Survey before you draw
Levels, existing drainage, boundary walls, sun paths and the position of services decide what is possible. Designing without them produces a picture that has to be redrawn on site.
- Spot levels across the site, not just at the house
- Existing stormwater and irrigation routes noted
- Sun and wind exposure through the seasons
Fix the hard landscape first
Paving, steps, retaining, decking and drainage set the frame. Planting and lawn fill it. Doing that in reverse is how new lawn gets dug up three months later.
Phase in a sensible order
Where a full build is not affordable at once, phase by trade rather than by area: earthworks and drainage, then hard landscape, then irrigation, then lawn and planting, then lighting.
Each phase should leave the site usable, and later phases should not require breaking into earlier ones.