One thing we really wanted to get finished was the garden. With a toddler, a dog and a baby on the way it is really important we have a fenced in garden with space for playing and an outdoor dining area.
We spoke to four gardeners about our ideas and requirements and their responses differed a lot. One was extremely expensive and even boasted about being so, saying that's what made him better than everyone else. The next said they would only give us a final quote after we sign a contract to say we would use them. Another never got back to us with a quote at all.
The one we went with gave us a quote, was friendly, and not too expensive so it was a fairly easy choice.
We decided to go with the tactic of outlining roughly what we wanted and where in terms of patio, parking, lawn and hedge, leaving the rest up to the gardeners as to exactly how they will achieve this.
They started at the front, raising the ground to the front door. We wanted one side to be steps to a path and the other a ramp to the parking spaces. We originally suggested a path from the front door straight to the road but the gardener suggested we run the path sideways to the other street (we are on a corner), which looks much better and gives more space for planting.