Landscaping! Thoughts, costs, experiences, etc.

In My Humble Opinion
1

So we bought a house last year which we love, but one thing that still needs work is the back and front yard. Its essentially lawn in bad shape (patchy, weedy, etc.). I suspect it is beyond salvation, and new reseeding or re-sodding is in order.

We’re thinking about professional landscaping at the same time. The first company that looked at the project suggests a relatively inexpensive design process, with more detailed estimates later in the process. Which is fine for now.

But informally he was talking “more than $10k, probably less than $40k”. Recovering my jaw was somewhat difficult due to all the overgrowth, but I think I pulled it off subtly enough. I didn’t really have a concept of what this would cost, but I guess I wasn’t prepared for that. Our house isn’t exactly on a vast estate (maybe a 7000 sqft lot, including the house).

We’re going to get a number of other quotes and maybe see what we can do to do a more limited project. But I’d like to see what other’s experiences were.

Namely, how do people find landscape companies? What was the nature of work you got done? Roughly how much did it cost? Were you happy with the results?

2

I’m a landscape estimator but we do commercial landscaping. Residential landscaping always costs considerably more for various reasons. For us to strip and remove existing sod is around $5/sq yd (including hauling) and another $3-$4 to install new sod. I could see that going for $12-$15 (strip, haul and replace) on the residential side. So that could be $7k easily just dealing with the lawn before getting into actual trees, shrubs and flowers. (side note: I found a sod installation cost calculator here which seems to agree with me)

$40k seems pretty pricey to me but I don’t know your region and, obviously, you can always find ways to spend more money (“Hey, a water feature would be nice…”) Ten grand seems like a reasonable low end and I would assume that would be more overseeding than legitimately replacing the lawn but then having money to spend on the actual plant part of the job. If you have existing landscaping that needs to be removed, that adds to it as well. Plus, the guy is going to soak his design fees into the cost since he needs to get paid for that time.

I don’t have any advice for finding a residential landscaper since I’m on the wrong end of that equation in a couple ways. Just wanted to offer that $10k didn’t seem unreasonable as a low end although I understand that it’s probably well more than you were expecting to spend.

3

Look around your neighborhood and see what trucks are parked doing work - especially in front of the landscapes you like the look of. If you see gardens you really like, ask them who did it. And - when given the option - I always try to shop locally.

Your cost is going to reflect a ton of things. And you don’t need to do it all at once. IMO hardscape (bricks and stones - patios, walkways, retaining walls) and trees are generally the most expensive, and should be done first. For example, we recently redid our front and back yards over a 3 year period. I wouldn’t be surprised if the total reached $40k. Of course, a good chunk of that included a brick driveway - admittedly a luxury, bluestone patio and walks. And i think we put in 14 or so trees and large shrubs - and many smaller shrubs/perennials. And we plan on staying in this house for the long run. We did a lot of things on our own as well.

You want to do the hardscape first, because that defines everything else you do. And you want to plant trees early because they take so long to get going. The first year they sleep, the second the creep, the third they leap.

I’ve often read articles suggesting that landscaping should be some percentage (I forget what % - maybe 10%) of your home’s value. Of course, those might be published by the landscaping companies! :wink: In the end, it depends on what you want. If you just want your home to look “decent”, get the lawn green and place a couple of nice shrubs and trees. If you want your landscape to show off your home and be additional rooms you can live in, you might be spending more.

I’m often surprised at what folk are interested in in terms of landscaping. For example, my daughter and her husband moved into a house a couple of years ago. Out front they had some lousy trees and old foundation evergreens, which they tore out - but haven’t replaced. My wife and I offered to pay for and install some low maintenance plantings around the house. They declined our offer. So their house looks like a moonscape - easily the worst curbview on their block. Their choice.

4

I found a local landscaper through word of mouth and we met at my house and tossed around possibilities. He worked with my ideas and what I was comfortable spending. We were able to halve his original guesstimate by having me do some of the labor. I, then, subcontracted out that labor to my son for a fraction of the cost (though I did help him).

5

I haven’t spent anywhere near $40k but I have been doing landscaping slowly over the past 10 years at my house. More like $500-1000 a year. Of course mulch every other year is a lot of that cost.

