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Heavy Duty Landscaping?
I don't usually post to this board, but haven't had a lot of luck on google, so any opinons - positive or negative - are welcome! Thanks in advance!
My FI and I have been looking at different homes in our area. We have found one we both really like, but the landscape in the backyard is a huge concern right now. The development is in a hilly area such that the home is built into the a hillside near the top of this "hill". We love this area for the views, but the backyard has a somewhat severe slope - probably 10-11 ft different in elevation from east to west. There is a walk-out basement on the west (lower) side, as well as a door on the mainfloor also on the west side, for a yet-to-be-built walk out deck.
There is also a slope towards the back of the yard, sloping up to common ground. But I feel like that could be more easily addressed with terraces than the E-W slope. Basically, the whole thing is just uneven (ok, duh, we're on a hill, get it. haha)
Anyhow, we expressed these concerns to the builder, and they offered to include a 10K credit for landscaping via a contractor to build whatever retaining walls we wanted, and if the price exceeded 10K, we would be on the hook for the rest.
I can attach a pic if anyone wants to see, but its all covered in snow right now, so it might not even help.
Is this project slowly spiraling out of control, or do you think it's manageable?
If it wasn't such a difficult lot, we would most likely be making an offer.
Re: Heavy Duty Landscaping?
Is this project slowly spiraling out of control, or do you think it's manageable?
It depends on what you mean by this, and IMO if anyone with a similar elevation in the development has done this successfully. Might be worth it to ask around.
We are at the top of a hill with a 30-degree downward slope for our front yard. When we moved in, we had the whole front yard on one side of the driveway landscaped, including a retaining wall and a new path to the front door. It cost $22K, which included digging up the rocky soil, ripping up the asphalt walkway and laying pavers, putting in an 80' long retaining wall (including an electrical conduit), planting 3 trees and a few shrubs and grasses, a small strip of grass, and putting in topsoil and mulch for the rest of the area. It's held up well and we've had no problems with drainage, etc.
Our little Irish rose came to us on March 5, 2010
Don't drink the water.
Disclaimer: I am not an MD. Please don't PM me with pregnancy-related questions. Ask your doctor.
Thanks so much for the input! It looks like we would need to terrace at least twice to prevent from digging down too far on the high side (and exposing more of the foundation - which isnt an eye sore per se, but def non-desirable!)
I think if we did something like that, it could work. But FI is really fixated on whether or not a terraced yard like that would lend itself to playing ball or throwing a football. We dont have any kids yet, and so our football-throwing years are probably 5-7 years away, but thats the type of flat space he would like to create.
The subdivision is still pretty new, but we will have to check out more of the neighbors' backyards! Great idea!
I 2nd that. And in regards to what Dr. Loretta said, she got off cheap.
Prices for this type of work vary greatly by region and by company. Here in my area, 22k would be typical for a landscape job without major grade changes. For 10k my company could draft a design, create beds, and install plant materials, but it wouldn't begin to cover hardscape installation.
I further agree with Loretta that you should ask around, but I'd be surprised if you could get any licensed, qualified professionals to solve the problem for under 20k. You might get numerous quotes in the 10k range, but for that price, I bet the finished work looks like sheer crap.
To follow off on that, we got 3 quotes, for $15K, $22K, and $40K. We obviously went with the middle estimate, and had a reference from our next door neighbor who had used the same company.
We also didn't have significant grade changes, unless you count the one retaining wall. The rest of the slope is still as it was when we moved in. And that didn't include landscaping on the other side of our driveway, which was another few thousand.
Our little Irish rose came to us on March 5, 2010
Don't drink the water.
Disclaimer: I am not an MD. Please don't PM me with pregnancy-related questions. Ask your doctor.