One of the first things people ask me is a simple question: how can you design my garden if you never set foot on the site?
It is a reasonable thing to wonder. Landscape design has always carried this picture of someone walking the property, pacing it out, standing where the morning sun lands. The truth is that almost everything I need to design a garden well can reach me without me being there in person, and working this way has real advantages for you. Here is how it actually works.
The site comes to me
A good design starts with understanding the space, and that understanding is built from information, not just from standing on the lawn. When you enquire, I will ask for the things that tell me what I am working with: photos and a short video walk around the property, rough measurements or a site plan, which way it faces, the slope, what stays and what goes, and the parts of the space that frustrate you or that you love.
If you are building new, you often already have the architectural and site plans, which give me precise dimensions to work from. If you are reworking an existing garden, a handful of clear photos and some measurements get me a long way. I will always tell you exactly what I need, so you are never left guessing.
From there I can read the site much the way I would in person: how the spaces connect, where the sun and shelter sit, and what the house wants from the garden around it.
How a project runs
Once I understand the brief, the process is straightforward and you always know what comes next. You can see the full version on my Process page, but in short:
You start by filling out a brief that tells me about your project, your site and what you are after. I read it properly, and if I am the right fit for the job, I put together a personalised proposal for you. That is free and needs no call, so you can see how I would approach the work before you commit to anything.
If the proposal feels right, we jump on a video call to walk through your brief, your plans and your questions together. Then I develop a first concept, and we get back on a call to go through it, so your feedback shapes the design. From there I finalise the plan, and I stay alongside you through the planting and the build, pointing you to trusted nurseries and install teams.
The whole thing runs over video calls, shared plans and email, which most people find easier to fit around work and family than booking site visits ever was.
Why working online can be better
The obvious worry is that something gets lost by not meeting in person. In practice, the opposite tends to happen.
Because I am not tied to one town, you can work with me wherever you are in New Zealand, rather than choosing from the one or two designers who happen to be local. Calls are easy to arrange, so projects often move faster. And the time I am not spending driving to and from sites is time that goes straight into your design.
You still get exactly the same deliverables: full landscape plans, planting plans, and lifelike 3D renders that let you see the space before a single thing is built.
It is still personal
None of this means the design is hands-off or off the shelf. The part I enjoy most is getting to know what you actually want and shaping it into something you would not have thought of yourself. That happens through conversation, shared images and a bit of back and forth, and it works just as well over a video call as it does across a kitchen table. Your vision is the starting point every time.
If you have been putting your garden off because you assumed you needed someone local, you do not. Wherever you are in the country, I would love to hear what you are planning.
Thinking about your own garden?
Every project starts with a free, no-obligation proposal. Tell me about your site and what you are after, and I will show you how I would approach it.
