Last updated: 11 August 2026
How we make money, stated openly, because you deserve to know what is behind a recommendation before you act on it.
The short version
Some links on this site earn us a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. We may also source and sell products directly, earning a margin on what we sell. Neither of these changes what we recommend.
Affiliate links
Some articles contain affiliate links. If you click one and buy something, we may receive a small commission from the retailer. The price you pay is exactly the same as it would be otherwise — the commission comes out of the retailer’s margin, not your pocket.
Where an article contains affiliate links, we say so at the top of that article. Not in small grey type at the bottom.
Products we sell
Garden Design Co. also sources outdoor products directly and sells them, earning a margin on the sale. Where an article relates to something we can supply, we say so plainly and tell you it is ours.
We think this is better for you than the alternative. Getting a real price for a pergola or a gate delivered to a Caribbean island is genuinely difficult, and the difficulty is most of why people give up on projects. When we quote a price, it is the full landed cost — product, freight, duty, delivery — not a number that grows later.
What we will not do
- We will not recommend something we would not put in our own courtyard.
- We will not recommend a product because it pays better. If a cheaper option is the right one, the article says so.
- We will not recommend a product we sell over a better one we do not. If the best pergola for your situation is one we cannot supply, we will tell you that, and tell you where to get it.
- We do not accept payment for a positive review. If a company sends us something to test, we say so in the article, and we say what we actually thought of it.
- We do not publish sponsored articles disguised as editorial.
Why we bother saying all this
A publication that only ever recommends its own stock is not a publication. It is a catalogue with opinions. Once readers work that out, everything written here becomes worthless — including the parts that were honest.
The trust is the asset. Any individual sale is not worth losing it.
Questions
If you ever want to know whether we have a financial interest in something we have written about, just ask: hello@gdcgardendesign.com. We will tell you.