If you’re thinking about having an outdoor living project designed then you may be thinking about your landscaping budget—that is, how much of your hard-earned money you are willing (and able) to invest in the project.

Of course, we understand that a lot of homeowners go into the process with absolutely no idea what to expect cost-wise. After all, it’s not something that your friends may choose to openly talk about and if you’re not familiar with the industry, understanding costs for projects may be a challenge.

For that reason, we find that people often come to the process with unclear cost expectations and it can set things off on the wrong foot when suddenly you feel as though you have to downgrade your dream. Had you been able to start the process with honest expectations, it would alleviate that stress.

So often, as we begin the process of talking about an outdoor living area with homeowners, they haven’t really started to seriously consider their budget. A lot of people even say they don’t have a budget in mind.

If we may be completely honest, we know that everyone (no matter the size of project) has a threshold that they don’t want to surpass. Even after working on some very high-end projects over the years, we have yet to have a client tell us they have a completely “unlimited budget.”

With that being said, we completely understand that the landscaping budget can be an uncomfortable discussion for some homeowners. Oftentimes, homeowners are worried that if they share their true threshold—the number they don’t want to surpass—that they’ll end up getting ripped off. For that reason, a lot of homeowners are often unwilling to share their budget upfront. They might say, “Here’s what I want, how much will it cost?”

Unfortunately, this can leave a landscape contractor shooting in the dark to develop a design. That is not an ideal way to start the process.

A very experienced Landscaper will be able to tell weather what your after will fit or not within about 30 seconds after hearing your budget

After all, the cost of outdoor living areas can completely run the gamut. There are so many different factors that impact cost. If you don’t give your landscape designer/contractor some idea of what you’re willing to spend, then their design may miss the mark by tens of thousands of dollars or not be what you’re truly dreaming about.

It’s also a huge waste of time for you to get that far into the process and be back to square one. The fact is, it’s much more prudent for everyone to have a budget—at least a range—in mind from the very start. Beginning the process with a realistic budget truly helps the rest of the project journey to fall into place and alleviates a tremendous amount of mystification for both you and your landscape contractor.

The first and probably most important step in coming up with your landscaping budget is determining exactly what you want your project to include. After all, the only real way for you to get a price for the job is to share all of your plans for what you want to be featured in the project.

However, if you’re going into the process with absolutely no idea what things cost (as most people do), then it will be incredibly helpful to divide that list up into “must-haves” and “wants,” the latter of which being items that you could take off the list should the price exceed what you are able or willing to pay.