My husband and I recently moved into our first home in Georgia. The yard is about three acres large and didn’t have any landscaping on it whatsoever. To make matters worse, the area used to be surrounded by trees, so there were dozens of tress stumps in the yards that we were going to have to work around.
We spoke with a number of contractors and landscapers about moving the stumps and designing a nice lay-out for our yard. Basically, we wanted to create a lawn that was nice to look at and functional. Our landscaper had to take into consideration the fact that we have a dog that we keep outdoors and that we would like to create a child-friendly lawn.
When we were interviewing landscapers, our most important question was about the other houses they had done. It was important for us to be able to look at their other work and feel like their style was fitting with our own.
Another consideration for us was the seasonal changes. Because we are both busy professionals and expecting a child in the next few years, we wanted to make sure that our landscape would be easy to maintain and every season (even though Georgia really doesn’t have major changes). So our landscaper had to have in-depth knowledge of how plants worked with the seasons.
Ultimately, we went with the same landscaper that developed the lot next door to us. The couple that owned the house also had a small child and a number of dogs, so we felt that our yard use was similar.
When the landscaper first came to our house, he walked around the yard and spoke with us about what we wanted to see and what we absolutely needed. We also developed a budget for the project.
Two weeks later, the landscaper met with us again, this time to present a detailed sketch and elevation of the landscape. He included specific plant names and even had a list of alternatives that would suit our budget. We absolutely loved what he had done. Together we refined the sketch to knock about $500 off by choosing plants that we preferred over some of his initial recommendations. The entire landscape, including tree removal, came to a cost of just under $5,500.
The landscaper worked with a stump-removal company to remove all of the stumps – and there were a ton. He ground the stumps into wood-chips, which he then recycled into mulch for out lawn. This recycling saved us the cost of having to purchase new mulch, so the stump-removal basically paid for itself!
It took the landscaper about two weeks of working everyday with a crew to finish our lawn. When it was done, we had totally new grass, which would withstand our dog and be soft enough for kids someday, and plenty of plants to build up the house. The landscaper also had the great idea to plant a commemorative tree in our front yard for my husband and I because it is our first house.
Working with a landscaper made our jobs easier and made the whole process so much quicker than if we had gone at it on our own. I would definitely recommend budgeting for a landscaper if you are serious about having a nice, low maintenance yard that will last you for years.