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Full alpha.Written by AI, by someone who is not a landscaping professional.What this isWhat has actually been done
Setting OutALPHA

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Costing, quoting and contract

What it costs, and what it really costs

Take quantities off your own drawings, price them at Perth rates, add the costs beginners forget — tipping fees, plant hire, the bobcat that cannot get down the side — then decide what you build yourself and what you pay someone to do.

You end up with

A costed, staged project plan you can actually afford, with a DIY-versus-subcontract decision on every element.

7 lessons≈8 hours3 documents7 written

What you produce in this phase

Lessons

  1. 01

    Quantity take-offs from your own drawings

    Areas, volumes, linear metres and counts, calculated systematically off the plan, with the wastage allowances the trade actually uses. Do it properly once and everything downstream gets easier.

    ⏱ 3 hIntermediate📐 Makes: Quantity take-off
  2. 02

    Perth material prices and where the trade actually buys

    Retail garden centre versus landscape supply yard versus wholesale nursery — the same material at very different prices. Where Perth landscapers buy paving, limestone, soil, mulch, turf, plants and retic, and what an account gets you.

    ⏱ 60 minIntermediate
  3. 03

    Labour, plant hire, tipping fees and the costs beginners forget

    The bobcat that cannot fit down the side, the tip fees on mixed waste, the second delivery because the first was short, the tool you had to buy. The line items that turn a well-estimated job into an over-budget one.

    ⏱ 45 minIntermediate
  4. 04

    Building the quote: overheads, margin and contingency

    How a professional assembles a price from materials, labour, plant, subcontractors, overhead and margin — and why the contingency is not optional. Then apply the same structure to your own project so you know the true number.

    ⏱ 60 minIntermediate📐 Makes: Project cost plan
  5. 05

    Staging a project across seasons and budgets

    Very few gardens get built in one go. Stage it so each phase is usable, nothing gets dug up twice, and the planting lands in the right season — which in Perth means autumn, not spring.

    ⏱ 45 minIntermediate📐 Makes: Staging plan
  6. 06

    Contracts, deposits, variations and payment schedules in WA

    What a landscaping contract should contain, what deposit is reasonable, how variations are supposed to work, and the WA consumer protections that apply when you engage a trade. Read this before you sign anything.

    ⏱ 50 minIntermediate
  7. 07

    DIY versus subcontract: what is genuinely worth paying for

    An honest framework: risk of getting it wrong, cost of fixing it, tools required, physical demand, and whether the law even allows you. Some jobs are a good weekend; some will cost you triple to undo.

    ⏱ 40 minIntermediate