging, mulch type and depth, disposal of spoil, reinstatement, the program and the maintenance period after handover. That last item is worth asking about, since many landscapers include a short establishment maintenance period and some do not. Ask each firm how many revisions of the concept are included in the fee.

Ask what happens after handover. A new garden needs regular watering, weeding and attention through its first year while the planting establishes, and the difference between a garden that thrives and one that limps is usually what happens in those twelve months. Some firms offer an establishment maintenance package, and the lawn mowing and garden maintenance page covers ongoing care. Budget for it rather than assuming the garden will look after itself. Ask whether the maintenance period includes reticulation adjustment through the first summer.

Time the project to suit the planting rather than your impatience. Hard landscaping can be built at any time of year in Perth, while planting is far more successful in autumn and early winter than in late spring. Sequencing construction through summer and planting in April or May gives the garden the best possible start. It also tends to mean better contractor availability than the spring rush. Autumn planting also means the first watering season falls when the roster is least restrictive.