The Business of Design

Ed Hansen

Dr. Allan Armitage is a well known writer, speaker and horticulturist. Born and raised in Quebec and Ontario, he later lived in East Lansing, MI and now resides in Athens, GA. He has worked with landscape plants and greenhouse crops in the North and South, and travels the world speaking and sharing his passion for plants.

Beth is entering her 38th year in the world of Horticulture. She began her career as a landscape designer at Weall and Cullen Garden Centre. She studied Landscape Architecture at Ryerson and opened her design firm, Designs By The Yard in 1994.

Beth discovered her love of teaching when she taught workshops at Landscape Ontario for the certification program. This led to her teaching part time at numerous colleges throughout Ontario.

Beth is currently teaching online courses for Dynascape CAD Software program. She is the Artistic Director of The Winter Village at The Toronto Distillery District and enjoys being selective about the Landscape Design Projects she now pursues. 

She is currently serving on the Provincial Board as the Representative for the Landscape Designer Sector Group and is actively involved in the Certification of Landscape Designers in Ontario.

Founder and Creative Director of EDEN Projects; a full-service landscape design studio operating on Vancouver Island. Danée Lambourne is an expert in white-glove client services, and the art of the pivot, specializing in landscape and construction curation and project facilitation. The EDEN umbrella hosts 2 distinct branches: EDEN Projects, a Residential and Multi family Design/Build firm; Inventing Eden, focussing on holistic wellness and restorative land-use and livelihood. Since the inception of the company, Danée has been designing gardens across Vancouver Island for now 20 years+, leading the way in plant-driven design and construction management. Valuing client relationships and human connection, Danée is passionate about cultivating quality of life, leading with vision and executing with conviction, to transform master plans into emotive spaces.

Say Good-Bye to 'Coming Up Short'

Facilitated by one of Landscape Ontario's top business coaches, this interactive workshop-style session will supercharge your strategy for making profit as a landscape designer either on your own, or in a landscape design department. Designers are often challenged (or terrified, or bored) by 'managing the numbers' - how much to charge and how to accurately project how much they can earn at the end of the year. If you (or your team) are frustrated with end-of-the-year profit,  then this session is for you. Join your Design Peers in a facilitated round table discussion to gain insight and tricks into pricing design work in order to turn a profit.

You have just received a phone call from a potential new client. What should you do next? How can you transform this initial call into a profitable design? In this seminar, we will discuss the essential aspects of working with design clients - from the first call to creating a design proposal, correctly estimating the time required to complete the drawings, determining the cost of landscape construction to meet a client’s budget, and finally, effectively collecting payment for your design work. This practical knowledge will give you the confidence to handle potential client calls and convert them into profitable designs.

As landscape designers and architects, it is important for us to find clients and projects that align with our design skills. This requires a good understanding of our design abilities, the type of clients we prefer to work with, and the nature of their projects. To identify the right clients, we need to screen them carefully. Once we start working on the design, we may encounter clients who repeatedly request design changes. This can be costly and time-consuming, and we must know how to handle such situations effectively. When dealing with challenging clients, we must maintain our patience and professionalism, knowing our skills have value. Sometimes, it may be necessary to end our professional relationship with a client. This can be a difficult decision. For years, these issues have troubled designers and often arise when we take on clients who are not a good fit for us. This seminar will provide insight into finding the right clients, dealing with challenging clients professionally, and, when needed, how to let a client go.

Want your landscape to stand out? Plants are the backbone of any landscape.  Don't be afraid to add plants that are new to the market, uncommon or under utilized. Many new cultivars are improvements upon old standbys. Learn about plants that will add unique features in foliage, blooms, texture and more. Elevate your design from excellent to extraordinary!