Field guide

Landscape Architect vs. Designer vs. Landscaper: Who to Hire

Published Nov 2, 2026 · VettedLandscapers editorial

Short answer

Call a landscape architect when the job turns on grading, drainage or construction drawings. Every state licenses them. For a planting and layout plan, a landscape designer or the designer at a design-build firm will do. To build patios, walls, lighting and irrigation, hire a design-build or installation company. To keep it all looking right, hire a maintenance crew, and for big trees, an ISA Certified Arborist.

Plenty of companies do more than one of these, so ask who does each part of your job.

On VettedLandscapers we tag companies by the work their own websites describe: Design & install (patios, walls, lighting, drainage, irrigation, planting plans, sod) or Maintenance (mowing and lawn care). Of the 557 companies we list, 302 describe design or installation work, 363 describe maintenance, and 213 describe both. That overlap is why the job title on a truck tells you less than it seems.

Who does what

Who	What they do	License	How they usually charge
Landscape architect	Site plans, grading and drainage, construction drawings, specifications and cost estimates. Can oversee the build.	Required for the title in every state; AL, GA, MS and FL license the work too	By the hour, a flat fee per plan, or a percentage of the project
Landscape designer	Planting plans, layout and materials. Usually lighter on engineering.	Varies by state (below)	By the hour, a flat fee per plan, or a percentage of the project
Design-build firm	Designs the project and builds it under one contract.	Depends on the work, the price and the state	A design fee, often credited toward the build, plus the build price
Maintenance crew	Mowing, edging, beds, pruning and cleanups. Some also spray.	Spraying for hire needs a state pesticide license	Per visit, per month or per season
Arborist	Pruning, cabling, removals and tree health.	ISA certification is voluntary; Alabama licenses tree surgery	Per job

Landscape architect

This is the one licensed profession in the group. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts it plainly: "All states require landscape architects to be licensed." The usual path is a 4 to 5 year degree in landscape architecture, supervised experience, and a national exam called the L.A.R.E., which the Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards (CLARB) writes. Two of its sections cover grading, drainage and stormwater management, and construction documentation. That technical work is what sets an architect apart from a designer.

The Bureau lists the job as preparing site plans, specifications and cost estimates, reviewing reports on land conditions such as drainage, and inspecting the work as it's built. State law draws the same line. Alabama's definition of landscape architecture includes "the setting of grades and determining drainage," and Florida's and Mississippi's include grading, drainage and storm drainage.

Call one when: water is a real problem, the lot needs regrading, you need drawings someone else will build from, or the project is large enough that mistakes get expensive.

What it costs: HomeGuide puts landscape architects at $100 to $250 an hour, $1,000 to $6,000 for design plans, or 5% to 20% of the project when the architect also supervises the installation (HomeGuide says percentage fees are typical of commercial or multi-acre jobs). HomeAdvisor gives $70 to $140 an hour and 5% to 15% of the project (up to 25% on some jobs). LawnStarter says $65 to $200 an hour.

Practice or just the title?

Some states license the work itself; others protect only the name. Here is how our five states handle it.

State	What the law restricts	Who may still design plantings without an architect's license
Alabama	Practice and title	Nurserymen and general or landscape contractors, including "design, planning, location, and arrangements of plantings"
Georgia	Practice and title	A landscape contractor, but only if it installs its own design; gardeners and nurserymen
Mississippi	Practice and title	Nurserymen and landscape contractors doing "planting design"
Florida	Practice and title	Anyone may do "landscape design" (planting plans), but construction documents for built features and irrigation must be designed or approved by licensed professionals
Tennessee	The title	Only registered landscape architects may use the title; the law says registration isn't required to practice without it, with some exceptions

To check a license, search the state board's records or call the board: Alabama's Board of Examiners of Landscape Architects, Tennessee's Board of Architectural and Engineering Examiners, the Georgia Secretary of State's licensing boards, the Mississippi State Board of Architecture, or Florida's DBPR. All are linked in the sources below.

Landscape designer

The Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD) defines landscape design as "the process used to develop aesthetically pleasing and functional outdoor spaces," and lists the work as sketches and plans plus planting, materials and construction specifications. The National Association of Landscape Professionals' consumer site puts the difference this way: designers "may or may not have advanced training" and "often specialize in the aesthetic and horticultural side" of a yard.

Certification: APLD offers a Certified Professional Landscape Designer (CPLD) credential. Applicants submit three projects that have been installed for two or more years, each with a hardscape plan and a planting plan, and a panel of trained reviewers checks them.

