ᐅ Setting Priorities in Landscaping. Should the entire garden be planned at once?
Created on: 1 May 2018 19:20
R
R.Hotzenplotz
Hi!
We are slowly but surely preparing to get in touch with landscape gardeners – they said that once the ground floor shell is complete, it’s worth meeting on-site.
I’ve read that, based on experience, around 18% of the construction costs should be budgeted for exterior works and the garden. For us, that would be in the six-figure range. However, we only have about €50,000 (around $55,000) available to start with. So priorities will have to be set.
From your point of view, what are things that should definitely be considered and implemented from the beginning? What can maybe be planned for mentally but realized at a later stage?
So far, we have only made rough plans and want to ask 2-3 landscape gardeners for proposals.
Here’s what we have in mind so far:
Front garden:
- Driveway and path to the front door with large stone slabs
- Two small trees in the front garden, maybe a maple and another variety
- Lawn
- Possibly two strips of bark mulch to the left and right of the front door path with small mushroom-shaped trees
Garden:
- Terrace
- Mostly lawn, few flower beds
- Possibly a hedge at the sides of the property; a fence maybe later
- Due to the property’s topography, possibly stairs leading from the terrace down into the garden
- A kind of seating area at the far end of the property
- Possibly a spot elsewhere for our loungers with some of those yellowish grasses around them (I think they are called pampas grass)
- We are thinking of a green pergola – but we’re not sure yet if it should be on the terrace or at the seating area
- I dream of a large tree in the garden, but I haven’t researched that properly yet and haven’t found the final solution with just a quick online search; it probably requires professional advice
- In the longer term, a swimming pool or a hot tub could be an option (but we have no technical information on that yet).
I think it’s important to give landscape gardeners clear instructions from the start.
Would it make sense to have the entire final garden planned and then implement it step by step?
I’m looking forward to some tips on how to approach planning and prioritization, and on how to best communicate with the landscape gardener.
Top priority is of course the access path at the front and probably the whole front garden, so that we don’t start many things in different places but end up finishing nothing.
We are slowly but surely preparing to get in touch with landscape gardeners – they said that once the ground floor shell is complete, it’s worth meeting on-site.
I’ve read that, based on experience, around 18% of the construction costs should be budgeted for exterior works and the garden. For us, that would be in the six-figure range. However, we only have about €50,000 (around $55,000) available to start with. So priorities will have to be set.
From your point of view, what are things that should definitely be considered and implemented from the beginning? What can maybe be planned for mentally but realized at a later stage?
So far, we have only made rough plans and want to ask 2-3 landscape gardeners for proposals.
Here’s what we have in mind so far:
Front garden:
- Driveway and path to the front door with large stone slabs
- Two small trees in the front garden, maybe a maple and another variety
- Lawn
- Possibly two strips of bark mulch to the left and right of the front door path with small mushroom-shaped trees
Garden:
- Terrace
- Mostly lawn, few flower beds
- Possibly a hedge at the sides of the property; a fence maybe later
- Due to the property’s topography, possibly stairs leading from the terrace down into the garden
- A kind of seating area at the far end of the property
- Possibly a spot elsewhere for our loungers with some of those yellowish grasses around them (I think they are called pampas grass)
- We are thinking of a green pergola – but we’re not sure yet if it should be on the terrace or at the seating area
- I dream of a large tree in the garden, but I haven’t researched that properly yet and haven’t found the final solution with just a quick online search; it probably requires professional advice
- In the longer term, a swimming pool or a hot tub could be an option (but we have no technical information on that yet).
I think it’s important to give landscape gardeners clear instructions from the start.
Would it make sense to have the entire final garden planned and then implement it step by step?
I’m looking forward to some tips on how to approach planning and prioritization, and on how to best communicate with the landscape gardener.
Top priority is of course the access path at the front and probably the whole front garden, so that we don’t start many things in different places but end up finishing nothing.
I also find the mockery inappropriate. The user is simply aiming one level higher with their house construction than most here, and accordingly, their understanding of the required standard is different. So what?
And if I don’t want to do any work myself on the landscaping and, just like with the rest of the house, commission a “move-in ready” garden, it’s easy to end up in six-figure costs there as well.
And if I don’t want to do any work myself on the landscaping and, just like with the rest of the house, commission a “move-in ready” garden, it’s easy to end up in six-figure costs there as well.
R
R.Hotzenplotz31 May 2018 00:48Fuchur schrieb:
For a pool costing €70,000 (about $75,000), yes. As I said, almost anything is possible.What do you mean by that?
I think a pool is really out of the question for now. Starting at €70,000 (about $75,000) is too expensive, and I consider €30,000 (about $32,000) to be overly optimistic. Maybe that’s just the pure pool cost, but like with the house, you still have to factor in all the additional expenses. You can’t possibly get something like shown here for that price, or am I mistaken? There also needs to be groundwork around it, etc.
I’ll discuss this again during the planning meeting. It’s better to finish the immediate surroundings first, then in a second phase do all the planting plus create a patio area and play options for the kids, and maybe in a third step consider a pool mid-term. He says it’s inconvenient to do it this way, and that the pool should be installed right away. But for me, that’s a lower priority. As I said, we need to calmly weigh up the pros and cons. I think it’s a bit excessive to build a pool and then have no money left for the terrace.
haydee schrieb:
Have you looked at Japanese gardens on Pinterest? There are some really beautiful, modern water features there.Not yet. The gardener also recommended Pinterest to me, so I signed up and still need to get used to it. My wife now says if there’s water, then it should be a pool. She originally didn’t care much about it, but just pure water in a basin for purely visual purposes doesn’t really appeal to her.