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Trellis News
The newsletter for Garden Designers

Happy New Year! Welcome to the first edition for 2003 of Trellis News, the ezine that aims to help you expand your community and your business.

The New Year brings with it some exciting changes for Trellis News - to fulfil its purpose of being an effective way for you to communicate with other designers, to share your views and to be able to tap into the resources available from your peers, Trellis News will now be published fortnightly rather than six weekly as before. This means that your emails will be published far more quickly than before, keeping the flow of discussions current and hopefully, from what you've sent in to date, very lively!

I'd appreciate any feedback on this change in the frequency of publication and also any feedback about what you'ld like to see in future editions of Trellis News - how can it help you?

Letters Page -
Your opportunity to have your say, to ask questions, look for resources.

In the last edition, Adam Bailey had strong views about charging for work - part of his comments are below as a reminder -"I agree also that GD doesn't have to be an elite service. We have clients who spend £100 on plants and nothing else. They're just as valued as the higher spending clients since our reputation is crucial for both clients, regardless of what they spend. What people can afford isn't the subject, it's what the designer can offer for their money that matters. I've learnt the hard way over the years by trying to offer quality for peanuts. It can't be done. We aim to keep costs down wherever possible, so the client gets the most from their money without sacrificing the quality too much.

Do we, as an industry, want to raise standards, or are we happy to lower them for the sake of the public's lack of awareness to what things cost? There are companies out there cheaper than mine, loads of them. But they've also got a lot of unhappy customers who were told they could have gold by paying in brass. Many of whom come to us in the end.... "

In response, Clive Warwick wrote:
We agree with the comments of Adam Bailey on both accounts. On fees, like Adam, we generally try to charge on a percentage of the clients budget. If this is not known then we estimate the work and complexities of the design work required and agree a fixed and affordable price with the client on a quotation basis. The fee would generally include for a survey and project management and would be based on past experience. Most clients both resident and more especially commercial, prefer a fixed price, rather than to run the risk of the hourly rate practice. This in our view is less professional and if you can get 10% per project then good luck to you, you must be a very good and rich salesman!!

One the point of the £1000 budget. This makes our blood boil for many reasons - it is partly to do with the rising perception and inexperience of landscaping currently held by the general public and the failings of inexperienced people within the industry. We have a verity of enquiries from the general public wanting garden "makeovers" and we generally advise them to get in touch with a good local landscaper, tell him or her what they require and get a quote. Simple as that."

Alex Bell's contribution was:
I am in total agreement with Adam in that I feel that the general public is not aware of what gardens really cost. However, I am all too aware of how difficult it is as a designer just starting out and how easy it is to agree to carry out a job at a reduced price, barely covering costs, because you feel you need the experience. We have all been there and have all learnt our lesson, luckily I learnt mine on my first ever design and construction commission.

There are far too many people out there who are willing to take advantage of others. If clients think they can get something for nothing they will push and push until they get what they want. Unfortunately there are always people who will get caught out in this situation, the best way to deal with it is to have some sort of standard policy for charging for your time. There is a reason you should charge for your time, you have put a lot of hard work and determination into the design courses you have just completed. The clients are paying for a trained professional designer who has qualified from a college course. Obviously this is where your experience determines what should be charged.

I think that one of the other problems in the industry at the moment is that there are many would-be designers and competition in the industry is high. This makes the temptation to charge less more appealing because you may feel you will secure more work.

However, as Adam Bailey has suggested, when given such low budgets like £1000 it limits your creativity and barely covers costs for labour let alone materials. Although, there still seems to be this gap in the market, should this really be the direction that qualified garden designers should follow? Would it not be best to leave these jobs to smaller landscaping firms who might be able to do a quick sketch on site with the client? In my experience, £300 barely covers the design costs let alone the construction work and additional site visits for the designer during the construction process.

Too many people see the gardening programmes on TV and believe they are able to achieve the same quality if not higher standards in their own gardens for a minimum price. TV is a different world and often does not translate so well in the real world! However, that is not to say that these programmes should be taken off our screens. If people are willing to listen to you and gain from your experience, I believe these programmes can be beneficial helping prospective clients to realise what it is they want to create in their gardens, making our job of fulfilling the brief much easier. They can also be a very good source of inspiration for the designer themselves.

