Permaculture Design Plans
Homeowners, this service is for you!
If you already own land but are overwhelmed at the thought of planning how best to use and manage the land, consider the Permaculture Design Plan.
This project will help focus your thoughts and energy and allow you to systematically develop your land into a harmonious ecosystem that provides lots of wonderful outputs (food, beauty, flowers, friends who can’t get enough) with minimal inputs (time, labor, energy, money).
This package includes detailed assessments, maps to scale, and much more.
BEST FOR
Land Owners with these desires:
Gardens, orchards, food forests, kitchen herb gardens
Composting, soil building, Autumn leaf decomposition
Livestock
Water catchment, ponds, and irrigation
Outdoor living spaces, entertaining, fire circles
Integrated systems
Living in communion with your land and seasonal rhythms
Click the button below to learn more, and to tell me about your particular concerns.
Permaculture
Design Plans
A full-scale Permaculture Design Plan is a complete assessment and plan for your land.
I first take into account who you are: goals, needs, wants, limitations, abilities, and ambitions.
Then, I make a holistic assessment of your unique tract of land: the soil, water, size, slope, aspect, topography, previous uses, challenges, opportunities and more.
I do this using maps, online resources, and my own on-site analysis. I also have a network of experts who can be brought on to consult on all manner of specialized and niche characteristics. After getting a complete understanding of your land and how you fit into the ecosystem, I create a very robust, holistic, and thoughtful plan and hand drawn maps to guide your implementation.
This is very involved process that involves lengthy interviews, site visits, acquisition of maps, soil samples, and hours of research, and unique maps drawn to scale.
Prices for complete packages begin at $2,000 and increase from there depending on the scope of the project and the acreage of the land.
This package includes only the design and resources listed below. Pricing does not include labor or materials of any kind, coordination with contractors, future consultations, or on-going maintenance (however these services can be negotiated separately.)
I only undertake one of these projects per month, so it is possible that there may be a waitlist. Please peruse the process below and fill out the Permaculture Design Plan Inquiry Form to get started!
PERMACULTURE DESIGN PROCESS
Client Questionnaire/Interview: Understanding Client’s Needs and Vision
The first phase of the process is gathering information about who lives on the land, how they would like to use it. I will ask detailed questions about the clients’ visions, goals, and concerns. The questionnaire and interview will provide enlightenment about who this design is for and whether or not the project stakeholders are on the same page about their shared goals. We will assess what skills, resources, knowledge, time, and energy the stakeholders are able/desire to invest.
Complete Site Assessment with Written Report: Understanding the Land
This will be a detailed investigation and documentation of the site itself. I will walk the land, take measurements, identify major plant communities, and assess all the characteristics of the site, positive and negative. I will find and map all underground utilities. The written report will be 3-5 pages long, with many details about the site.
Scale Base Map
I will obtain the GIS map from the County and transfer that scale map of the land to a plain line-drawn base map. This map will become the “blank canvas” from which I will develop the permaculture design concepts.
Zone Map
This map will be a visual representation of the permaculture “zones.” This will help the designer and the landowner understand what parts of the land are more easily accessible and where different elements should be in the landscape.
Water Assessment and Overlay Map
This map will show the flow of water on and through the site. I will take into account roof and road runoffs as well as groundwater flow and any other perennial waterways. Thorough understanding of the way water flows will be crucial to the design.
Utilities Map
I will schedule 811 to come and locate buried utilities. Then I will mark all utilities (buried and overhead) on a map for future reference.
Sector Analysis
This is another map overlay that will show the outside influences on the site. This includes summer and winter sun arcs, prevailing winds, presence of neighbors, roads, etc.
2-3 Concept Maps
I will take into consideration all the information that I have gathered up to this point and design several different plans. These can be either several phased maps of a long-term plan, different designs to accommodate for different levels of budget and ambition, or wildly different plans to help the clients see more possibilities for the site. These maps will all be to scale.
Preliminary Presentation with Client Feedback
I will meet with the clients to present my work so far. This is an opportunity to make sure that we are all on the same page and that I can take feedback from the different concepts to bring elements from the different concepts into one final design.
Final Design
This is the package and presentation of the final design. It includes the following elements:
Final Design Map
Water Overlay
Sector Overlay
Written Design Narrative
Phasing Timeline
Species List
Rough Budget
Annual Maintenance Calendar
Written Design Narrative
This is a written explanation of the design plan that accompanies the final map. It will detail the specifics of all major design elements and serve as the guiding document during the implementation process.
Phasing Timeline
This will be a document that provides a timeline for the implementation of the project over the course of the clients desired implementation schedule.
Species list
This will be a spreadsheet that lists the common names, taxonomic names, proposed quantities, and pertinent details about every plant species that is proposed for installation in the final plan as well as the major species already present at the site.
Rough budget
This will be a “quick and dirty” estimate about the necessary financial inputs for each major design element. This is not a quote, but merely a tool for seeing the general budget for the project.
Annual Maintenance Calendar
This is a month-by-month care and maintenance schedule for the permaculture plan. It will list when most things need to happen to keep the system running. Some examples of when to:
start annual seeds in spring
clean the chimney/stovepipe
prune fruit trees and shrubs
put the garden to bed
add fertilizer
winterize garden ponds
etc.
PRICING
This full process takes at least 40-100 hours of work and costs $2000+ depending on the size and scope of the project. Focused consultations, “walk-and-talks,” and one-off project consults are also available for clients uninterested or otherwise unable to invest in the complete process. Barters are considered in pricing negotiations.
Permaculture Design Plan Inquiry
If this sounds like something you are interested in pursuing, let’s get the ball rolling! Click the button below to fill out the inquiry form.