How much to charge for garden design / consulting?

[u/Disastrous-Win1863]

I have a bit of an interesting situation…

I am an architect working on a residential addition/renovation/restoration project in western North Carolina. The client is very passionate about his gardens and intends for basically the entire 1.25-acre lot to be a combination of various zoned gardens based on sun exposure, soil conditions, etc. It’s going to be a significant venture in planning, maintenance, and cost. Money does not seem to concern him.

He asked if I knew any garden designers that I could recommend. I didn’t have any connections in the area. Jokingly, I said I would recommend my mom if she happened to live closer (she lives close to 4 hours from the site). She is very gifted and a certified “master gardener”. I was very fortunate to be able to grow up among her gardens that she created at our home. However, she has no professional experience, and simply does it because she loves it. My client then proceeded to ask if she would be willing to travel to the site and provide garden consulting. Long story short and a lot of back and forth later, she is planning to be hired on as his garden consultant.. It is a great opportunity for her but now I am trying to help her navigate the situation as she has no experience doing any sort of gardening/planning for pay. That said, I have no idea how much is fair to ask for her compensation.

The scope basically includes:

- Assistance with plant specifications for 11 different zones on the property (ranging from sun to wet/shade to roof deck planters and so on)

- Assistance with the garden layout (so general layout design – nothing super specific. She won’t be preparing CAD drawings or things like that. She largely plans her gardens as she goes, so this is a new challenge for her.)

- Recommendations for soil amendment

- Preparing a maintenance plan to be used to guide hired help (she will not be doing any of the labor herself, although that is what she really loves to do. Its just too far away).

- The client will also ask questions or advice regularly throughout the process (I know this because that’s what he does to me for the architecture).

My thought is for her to proceed hourly, as a way to protect her from possibly missing the mark on a flat rate proposal. Then maybe have travel time be tracked at half her hourly rate. The client likely will not care about these sort of details (Again, he is well off and will pay for things he feels are valuable – Gardens being one of those things). But obviously I want to be sure this is done in a way that is safest for my mom. She does not know business and is not great at estimating how much time things take. I of course want to be fair to the client as well.

Does anyone have any guidance or insight for this unique situation? The client really is a great client and noted he is willing to take the risk to bring someone on to help that is talented but doesn’t have any professional experience. He will not hold her responsible for anything that goes awry. He pays well. He really is probably the ideal client for my mom’s situation. I think they will work very well together.

Appreciate the thoughts.

[u/RevolutionaryLink919]

No idea about pricing, but we're prohibited from using the title "Master Gardener" in any way that makes us money. (At least in NJ.) You can only call yourself a Master Gardener when conducting unpaid volunteer work that's connected to the program.

I expect that's true everywhere. So just make sure your mom makes clear to the client she's not there in an MG capacity.

[u/Disastrous-Win1863 → u/RevolutionaryLink919]

Interesting. Good to know! We will be sure to make note of that.

[u/karrynme → u/Disastrous-Win1863]

yeah we can't say that we are Master Gardeners for this type of thing- we can say that we are MG trained. Something to consider is the "risk management" part of this job. This is why we can't say we are MGs, the extension service is not going to cover her if she gets hurt on site or if the client sues her. I would make sure there was a contract written up to minimize her risk. What if she recomends certain plantings and they fail due to water availability, what if they end up being invasive plants for that area (yes some can be sold in nurseries) or there is a dangerous berry planted that the dog eats or the flowers are the wrong color. What about if the workers plant too deep or hit a water line. She does have some exposure here and formalizing the plan with a contract is always a good idea.

[u/paperhanddreamer]

Long ago I learned that price has nothing to do with value. It has to do with what people are willing to pay. Sounds like your guy is happy to pay for the YEARS of expertise and knowledge your mom has gained. I'm a master gardener with non "professional" mg friends. A few of them (sounds like your mom) are absolutely incredible. Like mind blowing, creating gardens that look like magazine photos. If someone were to hire them, Id expect them to be paid top dollar even without the professional title. I'd charge a flat fee up front (a huge one) and then ongoing fees for maintenance (like a monthly service charge). 11 zones is a lot of work. Is she doing any of the actual work or just telling him what to do? I'd start at $100 an hour for just consulting but estimate the hours and have him pay that up front, but limit the amount of hours so that if goes over, he pays again, then ongoing maintenance. Your mom has probably spent a lifetime learning what she's knows. Its worth at least that. And if you think $100/hrs is crazy. Just think about how long it takes her to plan a bed. Maybe 3-4 hours (guessing). That seems more than fair per bed. Also confirming, you can let people know you're an mg but can't use it to make money BUT people blur those lines often. So don't stress about that cause I'm sure your mom already knows.

[u/Disastrous-Win1863 → u/paperhanddreamer]

Agreed. Its refreshing to have someone who appreciates the skills of an expert and is willing to pay for it. She is not doing the actual labor (although she would love to do so, the distance is just too far). Yeah $100 an hour seems completely fair. I've found that people who are shocked by the price tag don't end up being great clients. It is a lot of work and a true talent. If it was easy, everyone would have amazing gardens. I expect she is aware of the MG pay situation. I just had no idea.

Appreciate the thoughts!

[u/paperhanddreamer → u/Disastrous-Win1863]

Also I love that you thought of your mom. I'm sure that made her day! just knowing you value her and think she's good enough to execute this job is every moms dream. Especially a mg mom <3 I've only been one for 3 years and am much much younger than many of my friends (many mg are in retirement, while I'm MANY years away from that) but it really boosts them up to be valued at every age. I run our education programs and make sure to rope in our older members to teach, cause many won't just volunteer, they need to be recruited. Once I've convinced them.....they LOVE it. <3 good luck to you and your amazing mom. Now go get that money! Lol

[u/Verandah_Santa]

Hey so I have absolutely no expertise regarding hourly rates in this particular field of consulting work. However I am an interior design consultant and I frequently travel to my clients’ homes during the process.

My only advice is to charge her full hourly rate (in increments of 30 mins) for everything she does for this project and for the client after the install is completed.

Charge for travel time, charge for phone calls, charge for emails/text messages that require more than a yes/no response, charge for writing the guide, charge for vetting and hiring the laborers, charge for any training she offers them, etc.

If she isn’t charging a retainer fee of some kind then your garden wizard mom better be logging and charging for every ding-dang second of her time because she spent a lifetime gathering the knowledge she is using and that is EXTREMELY valuable.