Landscaper or not?

I'm about to have an extension doen to my house, which will significantly affect the garden, and it will need more or less completely re-doing. Front and back - mainly because floor levels will change, and i'll have to move the shed and last year a tree fell down, and I don't like the front anyway etc etc.

But I'm not really sure how to go about this.
I'm the least artistic person you could ever meet. I have a few ideas of where I need stuff to go, but I'm less sure on how it should all be put together, and in any case I couldn't draw it out to save my life. My hubby's not much better than I am either.

So, do you think I should get a landscaper to put something together for me? Or should I try to do it myself first?
If I get a landscaper, any tips on choosing a good one?
And finally, should I get the landscaper, or the builder to do the work? My gut feeling is to get the builder to do it, as then they can work it in with the extension and do the relevant bits at the right time (eg re level the drive and steps at the same time they demolish the garage and put the new level in for what will become the study). I'm not too bothered about getting the landscaper to choose plants for me, I'm quite happy to potter about and do that myself - that's the interesting bit after all!

Any ideas or suggestions?

 

Like John said, unless he's me, a builder won't know top soil from subsoil & rubble that he doesn't want to pay to put into a skip.

Whilst building this week, I have also advised the clients on strawberry propagation and poisonous plants

 

Problem with a landscaper, as I see it (and have seen it in other people's gardens) is that their will can be imposed on you. Bit like an interior designer - do you actually get what you want, or what you were Wow!'d into thinking you wanted?

The Age-old debate I suppose ...

If you can define what you want, and have some help from someone to formalise/shape those thoughts (a Landscape Deisgner [similar to architect for a house, I suppose]) then maybe a Builder is a better choice because if they don;t have strong opinions they will only build what you have asked them to.

Maybe that is true of landscapers too, and I'm being unfair to them.

 

So that's why if you decide to use both you'll need to co-ordinate them, otherwise the builder may or may not skip the topsoil and possibly hardcore the landscaper could use, and the layout of drains the builder constructs may be affected by the landscaper's subsequent tree planting, etc., etc.

Seen plenty of examples of landscape architects' planting schemes with pits for semi-mature trees sited right over drain runs, pergola post foundations precisely over shallow drains & services, etc.

 

Hehehe ... ask 5 people and get 6 suggestions you mean?

 

Blimey, thats just what my psychiatrist said.:DOH:

 

Hi Rachel.
As a retired Landscape Gardener I must side with going for a landscaper . As mentioned in some of the previous posts beware of being manipulated into what they think you should do ..
Try to have some ideas in place and I'm sure there's plenty of advice to be had here . Get at least 3 landscapers to quote .Tell them what you are looking for, but obviously as experienced tradesmen you should not totally dismiss there ideas . Ask to see some local work they have done and not just photos .

Dave

 

Well I saw my first builder yesterday, and they have a landscape gardener who works with them, so that could work out very well.

Hmm, tried to add photos but I can't work it out. I have added them to my album though so you can see the state the garden is in at the moment! I'm ashamed, because it was so lovely when we moved in, and we've ruined it. :( Really need to get a grip on it.

Basically, if you can manage to orientate yourself from the photos, the lawn is at the back, all the paving is at the front. The front is WAY too much paving for my liking. There's a photo that shows next door's garden, and they have kind of a bricked terraced effect which I quite like. Where the garage is, that's going to be a study, and so is going to come up to the same level as the house - so that's going to be quite a change, and I want it leveling off so I don't bash the car door on a wall whenever I open it!

At the back, if you're looking away from the house, I want a summerhouse more or less where the rhododendron and pieris are, and on the other side, I think the shed will have to go there.
Again you can see that there's a pathway under the lounge window, and then the garden is higher. That's all going to have to be levelled in some way, because the area directly in front of the lounge window will be shaded by the new extension, so i think that a patio is the best solution there, otherwise any lawn is going to get waterlogged. The new kitchen is going to come out about 12ft (I think) from the existing kitchen window, and extend to the side. Not quite as far as the boundary, because we're having a passage there for access, because currently we have no access to the rear, other than going through the house.

Behind our garden is spare land. I'd really, really like to buy that land, but I don't know who owns it, or how to go about something like that.