LANDSCAPE DESIGN PLAN FAQs

Having a landscape plan created gives your garden or landscape design project a greater chance of success. More than just a piece of paper, a quality landscape plan is the end result of a considered process of thought and exploration, during which important aspects such as your style preferences, lifestyle & budget have been considered, along with local conditions such as climate and conditions.  A  professional landscape plan also acknowledges local authority rules and regulations that you or your contractor may not be aware of.  A landscape plan puts all the garden design ideas and requirements in one place. If you plan to engage a landscape contractor, a landscape plan provides them with quantities and measurements to inform your landscaping quote. That is why "Do you have a landscape plan?" is often the first question a contractor will ask you. 

The sort of landscape plan you need depends on the type of landscape design project you are undertaking, and how much and what kind of information you are trying to portray. 

• If you need help with coming up with landscape design ideas for a new property or require a fresh look to makeover your existing garden, your landscape plan will include spatial elements such as creating spaces for outdoor living, entertaining areas, safe or adventure spaces for children's play. There will be decisions needed on the layout of materials for hardscaped areas such as paving, patios, decks & paths. There are usually some planting decisions needed as well, so you will need a landscape plan or a landscape concept. 
  

• If your landscape structures are already planned out or in place, as is often the case with a newly built home where your planner or architect has created a hardscaping layout as part of your resource consent process, you may just need help with choosing plants and where to put them to give an attractive look to your property. In this instance, a planting plan or planting concept is what you will need.

• In more complex projects, where a lot of information needs to be provided,  you may need both.

• At DIY Designs we specialise in value-for-money 'Garden Master Plans', which combine both landscape & detailed planting information into one comprehensive plan.

We hear this often. Especially when people are trying to save money by skipping the 'design phase'. But it's a false economy, as a considered plan will actually save you money.

A great landscape design not only pulls together all the aspects of your outdoor makeover project, locking them together in one place. It also gives you the luxury of considering your options and the outcomes you desire before you build them.  You can use it to get landscape quotes and compare the impact on your budget of different finishes and materials.

If your intention is to engage a landscape contractor to price or build your landscape project, or if you are building a new home, or doing a substantial home renovation, you will definitely need a landscape plan, either for:

• A resource consent submission, to show you have considered the impact of your development on the immediate environment and your surrounding neighbourhood.

• To provide detailed information for your contractor for quoting and implementation.

For these purposes, at a minimum, you will need a scaled 2D landscape design that shows the proposed garden layout in a bird's eye view, with information such as m2 area quantities of hardscape, and areas of detailed planting.  Materials, finishes, and a detailed plant schedule are typically also required. 

Landscape plan and landscape concept are interchangeable terms, loosely speaking.

• A landscape plan can be just that - a basic plan of your landscape, typically showing the landscape designer's proposed layout for your garden in a 'birds-eye' (or from above) view. A really basic plan is often referred to as a 'schematic plan'. 

• A landscape design process usually starts with a schematic plan, which the garden designer then adds additional information to. Such as photos, sketches and descriptive notes telling you what all those lines and graphics on the 'plan' represent. In essence, all the things that bring the ideas to life on the page (or screen) to help you to visualise the proposed garden design. This is what is known as a 'landscape concept' or  'landscape concept plan' (same thing!).

  It is a 'concept' because it's still in the planning & ideas stage. These types of plans typically focus on a broad spatial layout and indicative hardscaping and materials and only show generalised plant information. 

• If more information is added, such as to inform the finer detailing or finishing of particular elements, the concept becomes a  'Detailed Plan' or 'Developed Concept' (same thing!). 

• A planting plan is a type of  'detailed drawing' and, like a concept plan, it is overlaid on a basic or schematic landscape plan of your site that shows the garden in a 'birds-eye' (or from above) view.  This plan still shows the location of hardscaping, but the detailed information relates to the planting aspects only.  Such as what the plants are, how far apart they are spaced etc. A planting plan also includes a plant schedule or plant list, so you know how many plants to buy and often it will include information on how to go about planting (planting specifications) and garden maintenance (a garden maintenance schedule). 
  

• At DIY Designs we've made it really easy for you. We sell comprehensive, value-for-money 'Garden Master Plans', which combine both landscape & detailed planting information into one info-packed plan perfect you you or your contractor to use. 

Planting plans are ideal if you already have your hardscape features in place and just need planting to complete the landscaping, or if you want to upgrade an existing garden using plants. 
A professional planting plan is drawn to scale in birdseye view,  so your designer will still need accurate measurements or an existing landscape plan to work from.  

DIYdesigns offers traditional Planting Plans which are suitable for resource consent purposes and for use by landscape contractors. We also create  Planting Concepts which are ideal for Developers Approval or for providing planting suggestions for  DIY garden makeover projects.