In short, make sure you charge for your time but try to make the client understand why you charge for your time. Effective communication between client, designer and contractor is the key to gaining more commissions and ensuring the project runs smoothly. The prospective clients that are serious about creating their dream garden will have no problem with spending a little bit before the construction to make sure they get and understand what they are paying for. A colleague said to me recently "People don't expect to get a free plan from an architect when proposals are being drawn up to build a house". The Garden Design industry is an industry with trained professionals who deserve the same treatment and respect an architect would receive from prospective clients.

and finally Amanda Colberg said:
I couldn't agree more with Adam. I have been designing gardens for just 2 years. I charge by the hour. I have also found that most people want what they see on the television but they have no idea what it costs to achieve a quality design for any garden. The time it takes to survey a garden and produce an inked drawing to scale can cost upwards of £850.00.

What do you think about any of the above?
Or is there something else you'ld like to say to your profession?

Please email me at for publication in the next edition of Trellis News, in a fortnight's time

How to set effective New Year's Resolutions!
by Annie Meachem

New Year is traditionally a time when we make New Year's Resolutions, most of which have been given up or forgotten about by the end of January.

So, is it a waste of time bothering with resolutions at all? I think that giving ourselves the space and time to take stock of where we've got to in our lives and businesses, and how we'ld like to see things develop differently over the coming year is a valuable exercise to do. The trick is to go about setting our resolutions in a more effective way, so as to give us the greatest chance of succeeding with them……………….

1. Make them positive -
Rather than saying "I want to stop smoking", phrase it to yourself as "I want to become a non-smoker", etc, so that you feel you're gaining something rather than trying to lose something. What you focus on is what you get, so focus on what you want to happen.

2. Choose a different resolution -
If you tried last year and failed, it's likely you'll fail with that resolution again. Instead, change it to something positive, or more easily achievable, such as "I'm going to do 20 minutes yoga a day" rather than "I'm going to be less stressed this year".

3. Decide if you really want it!
Unless you do, you're unlikely to stick at it. Visualise the benefits of achieving your resolution, how you'll feel, what it'll look like, what people will say to you - if the vision in your mind is strong enough, you'll stay motivated.

4. Make your resolutions SMART -
If your resolution is vague ("I want to be more organised"), it's unlikely to motivate you into action. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Action-based, Realistic and Time Framed. So the resolution above might be rephrased SMARTly as "I will return phone calls the day I receive them, and reply to emails within 24 hours. I will allocate an hour each Sunday evening to plan out the coming week".

5. Write your resolutions down -
and keep them somewhere very visible - perhaps on your screen saver or pinned to the fridge. The resolutions that you only think about seem to just disappear into thin air…

6. Make them a manageable size -
Changing the habits of a lifetime takes time, and is best achieved one step at a time. Choose achievable targets, and break each one down into action steps, with monthly targets, and daily actions.

7. Plan a reward -
and make it something you really, really want, so that the desire for it outweighs the effort you'll need to make to persist with your resolution.

8. Make sure you're in control of the outcome -
Resolving to bring about world peace this year is a futile resolution for me to make, as it is definitely out of my control. Also let go of resolutions where you think "I should cut back on the drinking this year" - a "should" means it's someone else's goal, not yours and you won't have the motivation to achieve it - because you don't really want to anyway.

9. Get support -
Pair up with a friend to go to the gym, or join a slimming club. Cut up the credit cards, or don't buy the wine, then you won't be tempted. Hire a coach and tell them your goals - they'll keep you on track.

10. Make resolutions all year round
rather than just on 1st Jan because it's traditional - you'll be more likely to be fully committed to your goals, and more likely to achieve them!

Coaching Exercise:
Go on, make some resolutions, following the steps above. If you find yourself thinking of things that are bound to stop you succeeding, that's where a coach can really help you move past the obstacles you put in your own way - contact me to find out more.

"Goals provide the energy source that powers our lives. One of the best ways we can get the most from the energy we have is to focus it. That is what goals can do for us; concentrate our energy. " (Denis Waitley, US motivational speaker)

End piece

Hope that you've enjoyed this edition and that something in it has got you thinking!If you have found this interesting, it would be great if you could forward it on to colleagues, and ask them to subscribe by sending a blank email to .

Do contact me by for an informal chat, or to arrange a complementary telephone coaching call to find out how coaching supports entrepreneurs and professionals like you to grow succesful lives & businesses.

Best Wishes

Annie Meachem

Trellis Coaching
+44 (0) 1243 545010
email

"Supporting Personal & Business Growth"

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Copyright © Annie Meachem 2003/4. Copyright in this document is owned by Annie Meachem. All rights are reserved. This document may not be copied or distributed without the prior written consent of the Copyright owner.