Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Jul 05, 2012 1:26 pm Hi Guys Yesterday I posted a new thread about my new build, we are getting our builder to organize the front landscaping and I reckon what we are being charged for what we are getting is reasonable but then again I have no idea since we've never done any landscaping before. So I thought I'd ask you guys, the builder is charging us $3684 is that reasonable. https://www.dropbox.com/s/2ukgx5jthn7jkqi/Landscape%20Plan%20-%20Turf%2014%200%20%282%29.pdf Building Henley Monaco Nouveau Q1 - Mernda Villages https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=57810 http://razbuild.blogspot.com.au/ Re: Advice; is this worth what we are paying for it. 2Jul 07, 2012 1:46 pm Hi boosho. Exactly what is included in your landscaping package? Driveway and/or other paving? Or just lawn, plants, soil & mulch. Re: Advice; is this worth what we are paying for it. 3Jul 07, 2012 5:23 pm Everything on the plan except for the driveway. So the plants, lawns, irrigation and the compacted. gravel along the side. The builder is also doing my driveway for an additional $2000. Building Henley Monaco Nouveau Q1 - Mernda Villages https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=57810 http://razbuild.blogspot.com.au/ Re: Advice; is this worth what we are paying for it. 4Jul 07, 2012 7:25 pm It sounds pretty average for what's included. Re: Advice; is this worth what we are paying for it. 5Jul 07, 2012 7:29 pm That's what I thought. And it takes the stress out of having to sort it out after we move in. Building Henley Monaco Nouveau Q1 - Mernda Villages https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=57810 http://razbuild.blogspot.com.au/ Re: Advice; is this worth what we are paying for it. 6Jul 30, 2012 8:25 pm It is a very good price for what you are getting. Though correct soil prep would be best done by you prior to them getting started. It might be a bit of work but in 5 years, by geeze you'll be glad you did as ongoing long term costs associated with poor soil prep will be high. Re: Advice; is this worth what we are paying for it. 7Jul 30, 2012 8:32 pm *zeolite, 15% compost dug through the entire soil structure to a depth of 20-40cm. (30ltrs per m2) *If you have sandy soil, adding bentonite clay will pay for itself in no time by cuting water costs permanently. *in clays add a similar volume of sand. *Gypsum only works in some clay soils. Its benefits in the clays suitable for its use will only become apparent in 3-4 years if it is continually applied durring that 3-4 year period. That will all mean that in 5 years you're not facing a situation of having the garden look terrible, expensive to maintain or needing redoing. Re: Advice; is this worth what we are paying for it. 8Jul 30, 2012 8:52 pm Awesome thanks... in all honestly I didn't quite understand what you said, but i will research it a bit more.. I don't known if we will get a chance to do any soil prep because it is supposed to be done before handover.. but will try Building Henley Monaco Nouveau Q1 - Mernda Villages https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=57810 http://razbuild.blogspot.com.au/ Re: Advice; is this worth what we are paying for it. 9Jul 30, 2012 11:26 pm OK, nutrients that you spend money on, they don't get absorbed very effectively by your plants. thats a heap of your money that ends up in the ocean. Zeolite is some stuff that stops that. It lasts for ever and will pay for itself year after year for eternity. Apply once. How many things sold in garden centres last forever? "Not many, if any" Sand added to clay soils will change its structure permanently. rewets easier, and aerates faster when its water logged. Zeolite will also assist with this. Prepping soil deeper than 30cm means your wasting your money. There is not enough oxygen below 30cm for transfer of nutrients from organisms through to plant feeder roots. This is something I have only come to learn in the last few years with my work. The volumes of organic material leaching from gardens is a big concern as well as nutrient runoff. Either way, that's a heap of peoples coin not in their gardens where they think it is. An organic content of 15% is all that is required through the soil. Over that and we start to see unused material leach away. If soil is layered you will get poor shallow root growth and short term results with long term costs. Re: Advice; is this worth what we are paying for it. 10Jul 30, 2012 11:27 pm They are the foundations for the landscape. You cant build a house straight onto the existing soil, it will fall apart. Needs to be on a sound foundation. Your