Five Things to Decide Before You Contact a Landscape Design and Build Company
- Johanna Pẽna
- 6 days ago
- 5 min read
Most people put off reaching out because they feel they haven't thought things through enough. They want a clearer picture in their head first — a mood board saved, a rough sketch sketched, a budget pinned down.
Here's the truth: you don't need any of that.
What does make a real difference — and what we always wish clients had considered before our first conversation — are five simple decisions. Not design decisions. Life decisions. Getting these clear early on means we spend less time backtracking and more time creating something genuinely right for you.
Because we handle everything in-house — from the initial concept right through to the finished build — we're in a position to give you a single, joined-up process. But that only works when we're properly aligned from the start.
1. How do you actually want to use the space?
This is the question that changes everything, and it's one most people skip entirely when they start thinking about a new garden or outdoor area.
It's natural to focus on how you want things to look- a certain material, a style you've seen somewhere, a feeling you're chasing. But a beautiful space that doesn't match how you actually live quickly stops being used. The furniture gets ignored. The entertaining area sits empty. The lawn you maintained carefully turns out to be in entirely the wrong place.
At Formosa Landscapes, we design and build outdoor spaces as genuine extensions of the home — places that work across the seasons, not just for one perfect afternoon in August. Because we're responsible for both the design and the build, every decision we make on the drawing board is grounded in how it will actually be constructed and how it will perform once it's finished.
Are you after a space for entertaining? A safe, open area for children to play? Somewhere quiet and private to step away from the world? An outdoor kitchen? Low-maintenance greenery that looks after itself?
There are no wrong answers. But knowing yours shapes every decision that follows.
2. How hands-on do you want to be?
Clients come to us with very different expectations of what the process looks like — and both ends of the spectrum work perfectly well.
Some people love being involved at every stage: choosing materials, weighing in on planting palettes, visiting during the build to see things take shape. Others lead busy lives and would rather place their trust in our experienced hands, handing the project over and returning to a finished space they love.
One of the genuine advantages of working with a design and build company is that you have a single point of contact throughout. There's no gap between what the designer envisioned and what the build team delivered — it's the same team, the same vision, all the way through. That makes the process smoother whether you want to be closely involved or prefer to step back entirely.
We'll always guide you either way. But understanding your preference early means the process feels right for you, not just for us.
3. A realistic sense of the investment involved
You don't need to arrive with a firm number. Most people don't have one, and that's fine.
What helps is having a rough sense of the scale you're comfortable with — whether that's a focused, well-executed smaller project or something more ambitious. This isn't about constraining creativity. It's about making sure that what we design is genuinely buildable within your budget, so the project moves forward rather than stalling when the first quote arrives.
Because we design and build ourselves, we price as we plan. There are no hand-offs to a separate contractor with a separate quote. When we meet, we'll walk you through examples of previous projects — with real costs attached — so you can get an honest feel for how far your investment would stretch. No surprises, and no pressure to commit to anything before you're ready.
4. What's already there — and what do you want to keep?
Most gardens we work on aren't blank slates. There's usually an existing lawn, a mature tree, a patio that's seen better days, a boundary wall that might be worth saving. Knowing how you feel about what's already there is more useful than people realise.
Sometimes clients arrive certain they want everything cleared and started fresh. Others have a tree they've watched grow for twenty years and wouldn't part with for anything. Both are completely valid — but we need to know before design begins, not halfway through.
Because we carry out the build ourselves, we also have a very clear sense of what removal and retention actually involves in practice — the time, the equipment, the cost. Retaining mature planting can save money and add instant character to a new scheme. Removing it costs more than most people expect. Understanding what's staying and what's going from the outset means our designs are grounded in reality, not just what looks good on a plan.
Have a walk around your space before we meet. Note what you'd genuinely miss and what you'd happily never see again.
5. Do you have a timeline in mind?
A design and build project has a lot of moving parts — concept, detailed design, material procurement, groundworks, build, planting — and the time it takes from first conversation to finished space is often longer than people expect. That's not a problem, as long as everyone goes in with realistic expectations.
If you have a date in mind- a milestone birthday, a summer of entertaining, a house sale- tell us early. It shapes how we sequence the work and whether certain approaches are even viable. One of the advantages of working with a single design and build team is that we control the programme from end to end, which means we can plan more efficiently and flag potential delays before they become problems.
Equally, if you have no particular deadline and would rather the project breathe and develop properly, that's just as useful to know. Some of the best work we do happens when there's no artificial pressure on the timeline.
If you've thought through these five things, you're in a better position than most people who get in touch. And if you haven't quite landed on your answers yet, that's fine too, it's exactly what our first conversation is for.
A new outdoor space is a meaningful investment, in your property and in your day-to-day life. Designed and built properly, as a single joined-up project — it's one of the most worthwhile things you can do to a home. We'd love to help you get there.
