Our services
Full Garden Design& Renovation in DevonOne Team, Start to Finish
Levels, walls, paving, carpentry and planting designed with you on site and built by the same team, so nothing gets handed over, compromised or value-engineered out halfway through.
30 years' experience · 5.0 Google rating · Repeat clients
30 years
Hands-on experience in Devon
5.0 rating
Average score on Google reviews
Fixed prices
Agreed in writing before we start
£2 million public liability
Fully insured, self-employed team covered
Whole-garden renovation: hard landscaping, structures, levels and planting, developed with you and built by us.
What a full renovation covers
A whole-garden project pulls together everything we do: resolving levels, retaining walls and terracing, paving and paths, decking and carpentry, garden structures, boundaries, drainage and planting: sequenced as one programme rather than a series of unrelated jobs.
The design happens on site with Phil. Your ideas get developed, the awkward parts get solved out loud, and you both understand the plan before a spade goes in the ground. There's no CAD department and no design fee for a drawing somebody else then has to build.
Who it is for
Renovation suits gardens that don't work as a whole: a new-build plot that's a rectangle of turf and nothing else, an inherited garden that's been patched by five different trades over twenty years, or a sloping plot where most of the ground is unusable.
It also suits people who simply don't want to project-manage. One team, one price, one person answering the phone.
Why one team matters
The expensive failures in garden projects happen at the joins. The waller sets a level the paver can't work to. The deck is built before someone realises the drainage runs beneath it. The planting goes in after the machinery has compacted the soil it needs.
When the same team designs and builds every element, those junctions are decided once and built once, which is also why our clients come back for second and third projects.
What's included
- Collaborative, on-site design process
- Levels, access and drainage resolved early
- Hard and soft landscaping by one team
- Staged programme so the garden stays usable
What it costs to leave it
Piecemeal work costs more overall
Doing the patio this year and the wall next year usually means digging up part of the first job to build the second, and paying twice for the same access, plant and groundwork.
Unresolved levels and drainage undermine everything
If water and levels aren't solved at the start, the finished garden pushes water toward the house, holds it in the lawn, or delivers a terrace you step awkwardly up to.
Trade gaps leave you managing the project
Separate contractors with separate programmes means you become the coordinator, absorbing every delay and every disagreement about whose responsibility a junction is.
The common mistake: designing the surfaces before the structure
Choosing paving and planting before levels, access and drainage are resolved is how a design ends up being cut back once the real cost of the groundwork appears.
How the job runs
- Step 1
On-site design conversation
Phil walks the garden with you: what you want from it, how you'll use it, what has to stay and what's in the way. Ideas are developed together on site rather than presented back as a drawing.
- Step 2
Levels, access and drainage resolved
Before anything is priced, the structural questions get answered: where the levels land, how machinery and materials get in, and where water goes.
- Step 3
Fixed price and staged programme
You get one fixed price for the scheme and a programme staged so the garden stays as usable as possible while work is running.
- Step 4
Build in sequence
Groundwork, walls and drainage first, then paving and carpentry, then structures, then soft landscaping and planting, in an order that means nothing finished has to be disturbed.
- Step 5
Handover
We clear the site, walk the finished work with you and explain any aftercare. If anything needs attention afterwards, Phil is the person who answers the phone.
What you get out of it
A garden that works as a whole
Levels, surfaces, structures and planting designed together instead of colliding at the edges.
One price, one contact
A single fixed price for the scheme and one person: Phil, who knows every part of it.
Designed with you, not at you
A collaborative, on-site process, so what gets built is what you pictured.
Built by the people who designed it
Nothing is handed to a separate contractor to reinterpret or cut back.
Staged to stay usable
The programme is sequenced so the garden isn't a building site from end to end for the whole project.
What a renovation typically includes
Most whole-garden schemes draw on several of these elements, resolved as one design.
- Levels and terracing: retaining walls, steps and graded ground to make a slope usable.
- Hard landscaping: patios, paths and driveways in natural stone, porcelain, block or gravel.
- Carpentry: decking, pergolas, screens, gates and integrated seating.
- Structures: insulated garden rooms, studios and canopies where the brief needs them.
- Boundaries: fencing and walling that fit the design rather than being left as they were.
