Garden Designer Warrington: How to Check the Credentials Before You Choose
Summary
The right garden designer for your Warrington home is one whose credentials stand up and whose finished gardens prove it. Start by finding out what each award or accreditation on their website was actually given for, then look at completed projects similar to yours and what named customers say about them. A designer who visits your garden, asks how you’ll use it and shows you the design before anything is built is usually a good sign that the badges are backed by the way they work.
Key Takeaways
- An award only tells you something once you know what it was for, so it’s worth asking which year it was won and what kind of garden it covered.
- Entry to the BALI National Landscape Awards is limited to BALI members, and the judges visit the entries before choosing the winners.
- BALI and Marshalls both list their accredited businesses online, so you can check a designer’s listing for yourself.
- A project page that shows what a garden was like before and what was built tells you far more than a gallery of close-ups.
- A good designer will visit your garden and show you the design before anything is built.
Choosing a garden designer can feel like a leap of faith, especially when so many websites show the same award logos and the same polished photographs. At Green Acorn Landscape Design, we have over 10 years’ experience of garden design in Warrington and across the North West. Our gardens have been judged in the BALI National Landscape Awards in three different years, so we know what those badges involve and what they can and can’t tell you on their own.
In this post, we’ve put together how to read a garden designer’s credentials and how to test them against finished work, to help you choose someone you can trust with your garden.
What a Garden Designer’s Badges Actually Tell You
Most garden designers’ websites carry a row of logos in the footer, and they’re worth more than decoration once you know what each one involves. The useful question to ask about any badge is what the designer had to do to earn it, because some say a great deal more than others about the quality of a finished garden.
BALI National Landscape Awards
The British Association of Landscape Industries runs the National Landscape Awards, and entry is limited to BALI members. BALI’s judges visit the entries in person, and for domestic gardens they’re looking for good design, build and workmanship. So a winning garden has been seen by someone independent, who has judged how well it was built rather than how good it looks in photographs.
When looking at a garden designer’s awards, it’s worth asking which year an award was for and what kind of project it covered, because an award for a large public scheme tells you less about your garden than one for a domestic garden like yours.
Green Acorn Landscape Design was a BALI National Landscape Awards Principal Award winner in 2020, 2021 and 2023. BALI’s judges choose the Principal Awards from among the National Award winners, and because they’re looking at the build as closely as the design, those awards tell you that the gardens we plan are built with the same care.
BALI Accreditation
Accreditation is a different thing from an award, because it’s about the business as a whole rather than one garden. BALI’s accredited members are vetted against the BALI Quality Standard before they join and reviewed again afterward.
You can look a business up in BALI’s online directory of accredited garden designers and landscapers, which only takes a couple of minutes and tells you whether the logo on a website reflects a current listing.
The Marshalls Register
Marshalls keeps its own register of accredited installers, which you can search on the Marshalls website. Marshalls says it vets the installers on the register and assesses their work regularly once they’ve joined. The register is about the quality of installation rather than the products, so it matters most for the paving and walling in your design, as this is where the work underneath decides whether a patio stays level and drains properly for years to come. It’s worth checking that the business name on the register matches the one you’re talking to.
We’re a Marshalls Register accredited landscape contractor, which gives you an independent check on the quality of our installation work as well as our design, so the patio and walls in your new garden are laid by a team whose workmanship has been checked by someone other than us.
Testing the Credentials Against Finished Gardens
Credentials show that a designer can do good work, while finished gardens show whether they do it regularly and on gardens like yours. The most useful thing to look for is a project page rather than a gallery, because a project page explains what the garden was like before and what was built to solve its problems, whether that was a slope or a tight space.
When you look through a designer’s projects, look for one that’s close to your own garden in size and situation, and check that the description matches the photographs, because a page that names real materials and real changes in level is far more convincing than a set of close-ups. You can see how we present our own work on our projects page, where each garden has its own page and photographs.
Reviews are worth reading in the same way, as comments from named customers that mention the people who did the work, and what it was like to have them on site, tell you more than a star rating. It’s also reasonable to ask a designer whether you can speak to someone whose garden they’ve finished.
What the First Consultation Should Tell You
The first meeting is your best chance to see how a designer works, and a good designer will want to visit the garden, look at how it falls and how materials will get in, and ask how you’d like to use the space before talking about plants or paving. They should also explain how you’ll see the design before anything is built and who will build it.
At Green Acorn, every garden starts with a free, no obligation consultation and quote, including a site visit, and we then produce a 3D design of your garden before work begins, including a 360 view, so you can see the whole garden from every angle and ask for changes while they’re still easy to make.
Who Will Actually Build Your Garden?
It’s worth asking early whether the designer builds the garden as well, because a design that’s handed on to a separate contractor leaves room for details to change between the drawing and the ground. When one team handles both, the people who set out the levels and the drainage are the same people who designed them, and any question on site is answered by someone who knows why the design is the way it is.
At Green Acorn, one in-house team takes your garden from the design through to the final planting, so you deal with the same people from the first visit to the finished garden.
Why Choose Green Acorn as Your Garden Designer in Warrington
As a garden designer in Warrington, we bring design and construction together, so the garden you approve in the 3D design is the one our own team builds. Every project starts with a site visit, and what we find there shapes the design from the beginning, because a garden designed around how your plot really behaves is the one that still looks right years after it’s finished.
Our record in the BALI National Landscape Awards and our place on the Marshalls Register give you two independent checks on our work, and our project pages let you test both against finished gardens.
To learn more about how we work, see our post: Why Partner with Green Acorn Landscape Design for Your Next Garden Project?
Choosing a Garden Designer You Can Trust
A good garden designer should be happy for you to look behind every logo on their website, because when the work is good, the badges and the finished projects point the same way. Taking a little time to find out what each badge means, and then looking at gardens like yours, is the most reliable way to find a designer whose finished gardens match what their website promises.
Contact Us Today
To arrange a site visit and see how we’d approach your garden, call us on 01925 598 800 or send a message through our contact page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a BALI Award the Same as BALI Accreditation?
They’re separate, because an award is given to a particular project in a particular year, while accreditation is about the business as a whole, which is vetted against BALI’s Quality Standard and reviewed again over time. Entry to the awards is limited to BALI members, so it’s worth checking BALI’s directory for a designer’s current listing as well.
Should a Garden Designer Visit Before Giving a Quote?
A visit is the only way to see how the garden falls and how materials will get in, and both affect the build. A quote given without seeing the garden is more likely to change once the work starts.
What Should I Have Ready for a First Consultation?
Photographs of the garden at different times of day, a note of anything you’d like to keep and an idea of how you want to use the space all help, along with a rough budget, so the design can be pitched at the right level from the start.
What’s the Difference Between a Garden Designer and a Landscaper?
A garden designer plans the layout and planting, while a landscaper builds it. Some businesses do both, and at Green Acorn one in-house team handles the design and the build, so your garden is built by the people who drew it up.