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PracticeBMEL Design
ScopeLandscape design & construction documentation
AreaMelbourne eastern suburbs
Sheet01 / 03
Landscape Design & Construction Documentation

Drawn by the people who build it

Cast concrete steps with dry-stone cheek walls climbing a planted slope, built by BMEL Landscapes

Most landscape drawings are produced by someone who will never have to build them. Ours are not. Byron draws the set, Byron and Manny build it, and the price comes off the same drawings — so what you approve on paper is what lands in the quote and what gets built on site.

Book a design consultation → See the fee schedule
5.0 Google & Hipages Rating
250+ Projects
Building, Design & Engineering Qualified
Fully Insured
The Argument

A drawing that has to survive being built

There is a specific way landscape design fails, and it is not aesthetic. A designer produces a handsome set, the client takes it to three builders, and the quotes come back tens of thousands apart — because the drawings never said how deep the footings go, what the paving falls to, or who is paying to cart forty tonnes of spoil off the site. The design then gets quietly re-engineered on the ground by whoever won the job, and the thing that gets built is not the thing that was drawn.

We draw to details we have already constructed, at rates we already stand behind. The levels work because we have dug the site. The quantities are real because they come off the same take-off that prices the job. When something is a bad idea we say so at the concept stage, which is the only stage where changing your mind is free.

That is the whole claim, and it is a narrow one. Not that our drawings are prettier — plenty of studios draw beautifully. That ours arrive with a number attached, and the number holds.

Engagements

Three ways in

Start at whichever step matches how settled your thinking is. Each one credits back against the next, and against the build.

Step 01
Site consultation
$450–$650inc GST · about two hours on site
Credited in full
  • Levels, drainage, soil, aspect and access assessed on the ground
  • What the site will and will not allow, said plainly
  • A written summary and an indicative budget band
  • No drawings at this stage — this is the reality check

For people deciding whether the project is worth starting.

Step 02 · Most projects start here
Concept design
$2,500–$3,500inc GST · fixed fee, quoted up front
50% credited against your build
  • Measured site plan and a levels strategy for the whole property
  • Concept plan — zones, circulation, levels, structures
  • Materials and finishes palette, each option priced in bands
  • Planting approach matched to your soil, aspect and appetite for maintenance
  • Two rounds of revisions
  • An indicative construction budget, itemised by element

Enough to decide what you are building and roughly what it costs.

Step 03
Construction documentation
$5,000–$12,000inc GST · or 8–12% of construction value above about $60,000
25% credited against your build
  • Dimensioned setout and levels plan
  • Hardscape, drainage and planting plans
  • Construction details at 1:10 and 1:20
  • Finishes, materials and planting schedules
  • Quantity schedule — the same one that prices the job
  • A fixed-price itemised build quote drawn from that schedule

The set a builder can price and construct from without ringing you.

Full detail, credit mechanics and a worked example on a $55,000 project are on the fee schedule.

Process

How it runs

01
Half a day · $450–$650, credited in full
Site consultation

Byron walks the property with you. We check falls and drainage, look at soil and access, work out where the water goes and what the neighbours' trees are doing. You get an honest read on scope and budget before anyone draws anything.

02
Two to three weeks · fixed fee
Concept design

We measure up, set a levels strategy, and put a concept on paper with a materials palette. Everything is priced in bands as it is drawn, so you can see the cost of a decision while you are still making it rather than after.

03
One to two weeks · included in the concept fee
Design development

Two rounds of revisions. This is where most of the money gets saved — swapping a material, moving a wall a metre, changing a level to avoid a retaining structure entirely. Cheap on paper, expensive on site.

04
Two to four weeks · separate fee
Construction documentation & quote

The full set: setout, levels, drainage, details and schedules, plus a quantity take-off. The itemised build quote comes off that take-off, which is why it is a fixed price rather than a guess with a contingency bolted on.

05
Typically one to six weeks on site
Build

Byron and Manny on site, building from the set they drew. Design credits come off the contract. If a drawing turns out to be wrong, it is our drawing and our problem — not a variation.

Deliverables

What a full set contains

A documentation set is not a picture of a garden. It is the document that makes three quotes comparable and stops the scope drifting once the excavator arrives.

