Thanks for visiting my landscape gardening website, please Click the pictures for DIY tips and landscaping services in Weston super mare, North Somerset and Bristol.
More landscape gardening ideas, DIY tips and services including small gardens, cottage gardening, sensory gardens, levelling and terracing slopes, constructing raised beds, landscaping for older people, garden drainage and pest control
Probably the main reason for hiring a landscaper will be to improve the usability of your garden.
Hiring a good landscape gardening company or buying materials if you are carrying out the work yourself, isn't cheap. I have listed a few things to think about before starting work.
Well thought out garden makeovers that are both attractive, sustainable and practical can add value to your home as well as creating space and privacy.
What's your budget for materials,
It's worth spending a little time visiting your local landscape supply company, to see the many different natural stone and concrete slabs and other materials available and to check out the cost.
How much will experience, skill and labour cost.
An experienced landscaper will cost around £200 per day or, if you are doing your own garden makeover, good labourers are worth at least £100 for a day's work.
Other factors affecting the price.
Access to your garden, clearance, levelling, drainage and groundwork.
Garden Design.
You are going to have to live with the result for a long while after the garden designer has gone so have your own plan in mind and stick to it, Be prepared to change stuff that just isn't practicable, but stick to the main points.
You shouldn't need to compromise because of budget restrictions, instead break the work down into affordable stages. An experienced landscape gardener will be prepared to work out a staged plan with you.
Do you need to pay for a formal garden design?
Designs can cost between £300 and £3000. If you have your own design in mind, ask your landscaper to run through your Ideas and point out any that might not be practicable.
Landscapes that work.
What are the practicalities to consider when changing your garden? A multilevel patio or decking platform might look good, but is useless if the surface area is too small for family or guests to pull back their chairs, spread out a little without falling of the edge. It's not the wine it's the design. Especially important consideration with small gardens.
Working out the space you will need for the dining area on your patio is easy.
1 Position your patio table in the area to be landscaped.
2 Place chairs all around the table to calculate the minimum space you will need for dining.
3 Pull the chairs back about 18" from the edge of the table, this is the space you will need to relax with a coffee or glass of red after dinner without you or your dinner guests disappearing over the edge.
Mobility.
A practical design is even more important if the makeover is for a person who, because of disability, finds it difficult to get around or uses a wheelchair. Check out my disabled gardening page.
Drainage.
Often forgotten until it rains, but it's so important unless you want your expensive patio to disappear under water every time it rains. I have forgotten how many times I have been called out to sort out problems garden designers and landscape companies had not recognised and taken into account. Details here, Lawn drainage.
Have you got a soggy waterlogged lawn or garden that holds surface water making it muddy?
And what you really really want is a lawn the kids can play out on, without bringing saturated mud into the house.
We Install time tested solutions that will drain your garden solving waterlogged lawn and soggy muddy garden drainage problems even on clay soil. garden drainage page
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Whatever the reason for changing your garden, the landscaper will play an important part.
Questions to ask the contractor.
The answer to all these questions should be yes. If they haven't had experience with the type of work you want carried out, can they recommend a landscape gardening company who has.
Finally, will advance payments for materials and possibly labour be required. A deposit to cover the cost of materials is sometimes requested and for large projects scheduled to take longer than two weeks, I agree stage payments, paid in arrears.
Who to choose? The team you choose, will depend on how we have answered your questions, competitive quotes are also important, but if you go for the cheapest it may cost a lot more in the long run.
Do the designer and landscape gardener both share your ideas and are people you can trust working around your home for a few days or weeks.
Areas we Landscape; Weston super mare, North Somerset, Somerset, Portishead, Clevedon, Nailsea Burnham, Bridgwater, Worle, Bleadon and Yatton.
For garden drainage we cover the whole of Southern England.
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