Frequently asked questions.

$250 + GST within metropolitan Melbourne and $500 + GST regionally. It covers a site meeting with our director and a detailed conversation about the property, the brief and how you want to live outdoors.

Design packages begin at $5,000. Total design fees, including options such as 3D renders and working drawings, typically fall between $5,000 and $20,000 depending on scope. Every project receives its own written proposal following the consultation.

Fees are invoiced in stages across the design, and the stages are set out in your proposal before any work begins.

An itemised estimate of what the landscape is likely to cost to build. It is prepared alongside the concept design and updated when the design is finalised, so you have a clear view of construction cost before committing to documentation or tender.

Most of the landscapes we design are built for $100,000 and above. Your Opinion of Probable Cost gives you an itemised figure for your own project at concept stage.

Quotations are valid for 30 days from the date of issue.

We meet on site, walk the property and talk through how you live, what you would like the landscape to achieve, and the budget and timing you have in mind. A written proposal confirming the brief, scope, deliverables and fee follows the meeting.

Timing depends on the scale of the site and the pace of decisions. A realistic programme is set out in your proposal.

Eight hours following the concept presentation and four hours following the working drawings. Anything further is quoted before it begins.

Yes. Where budget or timing calls for it, we design the whole property as one plan and set out how it can be built in stages, so each stage contributes to the finished landscape.

Existing plans of the home or the site are helpful, and we verify them. Our preliminary site assessment confirms measurements and records the property in photographs before design begins.

A preliminary site assessment, a coloured, scaled and annotated plan of the entire outdoor space, an A3 presentation booklet of planting and materials, a planting plan and schedule once the palette is confirmed, an itemised Opinion of Probable Cost, and eight hours of revisions.

3D visualisation is an optional addition. Ten to fifteen rendered views are presented with the concept, then refined and included in the final booklet once the plan is approved.

The construction set: a dimensioned set-out plan, elevations, details and specifications, a lighting plan and schedule, and irrigation and drainage plans. Everything your contractors need to price and build the project accurately.

Drawings are released for your project once fees are paid in full. Until then, design work remains the property of Forge Landscape Studio.

We facilitate the build. Once the working drawings are complete we take the project to tender with two or three trusted landscape and pool contractors, then remain on site through construction to manage quality and design direction. The building contract sits between you and your chosen contractor, so you receive competitive pricing on a single set of drawings.

Drawings are issued to two or three trusted contractors. We arrange the site visits, brief each contractor and review every quote for quality and completeness before it reaches you. Tendering is available for projects we have designed, once working drawings are complete.

Yes. Our team attends site through the build to manage quality and hold the design direction, working with your contractor so that the finished landscape matches the drawings.

No. Concept plans and 3D imagery are indicative and are not for construction. Working drawings are the construction set, and your contractor verifies levels, dimensions and services on site before work begins.

Our director, David Forge, is your design lead and single point of contact from the first meeting to completion. He is supported by our team of designers, 3D visualisers and documenters, together with the engineers and consultants each project calls for.

Yes. Pool, spa, garden and outdoor living are designed together as one resolved plan.

Across metropolitan Melbourne, and throughout regional Victoria by arrangement.

Yes. We coordinate with your architect, interior designer, builder and engineer. The earlier we are engaged, the better the house and the landscape resolve together.

Send an enquiry through the contact page or call the studio. Every enquiry is reviewed by our director.