SheetContentsStage
L-01Site & demolition planWhat exists, what stays, what leaves and where it goes.Documentation
L-02Setout & levels planDimensioned from fixed points, with spot levels and falls.Documentation
L-03Hardscape planPaving, decks, walls, steps, edging — pattern and module set out.Documentation
L-04Drainage & servicesAg-lines, pits, falls, irrigation zones and lighting runs.Documentation
L-05Planting plan & scheduleSpecies, pot sizes, quantities and spacings.Concept onwards
L-06Construction detailsSections at 1:10 and 1:20 through every built element.Documentation
L-07Finishes & materials scheduleEvery material named, sized and sourced.Concept onwards
L-08Quantity scheduleMeasured quantities per element — the basis of the build price.Documentation

A sheet-by-sheet walkthrough, an annotated section detail and the permit boundary are on what a documentation set contains.

Scope & Limits

What we are, and what we are not

Qualifications & registration

Byron holds degrees in civil engineering and architecture from Monash University. He is not a registered architect or a registered landscape architect, and BMEL does not use either title. Where a project needs certified structural design or documentation for a building permit, we engage Solid Structural Engineering and a registered building designer, and their fee is quoted to you separately.

In practice that line falls around structures: a deck built over a structural subfloor, a verandah, a roofed or oversized pergola, or a retaining wall over a metre will generally need a building permit, and we confirm the requirement with your council before you commit to anything. Concept design, levels strategy, paving setout, drainage, planting, material specification and construction detailing for permit-exempt work are ours.

We publish this because it is the first question a careful client asks, and because knowing exactly where our scope ends is part of what you are paying for.

Evidence

Drawn first, then built

A long flight of cast concrete treads climbing a planted slope to a contemporary house

A twenty-tread climb up a slope. Riser and going are constant the whole way because they were set out on paper against surveyed levels before a single tread was poured. Get that wrong on site and you feel it underfoot for the next thirty years.

Coursed bluestone paving meeting a hardwood deck at a matched level, with steel edging

Paving coursed off the door threshold, falling away from the house, meeting the deck at a matched level with a steel edge between them. Three decisions, all made at documentation stage, none of them visible unless they are wrong.

This Section

The rest of the set

Sheet 01Design overview Sheet 02Fees & credits → Sheet 03What a documentation set contains →
Garden design & planting Retaining walls Build cost guide All services →
FAQ

Design questions

Why charge for design when your quote is free?
Because they are two different pieces of work. A quote prices a scope somebody has already decided on, and measuring up to price it costs us an afternoon. Design decides the scope — levels, drainage, materials, how the space is used — and that takes twenty-five to fifty hours of drawing and thinking. Work given away for free gets done in the gaps between site days, and it shows. Charging for it is what lets us put proper hours into it.
How is this different from hiring a landscape architect?
A landscape architect is a university-qualified design professional and many are excellent. The practical difference is that they hand the drawings to a builder, and the builder then tells you what it costs. We are the builder. The set is drawn to details we have already constructed, and it comes with a build price from the same take-off, so the design and the number arrive together instead of six weeks apart.
How much of the design fee comes off the build?
The site consultation is credited in full. Half the concept design fee and a quarter of the documentation fee come off your build contract. On a typical $55,000 project that is about $3,425 credited, so the net cost of a full design package works out near 10% of the build. We do not credit the whole amount, because a design that is free the moment you sign is not a design you are free to walk away from.
Do I have to build with you?
No. The drawings are yours to build from, on that property, with whichever builder you choose. Plenty of clients get a design done first precisely so they can compare builders on a like-for-like scope — three quotes against the same drawings are actually comparable. We keep copyright so the design is not rebuilt on somebody else's block, which costs you nothing practical. All you lose by building elsewhere is the credits, which is what the credits are for.
Do you design for other builders and landscapers?
Occasionally, and it is priced the same way without the build credits. Most of our design work is for our own clients, because the value of a set drawn by the builder is that the builder then builds it. If you are a builder who wants the documentation without the construction, call and we will talk through scope.
What do I actually receive at the end?
A PDF drawing set, a planting and materials schedule, a quantity schedule and an itemised build quote drawn from those quantities. Concept clients get the concept plan, the levels strategy, the material palette and an indicative budget broken down by element. Full documentation clients get the dimensioned setout, drainage, details and schedules a builder can price and construct from without ringing you with questions.
Start Here

Book the site consultation and find out what the site allows

Two hours on the ground with Byron, $450–$650 inc GST, credited in full against whatever you do next. You will know what is possible and roughly what it costs before you commit to a single drawing.

Book a consultation →
0422 490 962