Landscaper, gardener or landscape architect: who do you need?
A gardener looks after a garden that exists. A landscaper builds one, from groundworks to planting. A landscape architect designs it on paper and rarely holds a spade. On Mallorca the words are used loosely and one company often does two of the three, so the useful question is not what somebody calls themselves but which of those jobs you are actually buying.
Key takeaways
- Gardener means upkeep, landscaper means construction, landscape architect means design.
- Many Mallorcan companies cover two of the three, and a few cover all of them.
- Ask which of the roles a company is quoting for, because the same garden priced under different assumptions produces incomparable numbers.
- For anything that moves levels, water or structures, a drawing comes before a price.
What does a gardener do?
Maintenance. Pruning, cutting back, weeding, feeding, adjusting the irrigation through the seasons and keeping a garden looking the way it was designed to look. On this island that also means checking the watering system, because on most properties it is the thing that decides whether the garden survives an owner absence.
A good gardener will also plant, replace and improve. What they generally do not do is groundworks, retaining structures or anything that needs machinery and a licence.
What does a landscaper do?
Construction. Excavation, levels, drainage, retaining walls, terraces, paving, irrigation and lighting ducting, soil and planting. A landscaping contractor is a builder who works outdoors, and the sequence matters more than anything else: cable and pipe before surfaces, drainage before topsoil, and access sorted out before the walls close it off.
What does a landscape architect do?
Design. A measured survey, a layout, a planting scheme with species and quantities, and enough detail on levels and materials for somebody else to build it. On larger projects they also coordinate with the architect and deal with the planning side.
The title is regulated in some countries and used loosely in others, so on Mallorca it is worth looking at the work rather than the word. What matters is whether you are getting a drawing you can hand to more than one builder.
Which one does your job need?
| What you want | Who it usually belongs to |
|---|---|
| Regular upkeep, pruning, irrigation checks | Gardener |
| An overgrown plot brought back under control | Gardener or landscaper |
| New terraces, walls, drainage or paving | Landscaper |
| A whole garden built from nothing | Landscaper, usually from a drawing |
| A plan for a plot with levels or a difficult brief | Landscape architect or garden designer |
| A development or an architect led project | Landscape architect plus a contractor |
Can one company do all of it?
Several on Mallorca do, and it removes the argument about whose fault a problem is. The trade off is that a design and build company is pricing its own drawing, so there is nobody independent checking the scope. Splitting the roles gives you that check and costs a design fee. Neither is wrong, and it is worth deciding which you want before you ask for quotes.
How the matching works
We do none of these jobs. Describe what you want in ordinary words and we pass it to vetted companies on Mallorca that do that kind of work in your area, whichever of the three it turns out to be. Request free quotes and each of them answers you directly.
What is the difference between a gardener and a landscaper?
A gardener maintains a garden that already exists. A landscaper builds one, including groundworks, drainage and hard surfaces. Many companies on Mallorca do both, but they are separate skills.
Do I need a landscape architect for a small garden?
Usually not. A plan starts to earn its fee when there are levels to resolve, irrigation to zone, or a budget large enough that a mistake is expensive to undo.
Is a garden designer the same as a landscape architect?
In practice the roles overlap. Architects tend to handle larger sites and planning matters, designers tend to focus on the garden itself. Look at the drawings each produces rather than at the title.
Should I hire the designer to build the garden too?
It removes the finger pointing if something goes wrong. It also means nobody independent is checking the build scope. Both routes are common here.
Where to start
Write down what you want to be different about the garden, not which trade you think you need. Send that through and the companies will tell you which job it is, or read how to choose a gardener on Mallorca first.
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