I agree that hardscape and materials are the most expensive. And you can do a lot yourself, even if it is done slowly. I tend to get productive in years where I can’t really afford the landscapers and lazy in years when I can.

6

Perhaps you could pay a landscape designer for an overall plan now, and then implement it on your own as you have time, money and energy? So rather than having a yard that’s planted willy-nilly (as is my parents’ yard), you have something where you’re approaching a coherent whole. And you might start with the slower-growing trees, so that by the time you get around to some of the other stuff, they’ve had time to mature.

7

I definitely support the value of obtaining professional input. My wife and I have gardened enthusiastically for 3 decades, but we still are limited in our ability to perceive the possibilities in a landscape.

We’ve worked with a landscape design/install firm at our last 2 houses. We really like the designer we work with, and the quality of installation. When we bought this house, we asked him to draw up plans for the front, back, and side yards, with the idea that it could be done in stages, and that we would do some ourselves. The only thing we agreed to buy right away was the trees in the backyard and one in front. (We were having construction done on the house, so any foundation planting, walkways, driveway, patio and such needed to wait until that was done.)

He was happy to draw up the plans at no cost, as we committed to buying a couple of thousand $ worth of trees/shrubs to install first thing. Now, 3 years later, they are really taking off. We could have kept the plans whether or not we had the additional stages done (but we did, and are thrilled with the results.)

Also, ask about what the installer will guarantee. Ours has been willing to go well beyond their stated guarantee, since we are repeat customers, and they know we perform necessary maintenance. For example, if a tree looks stressed, he’ll suggest we give it another year instead of replacing it right away.

8

I’ll suggest doing things in stages so you have time to settle in and work out what you want the place to look like in the end. After an initial cleanup you’ll have a better idea, after adding a few shrubs or something like that the picture will fill in more. At some point you’ll be comfortable and confident with a major effort, or you may want to continue the process gradually.

In general though, concentrate on the foundation, any regrading, large tree removals, any construction around the house like expanding a driveway, planting around the house, maybe fences, then move on to the finer points like just what kind of bushery you want in those hedges, new trees, garden patches and the like.

Really though, anything in your price range and your own ability to work on it and maintain it will work out fine, it’s difficult to ruin a landscape.

9

Thanks for all the responses so far. There actually isn’t that much “hardscape” work to do: our driveway, front walkway and back patio are in reasonable shape.

I suspect we’ll end up doing something like this. Getting some initial design work done is something we’re looking into right now. And then we can take it from there, depending on what other quotes look like and how much energy we feel we have.

10

Well, what kinds of things were you discussing with the original guy that he said could cost between $10-40k?

If all you want is a bunch of sod, outlining beds, and a few foundation plantings, you can hire just a couple of guys with a truck for well under that. Seed is even cheaper than sod.

For that amount, I was assuming retaining walls, regrading, and/or a number of sizeable trees. Especially with only a 7k sq ft lot (I’m thinking 60’x120’). Depending on how much of it you intend to grass, that just doesn’t leave tons of space to plant money. And if you are just planting perennials and shrubs, you can get a ton of material inexpensively at Costco or Home Depot.

11

Yes, I’ve seen that 10% in a bunch of places and view it the same way I do the “rule of thumb” about engagement rings. I know there are regional differences but I doubt very much that $200k is a reasonable amount to spend on a Bay Area yard that is a quarter of the size of the rural Georgia yard where $10k is the supposed right amount.

I don’t know. I think partly I had unrealistic expectations. But partly I was taken aback by the used car salesman vibe I got from the first company. It felt a bit like they’re looking at the high property values in the area and trying to talk their way into having you redistribute it their way. There is no way dumping $40k into landscaping is going to increase the potential sales price by $40k, so I got a little tired of hearing the word “investment”.

12

No retaining walls or major regrading (although there is a spot where a tree was taken out that sags a bit). Actually there was a little bit of “hardscape”, namely some gravel along the side of the house. But otherwise the vast majority of the work is reseeding the lawn, beds, perennials and shrubs.

13

This is completely foreign to me. Can’t you just “weed and feed” the yard and buy a bag of grass seed. If you’re still in Bellevue, plant a bunch of rhododendrons.

I guess it’s just one of those things I won’t ever get.

ETA: Nothing directed at you Driver8. I can see how your jaw would have dropped.

