A career in the outdoors - Landscape Design

An email from Fiona Smith who found me on the businesswarriors website http://businesswarriors.co.za/


Hi Rene,

I found your details on the BW website - have just been reading your intro from last year!

The reason for my email today - I'm interested in perhaps pursuing a career in landscaping, so who better to find out a bit of info from.

As you will see from the link below, I'm currently in the shade sail industry, and going really well. . I loove the outdoors, and am starting to wonder weather landscape design would be my thing.

I know full well that every industry has it's pro's and con's, how do you find being a landscape designer? Are you still able to get your hands dirty, or are you removed from that aspect of it, with all the computer design needed these days. Gardening for me is such a pleasurable activity, but I assume that a business in the industry has it's share of stress?

Anyway if you have a moment, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks!
Fiona Smith
http://www.shadeplus.co.za/

My answer:

Dear Fiona

Things have certainly developed from last year for me. You can have a look at our website for Viridian Consulting Landscape Architects at http://www.viridian.co.za/

Most people who become landscape designers or landscape architects get into it for the love of nature, wanting to make a difference to the world and of course so we can get outside with the wind in our hair!

There are different levels of shall we say professionalism in the field. The guys who go to varsity for four to six years generally become professional landscape architects and they register with a professional body and adhere to a professional code of conduct. They charge their fees according to a Guideline Tariff Scale of fees and are trained in many aspects of design, site analysis, contract management and technical detailing of both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ landscaping elements.

Training at a Technikon or rather University of Technology as they call it these days usually prepares the student for a similar range of tasks but to less intensive and less academic level. Graduates from this programme generally proceed to become landscape contractors working in landscape construction companies or landscape technicians who work in design offices supporting and teaming up with landscape architects.

Graduates from the tech diploma may call themselves landscape designers. The term landscape architect is reserved for graduates of the university masters programme at either the University of Pretoria or at the University of Cape Town. As a landscape architect you also write a professional exam before you are permitted to register with the South African Council for the Landscape Architectural Profession. Check out the following websites:

http://www.ilasa.co.za/ and http://www.cbe.org.za/SACLAP.htm

The more hands on work is usually done by the landscape contractors who project manage and supervise the installation and construction of the landscape projects. These projects can range from something the size of Grand West casino to as small as a townhouse garden.

I do get my hands dirty perhaps more often than other landscape designers / landscape architects because I enjoy the excuse to get outside. I often take charge of the setting out of the plant material on site after all the preparation has been done. Its is little bit like painting by numbers except that you get to use your artistic license because it was after all you who did the design in the first place!

If you want to get into landscape design but you are not in a position to study full time, there are a number of other ways to educate yourself in becoming knowledgeable about landscape design. Short courses in design are often advertised in gardening magazines. Intec now offers a correspondence course here in South Africa. I cannot comment on the quality of these courses at all. Other correspondence courses are offered from the UK.

Check out this website http://www.landscapeinstitute.org/

Probably the best way to see if the field is right for you is to spend time working in a design office or on site with a landscape contracting company. Untrained people generally don’t get paid very much if at all, but an unpaid stint of a few weeks may save you pots of money before you decide to start a course of study.

So if your soul yearns and the spirit of landscape design is calling….sell your business for pots of money and take a sabbatical shadowing me or another designer for a week or two!

It’s a fascinating field and I can promise you that you will never stop learning and NEVER get bored.

Hope this helps and feel free to call me at my office on 021 8529580 should you have any questions or want to visit us for a chat in person.

Kind regards
Rene van der Westhuizen

PS there is definitely a shortage of trained and qualified landscape professionals in SA at present. Its also a growing field internationally.