landscape is the same yet there is a nation of landscapers and gardeners building onto nothing much and hoping for the best in the years to come. Re: Advice; is this worth what we are paying for it. 11Jul 31, 2012 7:21 am Firstly..'not many if any' how many dudes y'know who got the skills to go in a rock a show like this uh uh uh uh I don't know anybody.......... had to be done lol... Alright back to topic... thanks so much for clarifying it makes sense, specially when you describe it as the foundation.. I will make sure that zeolite is added to he soil.. stupid question but like I said this is all new.. is zeolite purchased separately and added to the soil or do you purchase soil that includes 15% zeolite?? If purchased separately can it be added to the soil after its been laid or does it need to be mixed first?? Building Henley Monaco Nouveau Q1 - Mernda Villages https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=57810 http://razbuild.blogspot.com.au/ Re: Advice; is this worth what we are paying for it. 12Jul 31, 2012 12:37 pm Fu Manchu * *Gypsum only works in some clay soils. Its benefits in the clays suitable for its use will only become apparent in 3-4 years if it is continually applied durring that 3-4 year period. Hi Fu welcome back, Just my opinion on the gypsum aspect of the soil prep from my studies/in practice in Victoria. If the clay soil test comes back gypsum reactive then the application of gypsum in the correct amounts will be beneficial as soon as its watered in. Not 3-4 years, it's straight away. This works only if the gypsum is cultivated directly into the clay. If its just thrown on the topsoil it will to years for any benefit as you say. But applied directly to the clay it works fantastic as long as it's actually gypsum reactive to start with. This direct application is very easy in most new build gardens where the topsoil has been removed. Re: Advice; is this worth what we are paying for it. 13Jul 31, 2012 1:48 pm So far i've added about 50mm of typical clean top soil to my solid clay ground. I am going to add zeolite, sand and gympsum mixed with good organic soil for about 150mm. Would it be a good idea to use a machine cultivator to mix this through and possibly soften up the clay ground and mix it in as well? Or should i just use the machine to mix the soft stuff and leave the clay as is? Building with Jandson Homes - Eclipse 18. http://adgnetworks.blogspot.com/ Re: Advice; is this worth what we are paying for it. 14Jul 31, 2012 2:16 pm You need to get a blend of your existing soil along with what you have bought in, which at this stage is a lot for what you need. if you layer soil, you will get shallow and poor root growth. You already have topsoil, introducing even more is not going to get "good soil". You need structure. Only your existing soil can provide that. The roots will want to grow to 30cm deep or so if you blend 15% "topsoil" or compost or soil improver or landscape mix or what ever they will call it, 3-5kg m2 of zeolite. Maybe about 15% sand as well. On your current path, the root zone will be subject to extremes of temp, be inefficient, shallow and ultimately cost you a stack of money in the long run. That layer of soft stuff won't be permanent. Amend your existing structure a little instead and you are on a winner. The way nearly everyone (professionals included) is out there doing soil prep is not the right one, nor is it sustainable or environmentally friendly, not to mention the enormous amount of money people are wasting in the process. Re: Advice; is this worth what we are paying for it. 15Jul 31, 2012 5:01 pm Thanks Fu.. Gonna be a lot of work to bust out the dingo and the cultivator to do 250sqm worth of clay dirt Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ No picture of the backyard yet. Building with Jandson Homes - Eclipse 18. http://adgnetworks.blogspot.com/ Re: Advice; is this worth what we are paying for it. 16Aug 02, 2012 3:50 am BeatrixKiddo Fu Manchu * *Gypsum only works in some clay soils. Its benefits in the clays suitable for its use will only become apparent in 3-4 years if it is continually applied durring that 3-4 year period. Hi Fu welcome back, Just my opinion on the gypsum aspect of the soil prep from my studies/in practice in Victoria. If the clay soil test comes back gypsum reactive then the application of gypsum in the correct amounts will be beneficial as soon as its watered in. Not 3-4 years, it's straight away. This works only if the gypsum is cultivated directly into the clay. If its just thrown on the topsoil it will to years for any benefit as you say. But applied directly to the clay it works fantastic as long