Frequently asked questions.

general

  • Gee, thanks ;)

    WILDEN is the garden design practice connecting the world. Our goal is to help you live a healthier and happier lifestyle, outdoors. And, if we all cherish our gardens, we might make our beautiful planet healthier, too. Bingo!

  • The best way to start is with a Discovery Session. This professional consultation will uncover your vision, understand you better, and what you need.

    Together, we’ll build your design brief and choose the perfect service for you; WILDEN Kit or WILDEN Bespoke.

    Now we design! You’ll get one or two rounds for feedback and after the design is completed we will partner you with a Contractor to bring it to life!

  • Your Final Design package includes everything a good contractor needs to price, detail and build your garden:

    3D visuals, layout plans, planting selection, planting quantities, lighting design, and materials selection.

    What you get is a bloomin’ brilliant landscape design, customised just for you 👌

  • Kit gardens are created based on pre-selected materials and plants to create a certain look.

    These gardens are tried and tested so you don’t need options, and we can deliver the design in less time too. Included is one recorded presentation and round of feedback.

    Your layout is still designed (by lovely humans) to suit your space and needs.

  • 4 or 6 weeks in total…

    Sketch Design: 2 weeks (Bespoke only)

    Draft Design: 2 weeks

    Final Design: 2 weeks

    Between stages you get to review and comment, so factor in that time also.

  • There’s something you should know about us; the only thing about WILDEN that isn’t wild, is how we work. Expect it to be simple, structured, and clear. If at any time it’s not, please let us know and we’ll fix that immediately.

    To guide you through the process, we’ll set up a project portal for you. Oooh, fancy! This space has everything you need to know; how we work, timeframes, your payment schedule, and your wonderful designs.

    We’re an online service. We avoid WhatsApp and instant messaging because it’s intrusive for everyone. We use technology when it allows us to focus more on nature.

  • A little.

    Kit Gardens will give you some defined choices from shortlisted materials, planting, and components. This reduces the time for sourcing, decision making, and coordinating with Contractors.

  • The more information you provide the better the experience will be. Ideally:

    • Drawings showing the plot, villa, and garden as it is.

      • CAD and PDF files are perfect! If not, your developer plans are a good starting point.

      • No drawings? No problem. We will arrange a professional survey for you. Typically, AED 2,000-2,500 for average gardens.

    • Your location pin (we study the area and sun movement).

    • Photos showing the garden from many angles. Include important features like; mature trees, entrances, manholes, key views, and structures.

    • If you want to highlight issues, now’s a good time… remember that annoying corner that collects rainwater, or the overlooking view from the neighbours? Make sure you tell us!

    • A video walkthrough is helpful – we encourage you to narrate it with your feelings and ideas for the space.

  • We like our data safe, so we treat yours the same way too. The people that use your data are WILDEN designers, our partners for creating visuals, and the Contractor(s) that will build your project. By choosing any WILDEN service you give us your consent for us to do this. Please let us know if you don’t want us to share your information and we’ll ask you to share all yourself.

budget

  • We aim to design to a rough budget.

    To be realistic about costs we will discuss them openly with you in the Discovery Session. The budget will guide the detailing and materials we choose, however Contractors estimates do vary a lot.

    WILDEN gardens are not expensive, but they require appropriate investment. We avoid underpriced Contractors because they generally don’t build to our standards and often pay their staff unfairly.

  • Here’s some helpful stats for you:

    Small and simple gardens can be 30-100k.

    Small and complex gardens: 100-200k.

    Large and simple gardens: 200-400k.

    Larger and complex gardens… 400k-1m, or more!

    (all prices in UAE Dirhams / KSA Riyals).

    • Alternatively, allocate 5-10% of your home’s value as a budget for a good outcome, if you own the villa.

    • Renting? Allocate 2-5 month’s rent seems to be the sweet spot (based on 100+ villas we’ve designed so far).

  • The 2 service we offer are a great way to narrow down to your budget. Generally speaking:

    • WILDEN Kit gardens average 40,000 – 150,000 AED.

    • WILDEN Bespoke gardens average 150,000 – 400,000 AED, excluding a pool.

      *If you add a pool, this will increase the budget ~120-250k.

    See our full guide on garden budgets [coming soon!].

construction

  • We will suggest a Contractor for you to partner with. We only recommend Contractors that value landscape the way that we do. They will be responsible for delivering the project to our standards and provide maintenance too (strongly recommended!).

    WILDEN will visit at key stages during construction… see ‘Guardianship’ below.

    Remember, a great design is just the first step!