14

If you like the basic outline of your grass/bed areas, and aren’t putting in walls/walks/ponds/sculpture/benches - $10k will buy you a hell of a lot of plant material and landscaping labor.

You are right, the 10% figure is very rough. But a lot of people seem to forget that if they spend decent coin on their house, they shouldn’t shy from spending at least some $ on the outside. But then again - some folk really just don’t care what the outside looks like.

Shit - this discussion had me look at what we paid. I knew we spent a lot, but didn’t know it was that much! :smack:

1st stage - $900: remove 3 trees.

2d stage $7500: remove 2 lampposts, plant 7’ tree in front, spade edge new bed, plant 12 5-7’ trees/shrubs, mulch beds

3d stage - $23.5k: remove concrete patio, build bluestone patio, bury downspouts, install other bluestone walks, cut and grade new beds, install flagstone walls, plant 4 sizeable trees/shrubs

4th stage $36k remove concrete walk and blacktop drive, replace w/ brick drive/bluestone walk, extensive flagstone retaining walls, soil/grade/sod as needed, plant 18 shrubs and numerous perennials.

Just giving you a datapoint. I assume our community is similar socioeconomic to yours. Our lot is about 65x160. It was essentially a blank slate - don’t think much remains other than some grass and 1 tree, and my wife and I are VERY into appreciating and enjoying our yards. All in - we’re probably right around 10% of the total we have in our house after rehab. And our landscaper is by far not the cheapest.

In other words - yes, that guy you spoke to was a used car salesman.

15

We decided that a lawn in the back of the house was useless for us, and just meant mowing the damn thing every week. So we laid down newspaper and cardboard and covered the whole thing with bark chips, which effectively killed the grass. Then I built large planter boxes and we grow veggies back there.

Then we came up with our own design for half of the front lawn, which included stripping off the sod, planting veggie/flower beds and putting in gravel paths lined with moss rock. Grass was all down the side of the house, as well, and it was a bog when the rains came. We had a landscape crew come in, strip off all the sod, create the gravel paths, put in the moss rock, then put in a flagstone walkway along the side of the house set off by cedar chip bedding. They did this in one day for under $1,000.

Now we have one side of the front as grass. The other side has a central veggie bed where we plant tomatoes, cukes, etc., and has a circular path around it with three exits. The perimeter is peonies, roses and other shrubs and flowers. People stop and take photos all the time.

We put a lot of sweat equity into all this, which continues whenever the walks need new gravel or the cedar chips need to be freshened, but the result is worth it. And mowing takes me about 15 minutes, which includes getting out the mower, etc. :slight_smile:

I’d suggest that whatever you decide to do, have an underground sprinkler system installed. They’re versatile and can be modified to include soaker lines and various sprinkler heads to cover different aspects of the yard.

16

The OP says that he’s looking at replacing the lawn. That’s a sizable expense all by itself (both by my own guesstimates and the linked calculator) so $10k won’t be buying all plant materials and labor. I would guess that most of it will be eaten up in turf restoration. $10k seems like a reasonable low end for the turf restoration plus some modest additional plantings (possibly including removals), mulching, etc.

17

I see that later Driver8 says that they’re talking about just reseeding the lawn. That should definitely be a lot cheaper, especially if you’re not removing any of the existing turf. I’d guess around $3/sy for seed, another couple bucks if it’s getting straw blanket.

Anyway, I’d have the landscaper give you an actual itemized proposal. And, of course, prices can vary widely between companies ranging from day laborers to companies using union plantsmen.

18

In the end we decided that spending $10k or more on the yard just isn’t something we’re willing to do. We don’t need anything fancy, just the ability to enjoy the yard without requiring a machete to make our way back to the house.

So we spent about $700 for a small company to clean the place up a bit. Weed treatment on the grass, new beds with bark and river rocks in various places, removal of the incredible overgrowth around the shed and along the fences. They’ll come out twice a week to keep the place looking tidy and any more lawn maintenance that is required, and we’ll plant things as we see fit. We have a very positive recommendation (they do our daycare provider’s house, which looks fantastic). Already it looks amazing compared to before. There were actually some nice features, like blooming rose bushes along the driveway, that look great in barked beds instead of overgrowth.

So this will be “good enough” for us.