Landscape design: a guide for pros
What customers ask, how to win the job, and what to put on your profile.
Offering landscape design
Landscape design is a planning service that turns a yard into a buildable plan. Your value is in surveying the site accurately, choosing plants that will survive the conditions, and giving the customer a plan a contractor can price and build.
What customers ask
- Can you design the whole yard, or only the planting?
- How do you choose plants for my site?
- Can I build this in phases?
- Will you give me a plan a contractor can price?
- How long does the design take?
- What do I get at the end, and what do I need to do?
How to win the job
- On the first call, ask about the goals for the yard, how it is used, what the customer wants to see from the house and any features to keep, then describe your process.
- Survey the site with measurements, slope, sun paths and existing features, and note utilities and drainage paths before you draw anything.
- Show past plans alongside the built results, so the customer can see how your drawings became real yards.
- Put the scope, the number of site visits and revisions, the deliverables and the timeline in the written quote.
- Deliver a plan with a plant list, material notes and a phasing outline that a contractor can price without extra questions.
- Offer to walk through the plan with whichever contractor the customer picks, and be clear about what the plan does and does not specify.
What to put on your profile
- Samples of plans you have drawn, with the finished result where you have it
- Your survey method and the tools you use, such as measuring tools and slope checks
- The yard types you design for, such as small urban lots, wooded lots or sloped sites
- The deliverables you give customers, listed by name
Follow-up that helps the customer
- Offer a planting review once the customer has built the first phase, and explain what to check
- Suggest a phasing plan for the rest of the yard, and let the customer decide when to start
- Offer a plant health check after the first season, if the customer wants to see how the plants are doing
Licenses and permits
Landscape design is commonly not licensed on its own in many areas; drawings tied to permitted structures, grading or drainage may need to be prepared by a licensed professional. Check with your state or local licensing agency and the permit office for your project.
Questions
Do I need a license to do landscape design?
It depends on the work the design covers. Design alone is commonly not licensed, but drawings tied to permits, grading or structures may need a licensed professional. Check with your state or local licensing agency.
Should I design the yard or let the contractor do it?
A design gives the customer one plan to price against and keeps the build consistent. Explain what you deliver and what the contractor still has to decide, so the customer knows where the design ends.
How do I handle changes to the plan after delivery?
Decide in the quote how many revisions are included, and price any changes after that separately. Put each change in writing and update the drawing so it matches the approved plan.
About this guide
This national guide is written and checked by infinibell. Rules and conditions differ by place, so local pros are credited on guides for the cities they serve, not on national ones.
Edit history
- Oct 29, 2026: Drafted by infinibell to our content guidelines.
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