  • Generally it’s taking Contractors 2-3 weeks to provide an initial price, then a few more weeks for revisions and negotiations, if that’s your style (we leave that last bit to you!).

    We tender to one Contractor to keep things quick and efficient. If you require several quotes and want our professional feedback*, we can do that for you for a fee.

    (*we call this Tender Analysis in Construction lingo and it can save you money, but takes time to do it properly).

  • Following completion of the design, the typical timeframes are:

    2-4 weeks for pricing,

    2-3 weeks for you to meet, agree scope and finalise the contract,

    1-2 weeks for approvals and NOCs (6-8 weeks if you have a pool),

    1-3 months construction (for Kit gardens)

    2-4 months construction (for Bespoke gardens)

    5+ months construction (with a new pool)

  • Avoid this, please!

    We have had poor experiences when non-specialist Contractors try to build gardens. It’s a bit like your plumber fixing your lighting for you. Maybe, but best not.

    Our designs include lots of information and professional drawings - more than enough for Contractors to build the design; it still requires landscape expertise to build to a good standard.

  • We will review the pricing from one Contractor. Both you and the Contractor receive our feedback so if there’s anomalies or items missing, we’re all on the same page.

    We don’t negotiate for you. We trust our preferred Contractors and we can see their quotes are fair on balance. Rates vary because some Contractors get materials cheaper than others, or they are more efficient at parts of the work.

    We’re here to make great gardens, and we support paying labourers a fair wage.

  • Plants will always be growing. Until they’re not growing, and then they’re dead 😉

    Seriously, we don’t grow gardens to achieve completion. Garden is a verb… so the joy comes in participation and experiencing change. If you want a ‘finished’ garden ask someone else to cover everything in artificial grass!

    (FYI - We don’t take pictures of built gardens for 12 months after the plants have been installed.)

  • Your Contractor.

    During the build, WILDEN’s role is (amongst other things) to monitor the quality, provide feedback, and suggest improvements. See Guardianship below…

guardianship

  • Absolutely! We call this ‘Design Guardianship’. Construction is the most challenging part, and we’ll help you get the best result.

    90% of our customers choose to have Guardianship during construction.

    The Contractors which we use are great but the reviews help us to get the best result possible.

  • There are tonnes of opportunities to improve the design whilst it’s under construction and we don't want you to miss out on those. They include functional details, workmanship, layout, privacy, and practical matters like getting the perfect dimensions for your seating. Details that could affect how much you use the garden, and how happy it makes you. We look for cost savings along the way, too. Cash back!

    Guardianship is a proactive service. Our projects require a weekly meeting, or more, for complex designs. Plus, studio time for reviewing technical drawings and creating sketches for design changes.

    When we are called to a site to solve a problem it is often too late or too costly to fix things. For this reason, we don't take on Guardianship on an 'as-needed' or hourly basis.

  • No. Guardianship ensures that your project is being brought to life faithfully. Your Contractor is responsible for project management on a day-to-day basis.

    WILDEN will monitor for quality, review drawings, find design improvements, cost savings, and assist with planting layout.

    This combination keeps the costs manageable for you and the quality to our high standards.

  • Invest in Guardianship for only 8% of the build cost… it will ensure your garden is a million times better than without! Plus, you’ll get complimentary access to the WILDEN Community too 🫶

other

  • We recommend that whoever builds the garden maintains it. We follow UK Landscape Institute practice which recommends a minimum of one, year, ideally two. This ensures consistency by retaining the knowledge in the same team. It protects your investment too – Contractors are more willing to change plants if they installed the garden. A 3rd party gardener may blame your Contractor for plants that did not survive.

  • Your Contractor will obtain all necessary approvals.

    If we’re building a new pool, it’s best that we check any pool technical drawings before they’re submitted to authorities. Once its approved, it’s hard to change! Ask your Contractor to ensure we review and coordinate with them.

  • We provide details of our preferred type of irrigation system. Your Contractor will review the site and recommend the detailed setup and engineering, depending on your budget.

    If you need specialist irrigation design, we will work with a trusted sub-consultant, upon special request.

  • Damn right! We've completed over 100 designs and we've never had a Client request a refund. It's a record we aim to keep.

    2 weeks into the project we will present the Draft Design. If you feel we’ve completely missed the brief we will refund you the mobilisation payment. Full design copyright will remain as WILDEN's so the Draft Design can’t be used to reproduce, construct, price, or sell the garden that we created for you.

  • Best student award 🏅

    In all seriousness, you’re probably a dream client now you’ve read this. So, what next?

    Book a ‘Discovery Session’ and let’s groooow! 🌿

    Book now