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.
Since we are already talking about the costs for outdoor areas, here are the expenses for a sloped site:
My plot has a height difference of about 3 m (10 feet) over 22 m (72 feet) from the access road down to the terrace and the southern boundary. This incurs costs and must be planned carefully.
- We compensate for 10-20 cm (4-8 inches) by lowering the house towards the access road.
- We will retain 1 m (3 feet) with L-shaped retaining walls around the terrace and carport.
- Another 10-20 cm (4-8 inches) will be retained from the lawn up to the start of the slope.
- Then there is a slope of 60 cm (2 feet).
- Finally, there is a last L-shaped retaining wall of 1 m (3 feet).
The L-shaped retaining walls (1 m by 54 m / 3 feet by 177 feet), including installation, filling the terrain, base construction for the terrace and carport with gravel and compaction, etc., cost me about €26,000 gross.
Then there are still 180 m² (1,938 sq ft) of driveway, paths around the house and terrace, and the fence. For this, €20,000 is planned.
With planting and a double carport including a storage room, the total cost for the outdoor area alone comes to €58,000. That is more than 15% of the house loan without the plot cost. However, these are tasks (terrain modeling) that, in my opinion, must be done before the shell construction begins, so there is no "later" option here. If we had not been able to afford this, I would definitely have sold the plot.
And this is all just because the terrain was underestimated by someone with no experience. Even if I now exclude the slope, I am still miles away from the widely advertised €5,000–€10,000 for outdoor work done personally, which you see mentioned all over the internet.
My plot has a height difference of about 3 m (10 feet) over 22 m (72 feet) from the access road down to the terrace and the southern boundary. This incurs costs and must be planned carefully.
- We compensate for 10-20 cm (4-8 inches) by lowering the house towards the access road.
- We will retain 1 m (3 feet) with L-shaped retaining walls around the terrace and carport.
- Another 10-20 cm (4-8 inches) will be retained from the lawn up to the start of the slope.
- Then there is a slope of 60 cm (2 feet).
- Finally, there is a last L-shaped retaining wall of 1 m (3 feet).
The L-shaped retaining walls (1 m by 54 m / 3 feet by 177 feet), including installation, filling the terrain, base construction for the terrace and carport with gravel and compaction, etc., cost me about €26,000 gross.
Then there are still 180 m² (1,938 sq ft) of driveway, paths around the house and terrace, and the fence. For this, €20,000 is planned.
With planting and a double carport including a storage room, the total cost for the outdoor area alone comes to €58,000. That is more than 15% of the house loan without the plot cost. However, these are tasks (terrain modeling) that, in my opinion, must be done before the shell construction begins, so there is no "later" option here. If we had not been able to afford this, I would definitely have sold the plot.
And this is all just because the terrain was underestimated by someone with no experience. Even if I now exclude the slope, I am still miles away from the widely advertised €5,000–€10,000 for outdoor work done personally, which you see mentioned all over the internet.
S
SilentGalaxy15 May 2018 10:11Zaba12 schrieb:
The L-shaped concrete blocks (1m x 54m (3.3 ft x 177 ft)) including installation, leveling the ground, sub-base for the terrace and carport with gravel and compaction, etc. cost me about €26,000 gross.That’s at least 10,000 too much.
That feels like about €10,000 (around $11,000) too much. Maybe a bit less since the site is already included in the model. However, the shell contractor charges a high price because they know no one else dares to take it on. I tried to contract it separately. No chance. Everyone declined, saying that the shell contractor must do or coordinate it themselves. Others quoted a similar price, maybe €2,000–3,000 (about $2,200–3,300) cheaper. If not everyone started building in the development area at the same time, it might have been possible to do this later from the garden side and cheaper, but unfortunately, that’s not the case.
K
Knallkörper15 May 2018 10:26SilentGalaxy schrieb:
That’s at least 10k too much- 54 meters (177 feet) of L-shaped concrete blocks, 1 meter (3.3 feet) high: Cost according to my most expensive quote is 11k
- Graveling and compacting up to 20 cm (8 inches) costs around 12 Euros per square meter (estimated for terrace and carport at Zaba, 100 sqm (1,076 sq ft) = 1,200 Euros)
- Excavator for one week all-inclusive (80 Euros hourly rate): 3,200 Euros
- Possibly topsoil 50 cubic meters (65 cubic yards) (estimated) -> 1,200 Euros
That makes 16.6k, so I would (conditionally) agree with you, if nothing major is added on top.
Edit: From the shell builder, it tends to be somewhat cheaper, of course!
Since the topic of L-shaped blocks has come up a few times here, I have long known that my offer is among the most expensive.
Our "luck" is that we addressed this in advance and these are planned costs that are also reflected in the financing.
Neighbors a few plots away told their general contractor: "Build me a house – we have amount X available." That amount can at most cover the building shell, so I suspect that the neighbors, facing the same sloped site, will still look around when it comes to the landscaping.
Our "luck" is that we addressed this in advance and these are planned costs that are also reflected in the financing.
Neighbors a few plots away told their general contractor: "Build me a house – we have amount X available." That amount can at most cover the building shell, so I suspect that the neighbors, facing the same sloped site, will still look around when it comes to the landscaping.
Zaba12 schrieb:
Then there are still 180m² (1940 sq ft) of driveway, paths around the house, terrace, and the fence. A budget of 20,000 euros is planned for this.Do you already have a quote for that?
It seems a bit optimistic.
But it’s really striking how much height differences can affect costs.
At one point, we planned a floor plan with a basement that included two excavations for daylight access. I was also shocked at how much L-shaped concrete blocks would cost...
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