Land Planning and Design Services
Every service is planning and design guidance. You or your own contractors carry out the work. Not sure where to begin? A short call is usually the fastest way to find the right fit.
Compare
Core packages
| Service | Best for | Price | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backyard Food Forest Design | Homeowners turning a lawn or side yard into a productive, low-input planting | Starting at $888 | Details |
| LiDAR Topographic Maps for Land Planning | New landowners trying to understand a property before committing to projects | Starting at $1,200 | Details |
| Water Flow and Erosion Planning for Your Land | Owners who see soil washing downhill or gullies starting after heavy rain | Starting at $3,600 | Details |
| Earthworks and Keyline Planning | Owners considering a pond or swales who want to know if their terrain supports them | Starting at $7,800 | Details |
| Regenerative Land Design for Homesteads, Farms and Ranches | Homesteads ready to plan the whole property rather than one project at a time | Starting at $9,800 | Details |
All-in price — earlier steps are included. Anything you've paid for earlier steps in the last 12 months comes off automatically at checkout.
Price by acreage
Also offered
Applications, add-ons and ongoing support
Custom application
Focused Food Forest and Agroforestry Design
For tree and grazing systems that outgrow a backyard plan but do not need a full-property master plan. You apply, David reviews scope, and any quote follows that review.
Starting at $1,000
Biochar Production Planning Add-on
An optional planning report for clients who already have an eligible, approved EarthDesign planting design and want to estimate biochar quantities and feedstock needs.
Starting at $180/yr
Land Stewardship and Advisory Retainers
A plan going into the ground over several seasons benefits from a second look. Stewardship tracks change year over year; seasonal retainers keep a conversation going.
Targeted extensions
Flat documents and à la carte
Every package includes all file formats you need — machine-control, CAD, SHP, KML and more — at no extra charge.
Business Plan & ROI
Starting at $2,000Attaches to your Earthworks Plan or Living Master Plan.
- A written business plan for your land project — what it costs, what it earns, and when it breaks even
- Return-on-investment projections for each planned enterprise (orchards, grazing, timber, etc.)
- Phased budget: what to build first and what each phase costs
- A lender/partner-ready document built from your actual mapped plan
Certification Readiness
Starting at $1,500Attaches to your Earthworks Plan or Living Master Plan.
- A gap assessment against the certification you're targeting (e.g. organic, regenerative)
- The record-keeping and documentation checklist certifiers ask for
- Maps and land-history evidence assembled from your existing project data
- A step-by-step readiness roadmap to application day
+$1,000 when bundled with the Business Plan & ROI.
Cinematic flythrough video
Starting at $900- A 1–2 minute aerial-style video flying over your land's 3D model
- Shows your terrain, water flow and planned features in motion
- Delivered as a shareable HD video file — great for partners, family or lenders
NRCS application pack
Starting at $1,500Folds into the Business Plan & ROI when bought together.
- The maps, acreage figures and practice descriptions NRCS cost-share applications ask for
- Formatted to match what your local NRCS office expects
- Built from your existing mapped data — no re-surveying
Where we work
Coverage
| United States | full | Nationwide; backed by the authoritative USDA national soil database. |
|---|---|---|
| England | full | Effectively nationwide. |
| Wales | full | Effectively nationwide. |
| Netherlands | full | Nationwide. |
| Switzerland | full | Nationwide. |
| Scotland | partial | Outer Hebrides only — not mainland. |
| France | partial | National rollout in progress — not yet complete. |
| New Zealand | partial | Extensive, not yet fully complete. |
| Spain | partial | Mainland + Balearics + Canaries — coarser resolution. |
In the United States, soil types and properties (drainage class, erodibility, infiltration) come from the authoritative USDA national soil database. Elsewhere they are modeled from a global soil dataset — a derived product rather than boots-on-the-ground measurement. Spanish terrain is at a noticeably coarser resolution.
What the terms mean
- Swale
- A shallow ditch dug level along the hillside that catches rainwater and lets it soak into the soil instead of running off.
- Keyline
- A plowing and layout pattern that steers rainwater from wet valleys out toward dry ridges, spreading moisture evenly across the land.
- Guild
- A small team of plants (a tree plus supporting shrubs, herbs and ground covers) placed together so they help each other grow.
- Contour
- A line connecting points at the same height — like the rings on a topographic map.
- Flow accumulation
- A map of where rainwater gathers as it moves downhill — showing which paths carry a trickle and which carry a stream.
- Watershed
- The area of land that drains to a single point — every drop that falls inside it ends up at the same outlet.
- Check dam
- A small barrier placed in a channel to slow rushing water, reduce erosion, and let sediment and moisture settle.
- Spillway
- The safe overflow path for a pond or swale, so extra water from big storms exits without causing damage.
- Cut/fill
- How much earth must be dug out (cut) and how much added (fill) to shape ponds, swales or pads — what an excavation contractor prices from.
- GNSS stakeout
- GPS-guided files that let a contractor or machine place every planned feature on the real ground within inches.
- Sector compass
- A diagram of what reaches your site from each direction — sun angles, prevailing winds, and where frost or fire risk comes from.
- Silvopasture
- Grazing animals among deliberately planted trees, so the same land produces timber, shade and pasture.
- Alley cropping
- Growing crops in wide lanes between rows of trees.
- Agroforestry
- Farming that mixes trees with crops or livestock on the same land.
- LiDAR
- Laser scanning from aircraft that measures the ground's exact shape, even under trees — far more precise than satellite imagery.
Still deciding?
The learning hub explains the ideas behind each service, and the free reviewed contour map is a low-commitment way to see your land first.
EarthDesign is a digital design and visualization platform. Outputs are advisory; site execution, regulatory permits, and licensed professional sign-offs remain the responsibility of the client and their licensed contractors. No warranty of fitness for a particular purpose is made, expressed, or implied.
Read the full Terms of Service & Disclaimers.