Your opportunities as designer-only are (in my experience, others may disagree):

• working as a sales-designer role for a design-build firm. This is the best money but it's far from a "cushy" design gig. You earn that money by managing projects during the day, running sales calls late afternoon/evening, and squeezing in design/estimating time whenever. If you're money motivated, you learn that telemundo has the best boxing matches on at 2 am. At one firm the #1 designer was on track to make $225k when I left (I was #2 which really irked me). Our #20ish designer might have made $15k (it was a BIG company). An advantage is that they supply all the leads, you just have to work them, and if they like you you can steer the marketing in the right direction.
• working as a freelance designer/hired gun for other contractors. Can make ok money, but you're in a weird spot when it comes to estimating and negotiating if you're working for multiple companies. It's also awkward when you get the same lead from multiple contractor daddies.
• independent landscape designer. Some people make good money this way, and some kick up a heck of a wake and don't move forward in the water at all. If ALL you want to do is draw, think about what you want to gross for the year and divide it by the # of designs you need to sell. You want to make $50k and your average design fee is $1,000? You need to sell 50 designs. Which means, realistically, you need at least 80-100 leads a year. You're the boss, so how are you getting those leads? Some designers project manage their jobs to supplement, but you need to be able to sell your value. Why are you worth an additional 20% on top of what the contractor is charging? And at the end of the job, when the neighbors are raving about how good it looks, are they asking for your #? Or the installer's?

I agree w/ gardengal that the best money is getting the projects built. And the happiest I've ever been has been designing my own projects and building my own projects. The more control I have over the process, the better the end product.

Get yourself a copy of this book: https://www.amazon.com/Thriving-Landscape-Designer-Management-Profitability/dp/0692522379 It's a super smart overview of three paths to being a successful landscape designer, and it may well help you decide your next move.

You're 29. I'm 47. When I was 29 I thought I had a plan. Life changes. Then you have to make a new plan. And that happens many times.

My best advice: learn to be flexible and expect many unexpected things.

If you can do that, you'll roll with the punches instead of getting knocked out.

Good luck with everything.

BTW, can you fix my lawn ? Lol

Landscape designers can make six figure incomes, but they must be able to sell big residential jobs often. Most do not make anywhere near that kind of money.

You will need to design, sell & install at least $2-3 million annually to make six figures.

"Landscape designers can make six figure incomes"

In what universe????

In my universe.....speaking from personal experience.

If you're doing sales and design for a high end design-build company it's totally doable. That means you need to be able to design and sell everything from plants to patios to pools to pavilions, so it's definitely not an entry level gig. If you can somehow hit six figures just selling foundation plantings at a garden center you deserve a "coffee is for closers" T-shirt because you're a superstar and deserve the Wayne's World "we are not worthy" treatment :)

Awesome advice thus far and very much appreciated. didn’t mean to demean landscape designers as being a “cushy” job, it’s obviously still hard work; just a different kind of hard work.

As far as selling jobs go, in this field I feel extremely comfortable. Despite not having an official position as designer as of now I put myself in situations that require it and have had great success in nursery sales often exceeding $1500 in plant material during our busiest times. Working with clients extensively and putting myself out there. I’m honestly frothing to take it beyond plant and plant material sales and feel quite limited/held back at times.

going to get that book and read the older discussions. Somewhat surprised at the responses leaning more toward the contracting side. I totally get the work for yourself factors, and was a big contributor when I went to them with this idea. I think I just get worried about burning out.

a quick backstory of the company is it’s a well established, well known local business established almost 40 years ago. Though it’s somewhat antiquated comparatively and needs to expand (in my opinion.) so I don’t think it’s a bad opportunity at all.

it it seems best next move is to continue discussion and bring them my ideas/concerns and see their reaction. The responses here have been awesome and great insight.

I will concede that a designer working for design/build operation could generate a decent income. But earning a 6 figure income on just design fees alone?? That would take a rather atypical combination of working in a very affluent location that generates a high volume of large scale, high end projects and turning them over fast enough to generate a healthy income stream.

Design fees for a registered landscape architect seldom exceed 15% of the completed construction cost.....and is more likely to be in the 10% range (or less) for a designer. There is a lot of documentation out there on landscape design/installation income generation and the vast majority of projects are considered 'mid-range' or $50-100K in completed costs and the typical fees associated with that range from 5% for concept design, 9% for a full master plan and construction specs to 11% for a start to finish involvement.

It is just hard to imagine a freelance designer being able to turn over enough of these sorts of very typical projects to generate a 6 figure income. Possible but not very probable.

I live in a pretty affluent area and I personally know of no designers - freelance or design/build affliated....and that includes some pretty well known (on a national level) designers - that generate 6 figure incomes. Those half million dollar projects just don't appear very often.

Just to clarify, I hadn’t really been thinking about being a freelance designer, more working for a firm. The company now is maintenance geared and design and build. The latter is what I would want to push and grow further primarily.

Best thing I can say is, be a sponge. Take every opportunity you can to learn from others at workshops, conferences, etc. Really watch what others are doing and figure out why. If you're not a member, look at joining APLD and NALP, and whatever your local association is, and BE ACTIVE in the organization. Being a board member for a trade organization is a PITA but one of the fastest ways to make great connections.

And honestly, don't freak out. There's time to figure things out, and even a "wrong" decision is going to give you tools to use later.