Garden Design and Starting your Own Business QLS Level 3

All course materials will be delivered to you by post or email. Our experienced and friendly tutors will help you every step of the way by email, so help is only a click away! You can work at your own pace. Completed coursework can be delivered by post, so handing in an assignment is simple.

Course Content

Garden Design QLS Level 3

Unit 1 Introduction to Garden Design

• The purpose of garden design
• The history of garden design
• Key figures in garden design history
• Different garden design styles

Unit 2 Garden Design Principles

• The key design principles used in garden design
• How these key principles are interlinked
• The elements of formal garden design
• The elements of informal garden design

Unit 3 The Importance of Site and Soil

• How to appraise an existing garden
• The key factors in site appraisal
• How to deal with different levels within a site
• How to plot the site on to paper

Unit 4 Hard Landscaping

• The purpose of hard landscaping elements
• Five different types of hard landscaping elements
• Five different hard landscaping materials
• The importance of foundations in hard landscaping

Unit 5 Soft Landscaping

• The purpose of a planting plan and how to create one
• How to use plants in garden design
• Different types of plants that can be obtained and their uses
• Range of plants and their features

Unit 6 Specialist Design Requirements

• Range of problems that may exist in a garden
• Specialist garden needs
• Solutions to specialist problems
• The need for health and safety considerations

Unit 1 Preparing to start your business

• Why start your own business?
• Character and motivation
• Before you start: managing yourself and planning
• Market research
• Sales and profits
• Competitors
• Financial planning
• Suppliers
• Employing people
• Stock and asset management

Unit 2 Defining your business

• Deciding on the form of your business (sole trader, partnership, limited company)
• How to decide what is best for you
• Setting goals for yourself

Unit 3 Marketing

• Your product or service
• Value for money
• Competition
• Segmenting your market
• Pricing

Unit 4 Customers

• Identifying your potential customers
• Promoting your business
• Before sale
• After sale

Unit 5 Finance

• Understanding your business finances
• Working with figures
• Break-event point
• Fixed and current assets
• Cash flow
• Sources of finance
• Managing your money

Unit 6 Your business plan

• Why do you need a business plan?
• The format and structure of your business plan
• Yourself, your people. your values, your mission
• Your business model
• Your market
• Your competition
• Development
• Profit forecast
• Risks