Garden landscaping disaster or does it really have to be this expensive?

Our garden landscaper also has a nursery and a flower shop, my wife always bought a lot there, it has now paid off, we were well served.

Probably invested €75,000 in flowers 30 years earlier

I had a similar experience with naive price expectations. I obtained 10 quotes (often had to ask follow-up questions, appointments were quick, I am still waiting for some quotes today). They vary a lot. Paving 150m² at €23/m² gross for paving stones. About 20-30cm gravel base, fine gravel, laying, 46m edging stones, cutting the pavers. Everything from €12,000 to €18,000 was quoted. The normal price is therefore about €10/m² including stones. When obtaining quotes, also consider up to 50km distance. The more rural, the higher the chance of a cheaper offer in my experience. Also, you could post your job on a craftsman portal (e.g., MyHammer) and wait for offers.

You mean 100 euros per m2. Probably a bit miscalculated

At €100 /sqm we wouldn't say anything ... As of now, the consideration is to do it ourselves, I will report how we have decided.

Prices are currently high. We have found a gala company that is very creative and confident in terms of pricing. We can make a plan together there and then mix in-house work and outsourced work. For the in-house work, we receive professional advice. It must be said that we love gardening and are well aware that it will take years until we have consciously designed or more or less worked on every spot of the site.

it's no different for us, we have just under 3000 sqm of land, of which 2000 need to be redesigned after the old house was demolished and the new one built.

But I have very clear ideas about how I want it to look in the end, and with that we've also met some resistance from several landscapers here.

Well, for now it's all about the paved areas so that we don't drown in mud here in the winter.