For a London garden, construction and planting typically run from £25,000 to £60,000 depending on hard landscaping, materials, and scale.

Factors such as access and topography also have an impact on cost. Can landscapers access your back garden via a garden gate or side return, and therefore bring machinery onto site, or does everything have to be carried through the house? Is your garden on a slope, and therefore do earthworks and terracing have to be included in the design and build?

We work with a small number of trusted contractors and can help you get like-for-like quotes so you understand where your budget is going before work begins.

A garden designer is a bit like an architect but for gardens. We consider everything, designing a bespoke garden that responds to your brief for how you actually want to use the garden. We consider factors like the architecture and interior design of your home, as well as responding to the conditions on-site such as sun, shade, wind, gaps in privacy etc. We plan the layout, material palette, planting, and overall concept for your garden. If you’ve tried things out before that haven’t worked, a garden designer can help you pull your garden together in a cohesive way, and help you avoid expensive mistakes.

By contrast, a landscaper is an experienced professional in exterior construction projects. Landscapers often work alone on small projects, such as patios or fencing installations, but enjoy working with garden designers on more complex and creative projects.

We can invite trusted landscapers to tender for your garden build, and then work with them over the course of the build, providing them with a design package so they have everything they need for your garden build in one place, and regularly visiting site during the build to monitor progress.

A typical residential garden design, from initial consultation to final design, takes around 6–10 weeks. Construction can take anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks, depending on complexity, with large country gardens sometimes taking 6 or more weeks to complete.

There is also landscaper availability and planting time to take into consideration; landscapers may not have availability to start a garden build immediately, and may have prior commitments for up to 3 months during peak times.

It’s also usually not a good idea to planting during the heat of mid-summer, so you may want to plan your build so that the planting installation can take place between autumn and early spring. This helps plants get established during the dormant period so they can cope better with the hot and dry summer the following year. So starting your garden design project sooner rather than later can pay dividends.

A first consultation is a walk-and-talk through your garden to understand how you use the space, what isn't working, and what you'd like it to become. We'll discuss light, existing features you want to retain, budget, and style. From there we’ll put together a proposal for the design work ahead.

It helps to have a rough sense of your budget, any photos of gardens or planting styles you're drawn to, and a wishlist of how you actually want to use the space. We can help set expectations and prioritise your “must haves” and “nice to haves” in the first stages of the project. You don't need drawings or technical detail ahead of time; that's our job.

From experience, we also find it helpful if your garden can be cleared of any gardening tools, children’s toys or dog poo (!) to make sure the area is safe and clean for our walkthrough.

Yes, absolutely. Most garden design projects incorporate at least some existing elements, whether that's a boundary wall, a mature tree, or a patio worth retaining. Part of the initial survey is identifying what's worth keeping, both for budget reasons and sustainability.

A survey can help identify not just hard landscaping or planting that can be retained in-situ, but also plants that can be moved or hard landscaping materials that can be re-used. Established planting and weathered materials often add character a new scheme can't replicate immediately.

We involve clients at every step of the way, inviting clients to several design review meetings during the design process. You’ll also select which landscaper you want to work with via a tender process, and we’ll help you to review and compare quotes.

However, because as the adage goes ‘design is essentially just a series of decisions’, we’ll break key decisions down into smaller chunks - overall design plan, hard landscaping materials, planting palette etc. We’ll help break everything down, giving you visibility so there are no surprises.

A typical Studio Mooney design package includes a site survey, a concept design, final design, a detailed planting plan, landscaper tender and plant sourcing and installation. Larger projects may also include 3D visuals, lighting plans, and a post-planting maintenance schedule for the first year.

For more information, see our garden design process page.

Studio Mooney Garden Design works across South East London, from Brockley to Greenwich, designing gardens for city living and urban nature — with particular experience in the smaller, often awkward-shaped plots typical of London terraces and courtyards.

Naturalistic planting design takes cues from how plants grow in the wild - loose, layered, and seasonally changing - rather than tightly clipped or formal arrangements. It tends to support more wildlife and, done well, needs less ongoing input once established. Naturalistic planting helps to create restful gardens that are easy on the eye, helping you to relax and enjoy your garden, too.

A low-maintenance garden usually comes down to matching plants to the conditions of your garden (light, soil, moisture) rather than fighting against them. For example, some plants like wisteria need lots of pruning throughout the year, hungry plants like roses might need feeding etc. It’s also unlikely that you’ll be able to grow lavender in deep shade on clay soil! As the late, great Beth Chatto wrote: ‘Right plant, right place’. The maintenance burden is largely decided at the design stage, not after planting, and should be designed against your comfort level as a home gardener.

We work with trusted, RHS-qualified gardeners in South East London, and can introduce you to them to help your garden develop as it establishes.

Small gardens are a particular focus at Studio Mooney — London courtyards and terraces present real constraints (light, access, boundary walls) that reward careful planning rather than a generic template. A well-designed small garden can do as much for a home as a much larger one, helping to create additional useable space for your home for dining and entertaining, or relaxing green space that is wildlife friendly.