Planning a Garden Makeover in Weybridge? Here’s What a Proper Design Process Looks Like

You have decided the garden needs sorting. Maybe it is a new-build plot with compacted clay and a stingy strip of turf. Maybe it is a tired 1990s layout that has never quite worked. Maybe you have just moved into a larger house in Oatlands or Cobham and the outdoor space is the last thing still on the list.

Whatever has brought you here, the instinct is usually the same. Get a landscaper round, get a quote, get the work booked in. That instinct is reasonable, and it is also how most garden projects go wrong.

The better way takes longer. It involves paying someone to think before anyone digs. And once you understand what that process actually delivers, it is hard to imagine commissioning a serious garden any other way.

Why the Design Stage Exists at All

A garden is not a single thing. It is drainage and levels and sightlines and planting and lighting and paving and structures and soil conditions and how the house connects to the plot. Every one of those elements affects the others. Change the level of the terrace by 150mm and you have changed where the water runs, how the steps work, what the view from the kitchen looks like, and whether the pergola can sit where you wanted it.

Trying to work that out on site, with a landscaper holding a tape measure and three different ideas in their head, is how you end up with the patio draining back towards the house and the planting scheme competing with the lawn instead of framing it.

A design process pulls all of that thinking forward, onto paper, before a single slab is lifted. The practices that do this well, such as MacColl & Stokes Landscaping with their bespoke garden design service, treat the plan itself as the most valuable part of the project. Build teams can lay beautiful stones. What separates a garden that works from one that doesn’t is almost always what happened before the stone arrived on site.

The Stages You Should Expect

A proper design process typically runs through five or six clear stages, each producing something tangible you can review and sign off before moving on.

Initial consultation. The designer comes to the site, walks the plot, asks a lot of questions about how you actually live. Do you cook outdoors? Do the kids have a dog? Where does the morning coffee happen? Are you hosting twelve for lunch in August or two for a quiet read? Good designers listen more than they talk at this stage. They are also quietly noting soil conditions, aspect, existing trees, drainage issues, and the awkward corner next to the shed that every previous owner has pretended isn’t there.

Concept development. You get a first sketch. Usually hand-drawn, sometimes rough, always focused on zoning. Where the entertaining space sits. Where the planting does the work. Where the view opens up and where it closes down for privacy. At this stage you are discussing the shape of the garden, not the materials. Good designers push back if your brief is contradictory, which most briefs are to start with.

Detailed design. This is where the plan becomes properly specified. Scaled drawings. A planting schedule listing every specimen, quantity, size at purchase, and mature dimensions. Material boards with actual samples of stone, timber, and render. Lighting plans. Drainage routing. If you are working with a design-led practice, you may also get 3D renders or walkthrough visualisations so you can see what the garden will actually look like, not just what it measures.

Quotation. An itemised cost breakdown. Not a round-number estimate. Every element should be priced separately so you can make informed decisions about what stays, what scales back, and what you add. A proper quotation also flags the variables that might shift once groundwork begins, such as ground conditions or tree root management, which saves nasty surprises later.

Implementation. The build phase. Usually done by the same team that did the design, though some practices will hand you the drawings to take elsewhere if you prefer. Doing both in-house generally produces better results, because the people building it understand the thinking behind it. Nothing gets lost in translation between the designer and the contractor, because they are the same firm.

Completion walkthrough. A site meeting at the end where the designer walks the finished space with you. Not a handover. A moment to check the garden matches the intent, to talk through maintenance, and to understand how the planting will develop over the first two or three years.

How Long It All Takes

This is where homeowners often get frustrated, so it is worth being honest about it.

The design stage alone runs from six weeks to four months, depending on the scale of the project and how quickly you can make decisions. On a full redesign with planning implications, add another eight to twelve weeks for consent.

The build itself, on a serious Surrey garden, typically takes twelve to twenty weeks on site. Complicated projects with retaining walls, significant level changes, or imported stone can run longer. Weather plays a real role. Hard landscaping in a wet Surrey winter is possible but slow.

Which means if you want to be using your new garden for summer 2027, the design conversation really needs to start now. According to general industry guidance from the Society of Garden Designers, most full-scale garden projects take six to twelve months from first contact to completion, and the best practices tend to book out well ahead.

What to Look for in a Designer

The design market is mixed. At one end, large practices with proper studios, landscape architects, and build teams. At the other, freelancers with a laptop and a Pinterest board. Both can produce good work. Neither is automatically the right fit for your project.

A few things separate the thoughtful operators from the rest.

1. They ask about maintenance before they ask about budget. Anyone who leads with cost has the priorities the wrong way round.
2. They show you finished projects at least three years old, not just photographs of the day the build completed. Gardens reveal themselves over time, and a designer who only shows you day-one pictures is hiding something.

Beyond that, the questions you should be asking them are practical. Who does the actual drawing, and can you see their previous plans? What software do they use, and will you get 3D visualisations? Who specifies the planting, and do they hold any horticultural qualifications? How do they handle changes during the build, and what is their process for signing those off?

The Money Conversation

A design fee on a serious garden in Weybridge typically runs from around £3,500 for a smaller plot to £15,000 or more for a full two-acre scheme with detailed visualisations. On large commissions, design fees are sometimes rolled into the overall project cost, though you should always ask for them to be broken out so you know what you are paying for.

That may sound significant until you realise that the design work usually represents around three to five percent of the total build cost, and that getting it right is the single biggest predictor of whether the rest of the money is well spent.

The Royal Horticultural Society offers guidance on commissioning a garden designer that is worth reading before your first meeting. It sets reasonable expectations on both sides, and it is useful context for the sort of brief you should be ready to provide.

What You Get for Your Money

At the end of a proper design process you have a document. Or more accurately, a package of documents. Scaled drawings, a planting schedule, material specifications, lighting plans, and a costed build schedule.

That package is what lets you build confidently. It is what lets contractors quote accurately rather than guessing. It is what stops you making expensive decisions on site with someone holding a trowel. And it is what turns a garden makeover from a hopeful exercise into a managed project.

For anyone in Weybridge or the wider Elmbridge area thinking about a significant garden project this year or next, the most useful thing you can do before calling a contractor is find a designer you trust and spend three months with them getting the plan right. The build will go better. The garden will last longer. And you will enjoy the finished space far more, because every decision you see reflected in it will have been considered properly, not improvised on the day.