Licensing varies:

Florida says it outright: "landscape design is not a licensed profession that is regulated by the State of Florida."
Alabama's Department of Agriculture and Industries issues a Landscape Design (LD) license to businesses that offer landscape design. See our Alabama license guide.
Mississippi requires a Landscape Horticulturist License from the Department of Agriculture and Commerce for paid landscaping and planting. The department doesn't say whether design-only work needs it.
Georgia lets a landscape contractor design without an architect's license only if it also installs the design.
Tennessee protects the architect title; nobody but a registered landscape architect may use it.

What it costs: HomeGuide puts designers at $50 to $150 an hour and $700 to $3,000 for a typical plan, with small projects at $300 to $600 and large ones at $3,500 to $9,000. LawnStarter gives $2,200 to $6,180 per project, or $300 to $1,500 for a single plan.

Design-build firm

The Design-Build Institute of America describes design-build as one contract covering both design and construction, where other methods use separate contracts. In landscaping, that's a company whose designer draws your project and whose crews build it.

The money usually works like this, per HomeGuide: "Landscaping companies who build their designs typically deduct fees for making plans from the total installation price." LawnStarter suggests looking for a company that includes the design free with installation.

The upside: one company answers for the whole job, and the design is priced by the people who will build it.
The catch: the plan is built around that company's crews and prices. If you might take the plan to another installer, agree in writing on what the design fee buys and who owns the drawings.

Design-build firms need whatever licenses the work calls for. In nine Tennessee counties, including Knox, Hamilton, Davidson and Shelby, residential landscaping jobs over $3,000 and under $25,000 need a state home improvement license. In Mississippi, improvements to an existing home over $10,000 can need a residential remodeler license. Our hiring checklist covers how to check.

Browse landscape design and hardscaping companies.

Maintenance crew

The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists the job as mowing, edging and fertilizing lawns, watering, trimming, mulching, leaf cleanup and laying sod, and notes that some crews also help install lighting or sprinklers. It's also the work our listings describe most: 363 of the 557 companies we list.

The licensing question is spraying. "Most states require licensing for workers who apply pesticides," the Bureau says, and all five of our states license companies that spray lawns for hire. Mississippi goes further: a mowing-only business "shall not have the words landscape or landscaping in their business name."

The NALP suggests asking whether the crew is "Landscape Industry Certified," a voluntary credential for installation, maintenance and irrigation technicians. Browse lawn care companies, and see what lawn care costs.

Arborist

For anything big in a tree (pruning a mature oak, storm damage, a removal near the house), the International Society of Arboriculture's advice is simple: "Tree work should be done only by those trained and equipped to work safely in trees."

An ISA Certified Arborist has at least three years of full-time tree work (less with a degree that includes arboriculture courses), has passed a 200-question exam and renews every three years with 30 continuing education units. It's a voluntary credential, not a state license. Two of our states add their own rules: Alabama licenses tree surgery (by state law, cavity filling or repair, bracing, cabling and wound treatment), and Mississippi requires a license to advertise as a "licensed or bonded or insured" tree surgeon, which carries a $100,000 liability insurance minimum. Browse tree service companies.

How to tell what a company really does

A website that lists every service in the trade doesn't mean one crew does all of it. Ask:

Who draws the plan, and is that person on your staff?
Will the plan name each plant with its size and quantity, and give dimensions for the patio or walls?
Who builds it: your own crews or subcontractors?
If I don't hire you to build it, do I keep the plan? What does the design fee cover?
Which licenses do you hold for this work in this state, and under what business name?
Who maintains it afterward, and does that crew hold a pesticide license if it sprays?
Can I see a job you finished a few years ago? APLD's own certification asks for projects that have been in the ground two or more years, for good reason.

The order to do a bigger project in

Drainage and grading first. Water problems undo everything built on top of them.
The plan. One drawing that covers hardscape, planting, irrigation and lighting saves rework.
Hardscape. Patios, walls and paths come before planting, because heavy equipment wrecks new beds.
Irrigation and lighting lines. Run them before plants and sod go in.
Planting, then lawn. Sod or seed goes in last.
Maintenance. Set it up before the first summer, when new plants need the most water.

Next: what landscaping costs and the checks to make before you sign.

Sources

This guide is general information, not legal or professional advice. Rules and prices change; check with the agency or business before you rely on them. Spot something wrong? Tell us.