Landscape Architect vs Landscape Designer: Which Do You Need?

When you’re staring at a steep block in Manningham or trying to figure out if that old gum tree in Boroondara prevents you from building a pool, the title of the professional you hire matters less than their experience with local terrain.

Most homeowners in Melbourne’s leafy eastern suburbs assume a “Landscape Architect” is always the superior, higher-tier option compared to a “Landscape Designer.”

From what we’ve seen over 30 years, that assumption often leads to paying for qualifications you don’t need, or missing out on the practical horticultural expertise you actually do.

Let’s break down the real differences, look at the data on fees, and help you decide who is right for your landscape design project.

What Is a Landscape Architect?

A Landscape Architect is a professional trained to analyse land systems, plan communities, and manage complex environmental impacts. This is a regulated field in Australia, typically requiring a formal university education and often involving registration with the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA).

Education and Focus

To use this title professionally, one usually holds a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture from universities like RMIT or the University of Melbourne. Their training is heavy on:

• Macro-level planning: Designing public parks, wetlands, and urban plazas.
• Hard engineering: Understanding hydrology, grading for large sites, and civil infrastructure.
• Policy and Law: navigating government planning schemes and environmental impact statements.

When You Typically Need One

You should prioritize a landscape architect if your project involves:

• Commercial or Public Works: If you are developing a public park or a corporate campus.
• Massive Scale: Properties exceeding 5,000 square meters or involving subdivision master planning.
• complex bio-filtration: Projects requiring advanced water sensitive urban design (WSUD) to meet council engineering conditions.

What Is a Landscape Designer?

Landscape Designers are the specialists of the private residential sphere. While their background is less standardized—ranging from TAFE qualifications at institutions like Burnley or Holmesglen to degrees in horticulture—their focus is intensely practical.

Expertise and Certification

The best landscape designers in Melbourne are often members of Landscaping Victoria Master Landscapers (LVML) or the Landscape Design Institute (LDI). Their expertise centers on:

• Human-Scale Design: Creating functional outdoor living rooms, pools, and entertaining areas.
• Horticultural Depth: A deep understanding of which plants actually survive Melbourne’s clay soils and erratic weather.
• Construction Reality: Many designers start in landscape construction, meaning they know exactly how a design gets built and what it costs.

When They Shine

A landscape designer is often the better fit for:

• Residential Renovations: transforming a backyard into a usable family space.
• Plant-Driven Projects: If you want a garden that blooms year-round, you need a plantsperson, not a planner.
• Tight Constraints: Working within a specific budget to get the maximum impact for your dollar.

The “Melbourne Factor”: Slopes, Overlays, and Red Tape

This is where the textbook definitions fail. In Melbourne’s north-east and inner-east, the terrain and council rules create a unique crossover where “Architect” vs “Designer” matters less than “Local Knowledge.”

The 1-Meter Rule

If you are on a sloping block in suburbs like Doncaster or Ivanhoe, you will likely need retaining walls.

• The Fact: In Victoria, any retaining wall over 1 meter in height (or near a boundary) requires a Building Permit and structural engineering computations.
• The Reality: Both a Landscape Architect and an experienced Landscape Designer can design this. Both will likely outsource the structural calculations to a registered structural engineer. The title doesn’t save you the engineering fee.

Significant Landscape Overlays (SLO)

Many properties in the eastern suburbs are covered by Significant Landscape Overlays.

• The Fact: These overlays protect tree canopy and vegetation character. You often need a Planning Permit just to remove a tree or conduct earthworks.
• The Reality: You need a professional who knows the specific schedule of the overlay in your council (e.g., City of Whitehorse vs. Nillumbik Shire). A designer who works in your suburb weekly will handle this smoother than an architect who usually does commercial work in the CBD.

Comparing the Data: Costs and Scope

We have compiled typical market rates for Melbourne in 2025 to give you a clear comparison. Note that “percentage fees” are common for full management, while fixed fees are common for design-only packages.

Key Takeaway: The price gap has narrowed. Experienced designers charge similar rates to architects because they deliver specialized residential value that generalist architects may lack.

Which Professional Do You Need?

Choose a Landscape Architect If:

• You are developing a commercial site or public space.
• Your project involves complex civil engineering, like diverting a creek or managing flood plains.
• You need to submit a Master Plan for a multi-lot subdivision.

Choose a Landscape Designer If:

• You are a homeowner wanting a pool, alfresco area, or garden renovation.
• You want specific advice on plant species that thrive in your local microclimate.
• You need a “Concept Plan” to visualize ideas before committing to expensive documentation.
• You want a professional who can likely recommend trusted local contractors to build the project.

The Hybrid Solution

At David Claude Landscape Design, we find the best results come from ignoring the label and focusing on the site challenges. We often see homeowners hire a Landscape Architect for a small backyard, pay $5,000 for a plan, and end up with a design that is beautiful on paper but costs double their budget to build. Conversely, we see people hire a gardener to design a retaining wall, only to have the council issue a demolition order because it wasn’t engineered. The sweet spot is a professional who designs for construction—someone who knows the permit triggers but focuses on residential liveability.

Questions to Ask Before Hiring

Don’t just ask about their degree. Ask these specific questions to vet their competence for your project:

1. “How do you handle the Building Permit process for retaining walls?”
   • Good answer: “We design the layout and levels, then send it to our structural engineer for the computations required for the permit.”
2. “What is your experience with [Your Council]‘s vegetation overlays?”
   • Good answer: Mentions specific recent projects in your area and knows the local canopy requirements.
3. “Do you provide a planting schedule with pot sizes?”
   • Good answer: Yes. You need to know if they are quoting tiny tube stock or mature 40cm pots.
4. “Can you give me a budget estimate for the build based on this design?”
   • Good answer: They should be able to give you a rough +/- 20% range. If they have no idea what the construction costs, do not hire them.

Our Approach

At David Claude Landscape Design, we combine the technical rigour you expect from an architect with the practical, dirt-under-the-fingernails knowledge of a designer. We know that a beautiful plan is useless if it can’t be approved by the council or built within your budget.

We specialize in the difficult blocks—the steep driveways in the north-east and the tight, overlay-restricted gardens of the inner-east.

Contact us to look at your site constraints together. We’ll tell you exactly what kind of expertise your project demands, without the jargon.