| The credit crunch looks likely to prove an | | | | to improve their outdoor space which is where the |
| unexpected blessing-in-disguise for garden designers | | | | good news for designers comes in. |
| and those thinking of switching to Landscape Design | | | | For example, in a street with two fairly matched |
| as either a first or second career. How so? Because | | | | houses on the market, the one with the most |
| according to a new survey just published by the UK | | | | attractive or well-designed outdoor space will be the |
| Building Society, Alliance & Leicester, there are | | | | first to sell. As a general rule, designers can tell |
| still millions of UK residents looking to move house | | | | potential clients that they need to spend around 10% |
| over the next 12 months and therefore, seeking to | | | | of the existing value of their home on the outdoor |
| do everything they can to improve the value and | | | | space to see a guaranteed return of up to 20% |
| desirability of their current property. The survey of | | | | uplift on the value. That means if someone whose |
| over 2,000 UK households was carried out by | | | | home is presently worth £600,000 spends |
| Opinium Research on behalf of the Alliance & | | | | £60,000 on their garden, they will then be able |
| Leicester and showed that about one in eight | | | | to market their home at up to £720,000 |
| homeowners are still planning to sell in the coming | | | | which in the current financial market is a better return |
| year, despite the gloomy downtown in the housing | | | | than most savings accounts. And, for working garden |
| market. And of those planning to make significant | | | | designers, a very persuasive argument to get |
| improvements, almost 60% said they were intending | | | | potential clients to commit to a quality design project. |