So great, now you have a client that's willing to pay your consultation fee, and you're going for the first visit. Now at this meeting, you're going to be doing lots of listening while the client is explaining what they would like in the new garden. At the same time, you also have to be looking at a property, looking at the site and also their home and making some evaluations of your own. So for example, the client might be talking about wanting to have a buildings from me and pulling the garden. But if they live on a hillside, this may become a very expensive project. What are the best views?
Is the garden faced in this house? Or do they get the heat in the afternoon? Do they want a patio? And if so, how would you provide a shade to make the space more comfortable and usable. Also, when you're in their home, pay attention to how to decorate today's most people will have better ideas on how to decorate the inside rather than the outside. And this might give you lots of clues on what what style or colors they prefer, and also what direction your design might take.
I would like you to read this quote from well known landscape architect Fletcher steel. So listen to the homeowners and learn to interpret what they're saying, and go beyond the obvious. employ your own creativity and imagination. And finally, discuss the design process with the client. And this is something I'm going to be covering more in detail later on in the course. But basically, your first presentation will be of a conceptual garden design plan, something to be modified and discussed the plan Order materials aren't specifically identified yet.
But the gardens been designed for over use and functionality. Let's take a look at an example of garden conceptual design plan. So here's an example of a conceptual garden plan. In this plan, we have a huge loan area, and also a walkway coming in on the right hand side, from the house towards the back of the garden. Also a large patio area, the plant graphic depicting just mass planting and some trees, but nothing specific until we had the input from the client. After that, we have their approval, we can come back making the changes and do the specific planting and material selections.
So this is the essence of the conceptual plan. So one last suggestion. The homeowner might ask you how much is the new garden going to cost? What This is something that you don't know yet, because you don't know what exactly is going to be built. So the best thing you can do under these circumstances is to give them an estimate based on what they said they would like to have in the garden. But if you don't know the materials and the labor costs, it's best not to give out any numbers.
Instead, maybe ask them what their budget is, and tell them that you're going to be working towards this budget. And also remember, the budget is going to include your design fee as well. So somebody's allowed, each design should be customized to the particular client, the need and the budget, and it all takes time. Now I mentioned something called design portfolio. So we're going to talk about it in the next lesson. I'll see in a few moments.