Free design consult?

[Anonymous]

Who will do a truly free home consult for landscaping? I’m looking online, but many places mention a fee that is refundable if I spend thousands of dollars! We just bought an old house and I want to get some ideas and estimates and have time to think before making any changes.

[Anonymous]

Anyone know a lawyer or doctor who can give me a free consult? .. I just want an expert's idea of what my problems and options might be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know a lawyer or doctor who can give me a free consult? .. I just want an expert's idea of what my problems and options might be.

We’ve done interior renovations and had plenty of contractors come and give free initial consultations. How is this different?

[Anonymous]

What kind of consultation are you looking for? Someone just to come and talk generally about what you want to do and give you a broad ballpark of what it might cost (acknowledging that nothing can be set for certain until you've come up with a design, picked plants and other materials, etc.)? You can find plenty of landscape designers who will do that for free, but no one is going to give you their design ideas for free. Too many people would take those free ideas and then execute them for less on their own and the designer makes nothing for their time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What kind of consultation are you looking for? Someone just to come and talk generally about what you want to do and give you a broad ballpark of what it might cost (acknowledging that nothing can be set for certain until you've come up with a design, picked plants and other materials, etc.)? You can find plenty of landscape designers who will do that for free, but no one is going to give you their design ideas for free. Too many people would take those free ideas and then execute them for less on their own and the designer makes nothing for their time.

I’m certainly not looking for a scaled drawing or anything, though a rough sketch would be wonderful. I’m really just looking to have someone come look at my yard and give me a sense of how to deal with the old garden — walkways are needed, need a shed for storage, need new plants and am not sure what we have is weeds vs good stuff, and what to do with our retaining wall made up of rotting railroad ties. It’s my chance to reshape the yard and I have zero idea of what to do and when. So an idea of what zones the yard might have, whether I should keep or replace walkways, where to situate a shed, which plants I have and which I could add that might do well... that kind of thing.

I don’t want to make any changes until I see what comes up this spring and summer. The beds are full of things that I can’t identify.

[Anonymous]

Forgot to mention I don’t expect any one person to give me all of the above info! I’m just listing some questions I have about my yard. Tackling any of it or just the rough outline through conversation is all I need.

[Anonymous]

For all the questions you have it would be worthwhile to pay for an hour or two of a professional's time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For all the questions you have it would be worthwhile to pay for an hour or two of a professional's time.

+1. All of your questions are ones you could figure out for yourself if you put the time and effort into it. If you want someone else to do that work for you, you need to pay them.

[Anonymous]

Landscape Designer here: Everything you’re asking for is what I do but little of it would be part of my initial consult. That discussion sure focuses on your questions but more importantly it focuses on your goals. If you want walkeays but have a drainage issue-I’ll know that I can possibly solve one while building the other. I can give an assesment as far as if wall is failing but until I investigate why-I can’t tell you how to rebuild so it doesn’t happen again.

That initial meriting is where I understand your aesthetic and you tell me your budget. I would not be sketching out a rough design for you: I don’t give my design work away for free and I don’t even credit you for it if you decide to hire me to installl it as I create a plan for hour landscape and then figure out how to accomplish it within uour hoped for costs and don’t pad the installation fees to cover the hours spent designing it.

And re this first meeting: I’ve gone back and forth on charging for my first visit but have decided that the $150 wasn’t worth it as I can usually tell from first ‘contact’ of the prospective client is serious and I’m happy to invest an hour of my time firguring out how I’ll approach their particular space-and not offer the same design done yard after yard.

While I’m sure there’s someone who’ll do what you want for free I can tell that you don’t understand how a well designed landscape plan despite actually costing something gives you a valuable path towards addressing every single one of your questions. I think I’ve been around enough that I’d pick up on your intention of taking my time with no intention of hiring me. Luckily I only met with someone like you once last year and with the rest-85% hired me, 15% decided not to proceed with the work wether it was because they didn’t think I was going to provide what they were looking for or/and Icost too much.

I know I’m coming off cranky and abrupt but you sound like a client no one would want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Landscape Designer here: Everything you’re asking for is what I do but little of it would be part of my initial consult. That discussion sure focuses on your questions but more importantly it focuses on your goals. If you want walkeays but have a drainage issue-I’ll know that I can possibly solve one while building the other. I can give an assesment as far as if wall is failing but until I investigate why-I can’t tell you how to rebuild so it doesn’t happen again.

That initial meriting is where I understand your aesthetic and you tell me your budget. I would not be sketching out a rough design for you: I don’t give my design work away for free and I don’t even credit you for it if you decide to hire me to installl it as I create a plan for hour landscape and then figure out how to accomplish it within uour hoped for costs and don’t pad the installation fees to cover the hours spent designing it.

And re this first meeting: I’ve gone back and forth on charging for my first visit but have decided that the $150 wasn’t worth it as I can usually tell from first ‘contact’ of the prospective client is serious and I’m happy to invest an hour of my time firguring out how I’ll approach their particular space-and not offer the same design done yard after yard.

While I’m sure there’s someone who’ll do what you want for free I can tell that you don’t understand how a well designed landscape plan despite actually costing something gives you a valuable path towards addressing every single one of your questions. I think I’ve been around enough that I’d pick up on your intention of taking my time with no intention of hiring me. Luckily I only met with someone like you once last year and with the rest-85% hired me, 15% decided not to proceed with the work wether it was because they didn’t think I was going to provide what they were looking for or/and Icost too much.

