Landscape Designer / Garden Designer Needed – Residential 2D Plans + 3D Renders – Ongoing Work

Landscape Designer / Garden Designer Needed – Residential 2D Plans + 3D Renders – Ongoing Work We are looking for a professional residential landscape designer, garden designer, or landscape architect to join our design team for ongoing residential landscape design projects. This is for DesignScapes, an Australian online landscape design business focused on practical, buildable, contractor-ready residential landscape designs. Our work is not just about making attractive renders. We need designers who understand outdoor space, planting, levels, circulation, privacy, materials, construction logic, and how a homeowner will actually use the landscape. We provide 2D landscape plans and 3D renders for residential clients. Most projects involve full-property or major-area landscape concepts, including gardens, lawn areas, paving, decks, pools, retaining walls, outdoor living areas, screens, paths, driveways, feature trees, and planting layouts. Important: AI Design Critique Workflow You must be comfortable using AI as part of the creative and critique process. Our design system includes AI-assisted critique of layouts, design logic, circulation, visual balance, planting structure, buildability, cost/value decisions, missed opportunities, and general design improvement. This is not optional. We do not want designers who simply produce a design and resist critique. We want designers who are willing to test ideas, improve layouts, learn our system, and use feedback properly before sending work through. Our AI system also helps make the design process faster and clearer. It supports the designer, but it does not replace design skill. We still need genuine landscape design ability, good judgement, and strong residential design thinking. The best designers for us are creative, practical, and coachable. Project Pricing Our standard residential design fee is: * $250 USD per design for blocks up to approximately 800 square metres on flat, slightly sloping, or moderately sloping sites * $300 USD per design for significantly sloping blocks, complex level changes, or properties over approximately 800 square metres This fee includes: * Initial site modelling * 2D landscape design plan * 3D landscape renders * A design proposal that meets our design standards * One large revision * One smaller revision * One to two very small final changes, where reasonable Important: the first design submission must meet our design standards. Our design standards are clearly laid out. If a design proposal is incomplete, poorly considered, visually weak, or does not meet our standards, it will be sent back for improvement and will not count as a completed submission. Reasonable revisions are included. If a client requests major changes that require significant additional work beyond the included revision structure, we will discuss this separately and fairly. Ongoing Work We have regular ongoing design work and are aiming for approximately 100 designs per year across the team. This can become consistent long-term work for the right designer. Site Information and Modelling Around 70% of our projects include builder’s plans, site plans, or some form of drawn site information. Around 30% of projects do not. For projects without full plans, you must be able to model the property using: * Client walkthrough videos * Client photos * Google Maps / satellite view * Google Street View where available * Measurements or notes provided by the client * Any builder’s plans or site plans where available You must be able to model the existing block, house, boundaries, outdoor areas, access points, windows, doors, major site features, and approximate levels before producing the landscape design. This does not need to be survey-perfect, but it does need to be close enough for a practical, professional residential landscape concept. Slopes, Levels and Buildability Working with slopes and levels is a critical part of what we do. You need to understand: * Existing and proposed levels * Retaining wall logic * Steps and transitions * Drainage direction * Usable flat areas * Driveway and path access * Outdoor living zones on sloping blocks * How to make a design buildable, not just visually attractive Please show evidence in your portfolio that you can work with sloping sites, level changes, retaining walls, steps, and practical residential construction constraints. What We Need You must be able to produce: * High-quality residential landscape design concepts * Clear 2D landscape plans * Strong 3D renders * Practical layouts that make sense for real homeowners * Site models based on plans, videos, satellite images, and client information * Planting ideas suited to the style, site, and climate * Designs that consider access, levels, privacy, maintenance, cost, and buildability * Attractive outdoor spaces with clear design intent Design Quality We Care About We are looking for designers who understand: * Strong spatial layout * Balance and proportion * Indoor-outdoor connection * Movement through the site * Practical outdoor living zones * Privacy and screening * Feature planting and focal points * Layered garden beds * Material selection * Low-maintenance residential landscapes * Slopes, levels, access, and construction logic * How a design will actually be built Please Do Not Apply If Please do not apply if your main background is only: * General architecture * Building exteriors * Commercial architecture * Basic 3D visualisation * Interior design * Large commercial masterplans * Generic drafting * “I can do everything” design services Large commercial projects do not impress us for this role. We are specifically looking for residential landscape designers, garden designers, or landscape architects with strong residential garden and outdoor living design ability. Portfolio Requirement Please send only your best and most relevant residential landscape design work. Your portfolio should ideally include: * 2D landscape plans * 3D landscape renders * Residential gardens * Outdoor living areas * Planting layouts * Sloping blocks or level changes * Retaining walls, steps, or practical construction elements * Projects showing real design thinking, not just visualisation We will judge applications mainly by the quality and relevance of your portfolio. Your work may be reviewed and critiqued using AI as part of our selection process. To Apply Please include: 1. Your best residential landscape design portfolio examples 2. Examples of both 2D plans and 3D renders 3. Examples showing slopes, levels, retaining walls, or practical site constraints 4. A short explanation of your design process 5. Your experience with residential garden / landscape design 6. Whether you are comfortable using AI as part of the design critique and improvement process 7. Whether you are comfortable modelling sites from videos, photos, Google Maps, and partial site information Please start your application with: “I am a residential landscape designer” This helps us confirm you have read the brief properly.