as it's actually gypsum reactive to start with. This direct application is very easy in most new build gardens where the topsoil has been removed. There's a good book called "Gardening Downunder" by Kevin Handreck In it he outlines the use of Gypsum and, to the best of my knowledge, reflects just as I wrote. The people that also taught me are among some of the countries best Agronomists and they too have that point of view. I am a former Victorian (had half my brain removed and am now a West Aussie.) It was my experience there with the Gypsum as well. Often Dolomite of Lime will do a far more effective job than Gypsum. I still mention the Gypsum from time to time because it certainly doesn't do much harm to add it in most circumstances. Re: Advice; is this worth what we are paying for it. 17Aug 02, 2012 3:53 am In 5 years, you'll be so glad you did. Especially when El Nino returns to touch the East coast once again. Re: Advice; is this worth what we are paying for it. 18Aug 02, 2012 12:04 pm Fu Manchu BeatrixKiddo Fu Manchu * *Gypsum only works in some clay soils. Its benefits in the clays suitable for its use will only become apparent in 3-4 years if it is continually applied durring that 3-4 year period. Hi Fu welcome back, Just my opinion on the gypsum aspect of the soil prep from my studies/in practice in Victoria. If the clay soil test comes back gypsum reactive then the application of gypsum in the correct amounts will be beneficial as soon as its watered in. Not 3-4 years, it's straight away. This works only if the gypsum is cultivated directly into the clay. If its just thrown on the topsoil it will to years for any benefit as you say. But applied directly to the clay it works fantastic as long as it's actually gypsum reactive to start with. This direct application is very easy in most new build gardens where the topsoil has been removed. There's a good book called "Gardening Downunder" by Kevin Handreck In it he outlines the use of Gypsum and, to the best of my knowledge, reflects just as I wrote. The people that also taught me are among some of the countries best Agronomists and they too have that point of view. I am a former Victorian (had half my brain removed and am now a West Aussie.) It was my experience there with the Gypsum as well. Often Dolomite of Lime will do a far more effective job than Gypsum. I still mention the Gypsum from time to time because it certainly doesn't do much harm to add it in most circumstances. Yeah I have studied with a few of Handreck's books i know them well. The people that taught me are as good as it gets in Victoria to be honest and they are soil scientists. (I'm not trying to create a p**ssing contest btw ) As you know gypsum only reacts and creates structure in very high clay content soils. Not in clay/sandy clay loam top soils commonly found, that's the difference. Its only a specific sort of clay that reacts to gypsum, some heavy clay's don't react at all, so if the soil isn't tested correctly is a waste of time and money. It also has to be applied directly to the clay, so if there is top soil present that has to be scraped off to expose the clay base. It is a very specific product that needs to be used correctly to obtain any real benefit. Kevin mentions all this in his book, he also states that one application will last years once watered in and there is no mention of gypsum taking years to activate. Re: Advice; is this worth what we are paying for it. 19Aug 02, 2012 5:20 pm I think we had the excerpt of it here on homeone in a super old thread somewhere. Anyway, I much prefer to use humic and fulvic acid rich products to do the job because of the greater benefit to the biomass of the soil as well as the structure. Around 10ltrs of liquid composts rich in fulvic, humic and amino acids will do what 1 tonne of gypsum will do, and it will do it in nearly all heavy soils. Re: Advice; is this worth what we are paying for it. 20Aug 02, 2012 8:33 pm Fair enough Fu whatever does the job. Forgot to mention, gypsum and compost applied at the same works way better than gypsum alone. In fact I wouldn't use gypsum alone in most cases. In fairness nobody gave a crap about the ACCC and the gag clauses continued in the pro forma templates of a few other builders after the ACCC took on Wisdom, and more… 19 73480 Hi I am wanting some opinions about the build of a steel shed I am going to get one about 4.5 x 2.5 m steel shed and the height will be about 2.3-2.4m high The one I am… 0 14442 Hi everyone. I am a single mother with little daughter, living in a small tourist town in WA Australia. I am thinking to install security screens to all the doors and… 0 24887 |