I know I’m coming off cranky and abrupt but you sound like a client no one would want.

Thanks for the info. I should be clear that this is the very rough initial stages. I just bought the house so I want to see what happens during the spring and summer, if there are flowers or shrubs I might keep, etc. I’m not looking for a full design or sketch. By rough sketch, I literally meant a box drawn in ballpoint with a couple curvles to show beds or where a walkway might go. I know nothing about gardening so I don’t have an aesthetic or preferences yet and don’t have a budget, which is why I don’t want to buckle down with a full on design session yet, which of course I’m happy to pay for.

I’m still interested in a free consult if anyone can point me in that direction. I really just need someone to come over and give me basics to start with, like say, “ Ok, your retaining wall is rotting, but you should replace in x weather or conditions” or “Wall needs to be done ASAP but here are options in stone or concrete” and “Those beds/pathways don’t make sense, what about doing a bed along the fence” or “These two trees are dying and need to be cut down” or “These beds are full of weeds” vs “These beds are actually full of good plants.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Landscape Designer here: Everything you’re asking for is what I do but little of it would be part of my initial consult. That discussion sure focuses on your questions but more importantly it focuses on your goals. If you want walkeays but have a drainage issue-I’ll know that I can possibly solve one while building the other. I can give an assesment as far as if wall is failing but until I investigate why-I can’t tell you how to rebuild so it doesn’t happen again.

That initial meriting is where I understand your aesthetic and you tell me your budget. I would not be sketching out a rough design for you: I don’t give my design work away for free and I don’t even credit you for it if you decide to hire me to installl it as I create a plan for hour landscape and then figure out how to accomplish it within uour hoped for costs and don’t pad the installation fees to cover the hours spent designing it.

And re this first meeting: I’ve gone back and forth on charging for my first visit but have decided that the $150 wasn’t worth it as I can usually tell from first ‘contact’ of the prospective client is serious and I’m happy to invest an hour of my time firguring out how I’ll approach their particular space-and not offer the same design done yard after yard.

While I’m sure there’s someone who’ll do what you want for free I can tell that you don’t understand how a well designed landscape plan despite actually costing something gives you a valuable path towards addressing every single one of your questions. I think I’ve been around enough that I’d pick up on your intention of taking my time with no intention of hiring me. Luckily I only met with someone like you once last year and with the rest-85% hired me, 15% decided not to proceed with the work wether it was because they didn’t think I was going to provide what they were looking for or/and Icost too much.

I know I’m coming off cranky and abrupt but you sound like a client no one would want.

Thanks for the info. I should be clear that this is the very rough initial stages. I just bought the house so I want to see what happens during the spring and summer, if there are flowers or shrubs I might keep, etc. I’m not looking for a full design or sketch. By rough sketch, I literally meant a box drawn in ballpoint with a couple curvles to show beds or where a walkway might go. I know nothing about gardening so I don’t have an aesthetic or preferences yet and don’t have a budget, which is why I don’t want to buckle down with a full on design session yet, which of course I’m happy to pay for.

I’m still interested in a free consult if anyone can point me in that direction. I really just need someone to come over and give me basics to start with, like say, “ Ok, your retaining wall is rotting, but you should replace in x weather or conditions” or “Wall needs to be done ASAP but here are options in stone or concrete” and “Those beds/pathways don’t make sense, what about doing a bed along the fence” or “These two trees are dying and need to be cut down” or “These beds are full of weeds” vs “These beds are actually full of good plants.”

You need a friend who will do you a favor. What you're looking for is not something that any competent business person will do for free.

[Anonymous]

your home is your most valuable possession...please don't scrimp and be cheap.

Just becasue a landscaper isn't a PHd candidate doean't mean that their time is any less valuable.

yes interior decorator and re-modelers will not charge since they are trying to score work from you in which case they will recoup their time spent talking to you.

if you want a landscape architect to give you some ideas its just too easy to take the plans they provide and either do it yourself on the cheap or hire some jose's from home depot to do the work.

it really sounds like you just want someone to impart their knowledge and you have no desire to retain their services.

it might cost you 75-100 bucks to get what you are asking for...

that being said, if you live near vienna or Mclean or reston I'll be more than happy to swing by your place but I'll expect compensation. I'm a landscape and grounds manager for a university. I won't try to sell you anything. just give you some ideas

[Anonymous]

Stop being a cheapskate ffs.

[Anonymous]

You could take pictures and go to Merrifield Garden Center and they will talk with you. It could be a starting point.

You can also post pics online at the Gardenweb or similar, and people offer helpful suggestions.

Both are free! Good luck.

[Anonymous]

As someone who's gone through and is still landscaping my yard, your best bet would probably be to talk to the poster above and ask them to stop by, or talk to a landscape designer, and pay them by the hour to answer your questions you might have.

As others said, some will be willing to do this and others may not. Also, designing a landscape and getting an expert opinion is never free. It might be "free," but there's always a catch. We had a landscape designer draw up a plan that I paid for, but a lot want to actually execute a plan and don't want to just sell you the plan outright for you to buy the plans and install.

Of course, you can just pay the small initial consult fee that a nursery charges and get a lot of your questions answered. The other option is take pictures and post online like other people said. There's always plenty of good/free advice on the internet from experts.