Denver Decorative Concrete & Custom MasonryWhat is the difference between a Landscape Architect and a Garden Designer?
My boyfriend wants to start his own landscaping business like his father did but he does not know which is better… What type of schooling does each require and licenses? Thanks!
A landscape architect has five years of college in Landscape Architecture and has passed a rigorous several day exam to get a license. Anyone can call themselves a a garden designer. If your boyfriend wants to install plant material, he will probably need a landscape contractors license or horticulture license, both administered by the state and so easy to pass, a second grader could do it.
Landscape Architects can draw and sell plans. No 1 else can. Landscape Architects are not only designers, but also engineers.
I would just start the business, if he loves it and truly has an eye for it. Most architects work for places with lots of money, like the state. But someone who just designs can jump all over and that would be good. Do a lot of checking on the licenses…..I do not think you have to have much if you do not complicate your company. But if you go big time…The state and everyone else will want a piece of everything you do ………so think it through good………..all the best. Save your money so you have some equipment for a truck, trailer, and small bobcat at least…….save the backs.
You might check your local colleges and community colleges for their courses and programs. I believe a landscape architect deals with hardscape or walkways, patios, stairways, decks, etc… as well as planting beds while a garden designer mostly deals with arrangement of plants in the lanscape.
we are all garden designers…. but a landscape architect can make huge changes to the land, changes that will affect things like water run-off, or be stable enuff to not knock down installed walls, or can design and build terraces that will change a hill to a flat place for a pool, etc…. which we plain garden folks couldn’t let ourselves be responsible for!!…. that’s why THEY go to school and get licensed!!….
Landscape Designers can certainly draw and sell plans in most of the country. Landscape Architects have this exclusive right in some states. Overall, Designers have more interest in Horticulture and Architects in the nuts-and -bolts of the landscape. Either way, get a good education and a lot of field experience.