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.
K
Knallkörper31 May 2018 18:46Excavating 3 meters (10 feet) deep with a mini excavator—I don't think anyone would take that on. Besides, that's quite a few cubic meters that cannot be loaded onto a dump truck with a mini excavator.
R.Hotzenplotz schrieb:
The annoying thing is that the landscaper insists on doing this as the very first step, even before establishing the patio. He says such major work has to be done immediately, and you shouldn’t mess around with extensive earthworks on the property later on.But that doesn’t really surprise you, does it? Well, of course he wants to be involved right away because then he’s guaranteed the job. He won’t have that guarantee if you wait a few years, since there’s a higher chance someone else will take over by then.
The point about potential repairable (!) damage to the existing garden if the work is done afterwards is valid. However, presenting that as a necessary first step is complete nonsense. That would mean, conversely, that he only installs pools in new builds... a cheap and obvious sales tactic in my opinion.
If you want to do it later and he can’t handle it, then he’s out. There will surely be others who won’t make such a fuss. As others have said, a mini excavator should be enough, and you can protect or maybe even repair any sod that’s lying there. I don’t see the problem. Or is your property so unusual that it would be impossible to access the planned pool area later on?
R
R.Hotzenplotz31 May 2018 19:19ruppsn schrieb:
Or is your plot so unique that it would be impossible to access the area where the pool is planned?Yes, it will always be possible to get in with a compact excavator and a removable cab. Unfortunately, I have no clear idea how much effort it takes to dig out, let’s say, a 4 x 8 m pool to a depth of 3 m (10 ft x 26 ft to a depth of 10 ft) and then somehow transport the excavated soil with the compact excavator to the street or elsewhere.
He didn’t say that it’s absolutely impossible, but that he would definitely do that first, even before building the terrace, and that otherwise it would definitely cost more than just a few extra dollars and involve some collateral damage...
Well, it’s actually quite simple. So you want a pool, but only later. I think that’s very sensible, by the way. Of course, you can cover it, but I would still consider the risk too high. My daughter is 5 years old and earned her beginner swimming certificate at the beginning of the year. Still, she’s far from being a confident swimmer. And as we know, toddlers can drown even in a puddle.
So, you plan the garden so that nothing valuable or irreversible (like a tree) is planted in a truck-width-wide strip along the street. In other words, you deliberately leave a gap in the planting plan, which you will fill in after the pool is built. Damaged lawn can be quite easily replaced later with turf.
So, you plan the garden so that nothing valuable or irreversible (like a tree) is planted in a truck-width-wide strip along the street. In other words, you deliberately leave a gap in the planting plan, which you will fill in after the pool is built. Damaged lawn can be quite easily replaced later with turf.
K
Knallkörper31 May 2018 20:28R.Hotzenplotz schrieb:
Unfortunately, I have no idea how much effort it takes to excavate, say, a 4x8m (13x26 ft) pool to a depth of 3m (10 ft) and then somehow remove the soil with a mini excavatorAs I mentioned above, this is hardly feasible with a mini excavator. Most of them can’t reach that digging depth, and if they do, only right in front of the machine. In that case, the excavation rate is nowhere near 5 cubic meters per hour, meaning you’d be running it for an entire week to dig a hole like that—whereas a large excavator could load about 6 dump trucks in a single morning.
Now I’m starting to understand how a pool can cost 30k. I recently installed a 100 cubic meter (130 cubic yards) underground cooling water tank, which was significantly cheaper, even though it had a cover...
R.Hotzenplotz schrieb:
So it seems my previous inclination to trust Gärtner 2’s statement fits after all.
I think we’ll go with that one as well, provided the planning proposal works.Maintenance for the ornamental maple means it loses its delicate leaves in autumn, which can be annoying.
Additionally, I have noticed that the leaf tips dry out during somewhat drier weather, so watering is necessary.
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