Your Gold Coast Landscape Designer
Habitat Landscape Design is led by Kieran Morris — NZQA Level 3 Horticultural Science, 10+ years across horticulture, landscape construction, and design. Design-only since late 2024, serving the Gold Coast, Northern NSW, and the Scenic Rim.
Book a Discovery Call View SamplesBetter Results Start With a Clear Plan
Recommendation-led, not menu-led. I started Habitat because I kept seeing people invest in big projects with no plan — then redo work, compromise, or wonder where the budget went. A clear design changes that. Since late 2024 I’ve been design-only — I don’t build, sell materials, or quote on construction, so the recommendations on your project are about what suits the brief. When you’d like an introduction to a contractor I work with regularly, the brief stays with me through the build so the design intent doesn’t get lost between paper and ground.
A designer who actually understands plants. My background is horticulture first — NZQA Level 3 Horticultural Science, then a decade on the tools before I moved into design. That matters more than people realise. I’d visit sites where the designer didn’t understand what would actually grow or what would look right in three years. I figured if they can design, so can I — except I’d bring the plant knowledge they were missing.
Your ideas, made real. I take your Pinterest boards, your holiday photos, the thing you can’t quite describe — and figure out how to make it work on your site. What’s realistic, what’s going to thrive, what’s going to feel right in five years.
At the end of the day, a garden should be a place that makes you feel calm. Grounded. At peace. That’s what I’m trying to create for every client.
How a Habitat Design Is Different
Most landscape designers come at it from architecture — geometry first, plants squeezed in last. I come at it the other way around. The plants drive the plan; the geometry serves the planting.
Plant-First Design
Every species on the plan is specified for your soil, your light, your wind exposure. Mature size, root depth, water tolerance, salt tolerance — all factored before the plant lands on paper.
Hyperlocal Gold Coast Knowledge
Bushfire and flood overlays mapped before the workshop. Hinterland basalt versus coastal sand; canal-front salt exposure versus hinterland wind shear. City Plan overlays surfaced upfront so the design works with the constraints, not around them.
Design-Only Practice
I don’t build, sell materials, or quote on construction. After the plan is delivered, I’m available to talk through it with whoever you choose to build — questions on intent, plant substitutions, layout queries — so the brief doesn’t get lost in translation.
Apples-to-Apples Quotes
A specification detailed enough that contractors can quote on the same scope rather than their own interpretation. Less guesswork, tighter spread, fewer variations once the build starts. Optional City Plan references included where relevant.
Landscape Design Services
A clear design means everyone’s working from the same vision — you get comparable quotes, confident decisions, and a result that looks like it was always meant to be there.
Most clients start with Concept + Planting and proceed to Concept + Master Plan when the build needs full setout, materials schedule, services intent and a 3D site model.
Concept + Planting Design
- Design strategy workshop — lock in the vision on-site
- Concept layout (2D) — see the design intent before you build
- Materials & plant palette
- Annotated concept plan
- Planting design — every species, where it goes, how many
What your landscaper can do with this: produce a desktop estimate — enough detail to price the job within a realistic range, without a formal quote.
View Samples Book Discovery CallConcept + Master Plan
- Everything in Concept + Planting, plus:
- 3D site model — spatial planning tool
- Quantified materials schedule
- Drainage, irrigation & lighting plan
- Layout details & materials intent
- Contractor-ready documentation
What your landscaper can do with this: produce a quote (subject to a site check-measure) — not a guess. Different contractors can quote on the same scope (subject to a site check-measure).
View Samples Book Discovery CallPlant Plan
- Video consultation (no site visit)
- Zone-by-zone planting schedule
- Layout illustratives
- Species gallery
- Shopping list
- Planting & maintenance guide
What you can do with this: plant it yourself, or hand it to any landscaper — layout illustratives show where each species goes.
View Samples Book Discovery CallRemote Concept + Planting Design — $3,190 inc GST. Same deliverables as the on-site package, with a video consultation replacing the workshop. ~2 week turnaround.
Working With Habitat — Common Questions
What's your background?
NZQA Level 3 Horticultural Science, 10+ years across horticulture and landscape design. On the Gold Coast since 2022. Design-only since late 2024 — before that I worked on the tools, which is why I lead with plants and not architecture. I know what grows where and what won't.
Why design-only? Why not just build it too?
Independence of advice. When I recommended a plant or a material as a designer-builder, the client couldn’t tell whether I was advising or upselling. Design-only takes that question off the table — I don’t build, sell materials, or quote on construction. When clients want an introduction to a contractor I work with regularly, the brief stays with me through the build so the design intent doesn’t get lost between paper and ground.
Do you work with my architect or builder?
Yes. I’ll review architectural plans, coordinate with your builder on landscape interfaces (decks, retaining walls, drainage tie-ins), and make sure the landscape design integrates with the architecture rather than fighting it. I work into existing project workflows.
What happens on a Discovery Call?
20 minutes, screen-share, with both decision-makers wherever possible. We walk your property using council mapping and satellite imagery, talk through what you’re hoping to achieve, and you leave with a clearer read of your site and a recommendation on the package that suits the brief.
Not Sure Where to Start? Find Your Style in 2 Minutes.
Rate 7 curated design photos — you’ll see the palette, textures and planting that resonate, and we’ll have a head start for your Discovery Call.
Free · no signup · 2 minutes
Ready to Get Started?
Tell me about your project and what you’re hoping to achieve — 20 minutes, no obligation.
Book a Discovery Call