We’ve all heard that the decision to buy — or not to buy — is made within the first few minutes of entering a property. But what about the time spent getting to the property? If the front garden leaves something to be desired, then you may just be leading potential buyers up the proverbial path.
In today’s market buyers think of a garden as an additional room. It is somewhere to sit and relax, somewhere for the kids to play — and even somewhere to grow your own veg in these cash-strapped times. All in all, a garden is a necessity to family life.
“At Octagon we have always regarded the garden as an ‘outside room’, deserving as much design input and investment as our rather lavish interiors,” comments David Smith, head of group marketing at the luxury housebuilder. “This is even more relevant today, as buyers of Octagon homes are expecting added value to their multi-million pound investment. We continue to sell a property with a fully landscaped and stocked garden. People who buy at the top end of the market expect the best, so every one is a design original, which puts that indelible one-off stamp on each of our houses.” Fair point. But that’s a top-end luxury home – is the same attention to detail really necessary in your average four-bedroom detached property? Yes, is the simple answer from Jon Cowley, bespoke sendees director of telandscapes. “For many developers, the show home is the major marketing tool. It often includes a ‘wow factor’ to make it memorable. However, all that hard work can he seriously undermined if you haven’t got your outdoor space right,” he says. “The show garden should meet the same brief as the interior for the duration of the show home so our designers specify a range of plants that will continue to thrive as well as provide instant impact. We are finding as the market hardens that progressive developers are seeking to incorporate more inspirational planting schemes or features in the designs. Offering gardens which appeal to buyers’ hearts and minds can make all the difference.”
So it seems that we are coming back to marketing basics by landscaping the garden — it is all about selling that enviable lifestyle so people can envisage living in the property.”First impressions are extremely important and a property with ‘wow’ factor will understandably attract more interest than one that looks nlain and uninspiring. The garden is key to this,” says Simon Scott, director of 1 laddonstone. “Housebuilders are concerned with securing sales so it is essential that they concentrate on enhancing the garden on the show house, as a minimum, as this is the place that the majority of potential buyers will see. It will also provide inspiration for buyers and demonstrate how they can make the most of their gardens.”
Of course, it’s not just individual gardens that need careful planning — public spaces are important too. In fact, as communal areas are often the first thing that potential purchases see as they enter a development, one could even argue that they are imperative to clinching a sale. “Where we have a development of houses, the communal areas have to match the landscaping quality we put into the private gardens,” continues Smith. “Richmond Lock and Wall Hall are two recent cases in point, where many acres of communal land have been given the full ‘country estate’ treatment, including wildlife ponds, reflecting pools, and renovated follies. This attention to detail has attracted many accolades – including ; What House? Award.”
And there is an added advantage to putting as many trees, shrubs and turf into your communal spaces and private gardens as possible — namely the environment. Andrew Logan of the Landscape Planning Group has done plenty of research into maintaining an conserving local biodiversity, and believes housebuilders should have a sense of duty to provide ecological based landscape schemes including gardens, as part of their design.
The Landscape Planning Group provides services in ecology and landscape arboriculture. It is able to offer a full suite of services from assessment of baseline conditions to recommending the protection and retention of important ecological featur and providing advice on a suitable wildlife friendly planting scheme to enhance the ecological value of a development.
However, while this may sound a little expensive in these credit crunch times, remember that outside space also contributf to the Code for Sustainable Homes. A maximum of seven credits is available for the ecology category, which means a good score will significantly assist developers achieve their desired rating.
So how do you accomplish this established garden that is going to prove an instant hit with the sustainability assessors as well as I potential buyers? The answer is simply to cheat. There is a range of firms out there who specialise in mature turf, hedging and plant) – meaning that your brand-new garden comes across as being well established and mature. Practicability Brown is one such company that has worked with a number of housebuilders over the years. “Our developer clients are keen to ensure that the landscape adds impact and also looks established. Whereas, previously, trees could have been very small (two to three metres high), they now regularly instruct us to plant double that size,” explains marketing manager Prem Mann. “Additionally, our instant hedges have been used more often — these hedges provide an instant two metre high, dense, secure barrier. Cheaper than a brick wall, more aesthetically pleasing and planted very quickly, they are a logical divide between properties.”
If all this sounds expensive, then it’s time to put things in perspective. You would spend money on decorating a show home and the garden is no different. In fact, you should have a budget from the outset so that landscaping outside space isn’t overlooked or done on a last-minute shoestring.
Experts from Abbey National recommend you should base your garden budget on five to ten per cent of the property’s value – the average in the USA is 15 per cent. If you could stretch to 15 per cent the property’s value, then this would probably provide sufficient capital for a mature looking garden. Jeremy Salt from Henley Salt Landscapes believes that it would probably include all the features that you would normally expect, and some that you might not, such as irrigation, buildings, outdoor lighting and even swimming pools.
However, if you only have five to ten per cent of the property’s value then he believes that the garden would still take on an established appearance, utilising semi-mature shrubs and trees. Themed areas and focal points could be incorporated to good effect and the budget should cover most aspects of the hard landscaping. But even a basic budget of one to three per cent of the property’s value would help create the basic structure of the garden and may include such items as paths, beds, trees, hedging, larger key shrubs and lawn areas. The garden would be of relatively immature appearance but would soon establish, according to Salt. He also points out that selling a home with an established garden is also a good long-term investment for the buyers themselves. “In terms of an investment, interior decor and furnishings will often depreciate in value over a period of years, whereas well selected plants, shrubs and trees will grow and mature in time, increasing their replacement value by at least 20 per cent per annum.”
Of course, not all housebuilders are lucky enough to have a simple plot that can easily be landscaped – and everyone knows that awkward plots cost more money. The thing to remember here is that if cost and effort are the two factors putting you off designing the garden then they arc likely to be the very same two factors that put a potential purchaser off.
telandscapes specialises in difficult plots. “If a customer walks into an empty house and sees a garden which is daunting and potentially will, in their minds, cost a lot in both time and money, there’s a greater chance that they won’t buy the house,” explains Cowley. “By completing the garden for them and overcoming any potential problems then they can see themselves living there and imagine the enjoyment they will get from the property.”
Wise words. And the same theory can also be applied if you are marketing an apartment development, as outside space is outside space — so don’t panic if you don’t have a large plot to play with.
“Roof terraces often offer the outside space that is otherwise unavailable around the house,” says Sarah Bevin, marketing manager for Urban Roof Gardens. “The outside area that extends from the property increasingly feels like an extension of the interior. In urban areas in particular, where every inch is gold dust, it is crucial to feel that all the space on a plot is used and that its use has been thought through thoroughly, and this includes the outdoors.”
So the message is clear — make the most of whatever outside space you have available as it will increase the value and, perhaps more importantly in these tough times, the saleability of the property, in question.
Showhouse Magazine, August 2009