Instead of employing more people, you can expand and reinvigorate your garden design business by collaborating on different projects with fellow professionals, says John Wyer FSGLD
Do you ever get the feeling you are stuck in a bit of a rut, workwise? You are not exactly short of work, but it all seems to be similar, and smallish projects. You see other garden designers taking on larger projects and wonder how they do it. But no time to worry about that now, you have three planting plans to do…
How, though, does one transition from small to larger, more interesting projects? The first thing to do is to think in a more collaborative way. I remember hearing Julie Bargmann (founder of D.I.R.T. Studio) speak at the Society of Garden + Landscape Designers’ (SGLD) Spring Conference in 2018. She had an energy and uncompromising creativity that took my breath away. But the most remarkable thing was the scale of the projects that she took on, all as a sole trader.
After her talk, I asked her about this and she told me that, essentially, all of her projects were collaborations. Sometimes the partnerships were one-offs but often she would work with people on several projects and form long-term alliances with them.
During our conversation, it became clear that her method of working was intrinsically linked to her unwillingness to compromise. Effectively, starting a team afresh for each project allowed her to choose exactly the people she wanted for that particular job. I know others who work like this – pre-registered SGLD member Darren Hawkes, for example. Working in teams like this allows you to collaborate with professionals who have different creative and technical skills – engineers, artists, horticulturists, and others. The key here is that each partnership is project-based, and follows your strategic aims and what you want to achieve.
Of course, there is another aspect to this (and the ‘rut’). It is always the case that if you have a lot of one sort of work, you will tend to get more projects in a similar vein. People see small gardens on your website and, naturally, think that that is all you do. So those first steps to climb out of the rut are critical.
Collaboration is once again important, but in a different way. Instead of working only with domestic customers, forge contacts with architects, developers, interior designers, and others who are likely to commission you again. This not only makes your marketing much easier, it means you will get a range of different projects – and that may require you to have other knowledge.
WORKING IN TEAMS ALLOWS YOU TO COLLABORATE WITH PROFESSIONALS WHO HAVE DIFFERENT CREATIVE AND TECHNICAL SKILLS.
When working with architects, for instance, you need to know that larger projects often follow the RIBA or Landscape Institute ‘plan of works’ structure, so it may help you to be familiar with this and to structure your own fees accordingly (it merges fairly naturally with garden design stages: concept, scheme design, technical design, site works).
Some designers prefer (or have more skill in) certain stages of work. I know several designers who love doing concepts, but they work with someone else who does the technical design, or planting plans. At Bowles & Wyer, we have often undertaken planning consultancy and technical design for garden designers, particularly on larger projects.
If you decide to take this route to expand your work, you may well need to raise the level of your professional indemnity insurance cover to reflect the increased size of your projects.
You can also find a wide range of different softwares to stretch your time further, especially in project management, and why not tune up your skills too? There is a rich seam of continuing professional development sessions available to members of the SGLD, for instance.
An alternative way of growing your reach and scalability is to form a partnership with another garden designer. It is essential to find someone who has similar values to you and who sees the world in the same way. Often, these partnerships are quite loose and may not even be particularly close geographically, which can be an advantage. You can work on each other’s projects when you need to, allowing you to keep some independence, but have a degree of scalability. The stress will be shared, and you will also have someone to bounce ideas off. If it works well, you can always go for a more formal relationship, or not, as you choose.
The point is that the easiest way for a sole trader to scale up is not to employ people, but to form strategic partnerships: think carefully about what sort of work you want to do and build those relationships accordingly.
JOHN WYER FSGLD
graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University with a post-graduate diploma in landscape architecture in 1983 and co-founded Bowles & Wyer in 1993. His extensive design portfolio spans private gardens to large-scale development projects, and many have won awards. He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Garden + Landscape Designers (SGLD) in 2011, and a Fellow of the Landscape Institute in 2020. As well as continuing to take a lead role in Bowles & Wyer, and to serve as Vice-Chair and Treasurer of the SGLD, he lectures in Britain and abroad and writes a monthly blog that explores the design process and role of landscape and maintenance.
bowleswyer.co.uk