Landscape design is expensive because you are paying for a professional's time: site analysis, scaled drawings, plant lists, and revisions. A full design plan from a landscape designer typically runs $2,000 to $7,000 in the US, and a licensed landscape architect charges $150 to $250 an hour.
Liability drives the price too. A designer who specifies a retaining wall or regrades a slope takes on real responsibility, and that gets built into the fee. For a simple planting plan, you are often paying architect-level overhead for work that does not need it.
Many homeowners now test ideas before hiring anyone. Generating AI concepts from a photo of your own yard costs a fraction of a single consult, and OutdoorBrite's plans list exactly what that costs.