Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design Re: Cost of landscaping 2Sep 23, 2008 3:59 pm I can sympathise!! We have been in our place for just over a year now and we are only about 15% through our landscaping efforts.
We both work full time, husband sails every Saturday and also flys interstate one weekend a month so basically I get him 3 Sunday's a month and that's it! So as you can imagine .. it is taking us forever too! However, we anticipate that we will spend around $30k by the time we've finished but saved between $20-$30 on labour costs by doing it ourselves. So many times I yell and scream and say 'let's just pay somebody to do it' but we figure that we are only adding value to our house without adding to the mortgage so a little bit of pain and delay is going to be worth it. And no ... we won't be able to do as good a job as the professionals but hopefully once everything is established, you won't know the difference!! Good luck ... it's a hell of a job!! Re: Cost of landscaping 3Sep 23, 2008 4:06 pm Sammy maybe if you break up the landscaping into different sections.
Like limestone retainers 20m worth or driveway seperate to path around the house and see if you can find someone that can do a cash job for each thing. Even stop at building sites and if you see someone getting a retainer put in ask the tradie if he could quote a cash job for you. It really depends on the materials and amounts how much you will save but you have to way up weather the time taken is worth th possible saving. If you coordinate the different trades instead of using one person for everything you be able to save some dollars that way. Some things are worth doing yourself definately but choose them and farm the others out. Good luck......... Re: Cost of landscaping 4Sep 23, 2008 4:08 pm Thanks Amber.
This is probably the biggest DIY job DH is taking on. The last one was some timber shelves! I think I was being modest with the two year estimate! At least we know we can save at least 30-40%, which is quite a bit especially in this impending global recession. Re: Cost of landscaping 5Sep 24, 2008 7:32 am good point made above. we employed the skills of a few neighbours who are tradies to do the front deck and also to build the brick garden beds (something neither of us could do). It cost us the same in materials but the old 'mates rates' goes a long way for that sort of thing.
As hard as it is, I do get a lot of satisfaction out of seeing the small bits that we have done around the place. I even started painting the paling fence yesterday afternoon (took the afternoon off work .. had a mild case of the CBF's!!). Going to take a while but again, if we had somebody come in to paint I'm tipping it would cost around $1k or so more. Not a lot of money but when you can put that thousand dollars towards plants or something else in the backyard, I think it's worth it. Re: Cost of landscaping 6Sep 24, 2008 8:13 am Amber good point made above. we employed the skills of a few neighbours who are tradies to do the front deck and also to build the brick garden beds (something neither of us could do). It cost us the same in materials but the old 'mates rates' goes a long way for that sort of thing. As hard as it is, I do get a lot of satisfaction out of seeing the small bits that we have done around the place. I even started painting the paling fence yesterday afternoon (took the afternoon off work .. had a mild case of the CBF's!!). Going to take a while but again, if we had somebody come in to paint I'm tipping it would cost around $1k or so more. Not a lot of money but when you can put that thousand dollars towards plants or something else in the backyard, I think it's worth it. This is how we managed when we renovated, while our kids were small. With me at home with them, we simply didn't have the money to pay tradesmen. Yes, the jobs took a few years, but we saved a hell of a lot in the meantime. Built the Eden Brae Cambridge 34 Family with Boston Corner Facade Re: Cost of landscaping 7Sep 24, 2008 8:49 am sammy Does anyone know how much roughly we can save if we do our own landscaping? How much should we spend on the landscaping as we really don't want to overspend on this house? Hi sammy, I've been doing a little research myself about landscaping, and basically the best and cheapest way todo the a retaining wall IMHO is to use steel h-beams and 75mm treated pine sleepers. Basically a 1800mm steel h-beam is $90, (900mm buried and 900mm wall), work out how many you would need using 2400mm spacings. You can pick up 30 x 75mm x 2400mm Sleepers for $400 bucks. You will save heaps doing it yourself, but as you said its the time factor. Re: Cost of landscaping 8Sep 24, 2008 8:58 am Do you have any friends or family that could help out?
We plan to get professionals to do our under lawn reticulation and turf laying - but then I've got garden beds about 45m long, 2m wide to plant with natives. I'm going to invite friends and family over for a working morning and then lunch/drinks afterwards. After 4 years - we're in! Re: Cost of landscaping 9Sep 24, 2008 9:12 am Crazy idea maybe but what about a homeone working day? I've seen it work in car club forums before. If a group are keen to meet and help out we could get together and knock it up in a day or 2? Just an idea. Re: Cost of landscaping 10Sep 24, 2008 11:56 am I think around 10% of your total house build cost is a good estimate for how much to spend on landscaping for a house. I've looked at a lot of houses that were great inside, but had poor landscaping and I think those places are worh less.
Of course you don't want to spend more than what the entire finished product is worth, but unfinished landscaping will surely hurt you in resale value. Greg Re: Cost of landscaping 11Sep 24, 2008 3:55 pm Thanks everyone for your replies.
Quote: gweluphome: Sammy maybe if you break up the landscaping into different sections. Thanks qweluphome. Yes, I think that is a good idea. We will have to do the back retaining wall first before the driveway. Otherwise, the driveway may get damaged (I think). Quote: Snake: Hi sammy, I've been doing a little research myself about landscaping, and basically the best and cheapest way todo the a retaining wall IMHO is to use steel h-beams and 75mm treated pine sleepers. Basically a 1800mm steel h-beam is $90, (900mm buried and 900mm wall), work out how many you would need using 2400mm spacings. You can pick up 30 x 75mm x 2400mm Sleepers for $400 bucks. You will save heaps doing it yourself, but as you said its the time factor. We are doing around 40m of 60cm high retainers and was quoted more than 10k! It seems a lot cheaper to buy our own materials. Unfortunately, we don't know anyone who can help Quote: stonecutter1309: Do you have any friends or family that could help out? Not really. Since our family is either interstate or working (yes, even on Sundays!) Quote: mikkyG: Crazy idea maybe but what about a homeone working day? I've seen it work in car club forums before. If a group are keen to meet and help out we could get together and knock it up in a day or 2? Just an idea Anyone voluntaring? Quote: gpierce: I think around 10% of your total house build cost is a good estimate for how much to spend on landscaping for a house. I've looked at a lot of houses that were great inside, but had poor landscaping and I think those places are worh less. Is it house build or house plus land? Our house build is around 300k. So does that mean that we shouldn't spend more than 30k? I agree that proper landscaping can add heaps of value to your property. Re: Cost of landscaping 12Sep 25, 2008 2:56 pm My comment was directed at total build, not build plus land.
So you buy a block of land, then spend 300K building on it, I think 30K for landscaping is totally reasonable, but you might need more if you have a 3000 square metre block:) Greg Hmmm, I have checked your past posts and it seems that you are in NSW, not WA as I had thought. It pays to show your State in your avatar. Retaining wall regulations… 5 7961 Hi, you've probably already resolved this, however, Commbank will probably pay the funds to you after you send evidence the work is done regardless the change in the quotes. 1 35553 Ideally you would engage a landscaper to give you some insight what they may need in the space to make your vision come to life… 1 13824 |