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.
R
R.Hotzenplotz31 May 2018 16:43Then it seems my previous tendency to lean more towards the statement from Gardener 2 fits.
I think we will choose him as well if the proposal for the planning is reasonable.
I think we will choose him as well if the proposal for the planning is reasonable.
R
R.Hotzenplotz31 May 2018 16:53We had another calm discussion about the pool today. We definitely want to have one in the medium term. However, with a 2-year-old child and another on the way, we’ll probably postpone it for a few years. The children’s safety is our top priority, and they should be able to move around the garden relatively freely without us having to worry about stepping into the kitchen or my wife letting them play outside while she cooks. We think the safety risk is simply too high at the beginning.
The annoying part is that the landscape contractor strongly recommends doing this as the very first step, even before establishing the terrace. They say such major work should be done immediately and not disturbed later by extensive earthworks on the property.
We definitely need to discuss again how to best proceed in such a case. Preparing a pool and then covering it for years is also not ideal. I can understand the landscape contractor’s reasoning in terms of the process—but it also has to fit with our life plans in terms of timing.
The annoying part is that the landscape contractor strongly recommends doing this as the very first step, even before establishing the terrace. They say such major work should be done immediately and not disturbed later by extensive earthworks on the property.
We definitely need to discuss again how to best proceed in such a case. Preparing a pool and then covering it for years is also not ideal. I can understand the landscape contractor’s reasoning in terms of the process—but it also has to fit with our life plans in terms of timing.
R.Hotzenplotz schrieb:
I can understand the process from the landscape gardener’s point of view—but it also has to fit into one’s life schedule. I agree. A pool like that should be manageable with a mini excavator, and it wouldn’t completely tear up the whole garden.
Fuchur schrieb:
I agree. Such a pool should be feasible with a mini excavator, and it won’t completely tear up the whole garden.And does the excavation material come out directly onto the property?Fuchur schrieb:
I agree. Such a pool should be affordable with a mini excavator, and it won’t completely disrupt the entire garden.I think so too. You often read online about natural swimming ponds and similar being installed afterward.
Many landscaping contractors use smaller machines to access gardens. It doesn’t always have to be a large truck.
A driveway with grass pavers or similar is generally recommended anyway,
Similar topics