The trade and the process
What the job actually is, before you touch a shovel
Landscaping is three different jobs wearing the same word. Before anything else, work out which one you are doing at any given moment, what the whole professional sequence looks like, and how to run it honestly on a block you own.
You end up with
A clear map of the eleven phases, and a written definition of what "finished" means for your garden.
What you produce in this phase
Your project charter
In one paragraph: what does "finished" look like for your garden? Then three numbers — the budget you are willing to spend, the months you are willing to wait, and the hours per week you can actually work on it. Be honest; you will be measured against this in Phase 11.
Lessons
- 01
What a landscaper, designer and landscape architect each actually do
Three different jobs share the word "landscaping", and they charge, think and are regulated differently. Knowing which hat you are wearing at any moment is what stops you making a beginner mistake with a professional's confidence.
⏱ 20 minFoundation - 02
The full professional workflow, end to end
The map of the entire course: eleven phases from the first phone call to the tenth year of maintenance. Learn the sequence now and every later lesson has somewhere to sit.
⏱ 25 minFoundation - 03
Being your own client without kidding yourself
The whole method here is that you play both roles. That is an advantage — infinite site access, no communication loss — and a trap, because nobody is holding you to a brief or a budget. This lesson sets up the discipline that replaces the client.
⏱ 20 minFoundation📐 Makes: Your project charter - 04
Your project workbook — what you will have produced by the end
Every phase produces a real document. Stacked together they are a professional landscape design package for your own property, and the reason this course is worth more than watching videos.
⏱ 10 minFoundation