- Drainage and services: surface water routing, soakaways and the ducting for lighting or power laid before surfaces go down.
- Soft landscaping: soil preparation, turf, beds and planting suited to the aspect and the Devon climate.
Method: sequence is the design
A renovation is built from the ground up in an order that avoids rework: clearance and muck away, then deep services and drainage, then structural walls and levels, then hard surfaces, then carpentry and structures, then soil and planting last so it isn't compacted or damaged.
Access governs a surprising amount. Whether a machine can get into the garden, or whether everything is barrowed through the house, changes both the cost and the programme, which is why it's assessed before pricing, not after.
Spoil, deliveries and storage are planned so the site stays workable and your neighbours stay onside. Sites are left tidy at the end of each day, which is something clients regularly mention in our reviews.
Devon gardens: what shapes the design here
Sloping plots are the norm across Teignbridge, Torbay and the South Hams. Terracing is usually the honest answer, and it's cheaper to design in at the start than to bolt on later.
Coastal gardens in Torquay, Paignton and Brixham need materials and planting that tolerate wind and salt. Inland rural plots in the South Hams tend to be larger, with older stonework and a strong local character to work with rather than against.
City gardens in Exeter are generally about restricted access, privacy and making a small space feel deliberate: where a change of level, a screen and a well-placed structure do more than square metres of paving.
Domestic renovations and larger properties
Most of our renovation work is domestic: family gardens where the brief is seating, a lawn, somewhere to eat outside and a boundary that works.
Larger properties and holiday lets bring in parking, access routes, multiple terraces and more substantial structures, and are usually staged across a longer programme.
Either way the approach is the same: solve the structure first, build in sequence, and keep one team accountable for the whole thing.
Examples of our work
Slide through photos of finished projects across South Devon.
Where we do this work
Related services
Back to the PC Landscaping homepage, see all services or get in touch with Phil.
Garden Design: common questions
How much does a full garden renovation cost?
Whole-garden schemes vary enormously with size, level changes, access and how much structural work is involved. Phil designs the scheme with you on site and then gives one fixed price for the whole programme.
Do you charge for the design?
The design happens on site with Phil as part of the conversation about your garden, there's no separate CAD department producing drawings for someone else to build.
How long does a garden renovation take?
Longer than a single-element job, and it depends on the scope. You'll get a staged programme with your quote, sequenced so the garden stays as usable as possible while work is underway. We work 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday.
Can the work be done in phases?
Yes, and sometimes it should be. If phasing makes sense, Phil will sequence it so later phases don't require digging up earlier ones, that's the thing to get right at design stage.
Do you do the planting as well as the hard landscaping?
Yes: soil preparation, turf, beds and planting are part of the scheme, done at the end so they aren't damaged during the build.
Will my garden be unusable for the whole project?
We stage the programme to limit that, clear as we go and leave the site tidy each day. Complete access to every part of the garden throughout isn't always possible, and we'll be straight with you about which weeks are disruptive.
Do you take a deposit?
On larger projects there's sometimes an initial deposit of around 10%. In all cases 50% is due once the job has started, with the balance on completion.
Do you work across the South Hams and Exeter?
Yes: Teignbridge, Torbay, Exeter and the South Hams, from our base in Denbury near Newton Abbot.
Do clients come back for more work?
Regularly. One of our Google reviews is from a client on their second full project with a third planned for later in the year.
Client feedback
Recent words from South Devon gardens
“Phil finished the remainder of my featherboard fence. Started the job promptly, arrived on time and finished the job professionally.”
Big Steve
Featherboard fencing · Google review
“Fitted our hardwood deck and it looks great! Decent price and took just a couple of days plus they cleaned up after themselves.”
Steve Marson
Hardwood decking · Google review
“Phil and Nigel did a complete redesign of our garden, did a very professional job from start to finish… this is the second job they have done for us and we have another project for later in the year.”
Robert Down
Full garden redesign · repeat client · Google review
“Fab job for my pathway around my house and patio… Phil's suggestion and explanation of the construction work was the most solid.”
Hung Alice
Pathway & patio · Google review
Start your garden renovation with a site visit
Phil walks the garden, develops the design with you and prices the whole scheme as one fixed figure.
30 years' experience · £2 million public liability · 8am–6pm, Monday to Friday