How To Choose Landscape Contractors?

Search for the landscape contractor for job execution on arrangement of a land plot often turns into an adverse problem. How to choose decent and experienced firm which is capable to make a garden or even the garden? How to organize and supervise landscape works? How to plan work financing and as is there any way to save on expenditures or what is restricted to be saved on? This article will possibly help you to clarify some of the raised questions.

Customers in the overwhelming majority indwell in blissful ignorance in respect of complexity and cost of settlement of their land plots. Therefore, the first offered cost estimate in most cases causes shock and full misunderstanding – why is it so expensive?! This is followed by two inevitable conclusions – all landscape contractors are swindlers, and "I will do all the things myself ". And somehow two absolutely vivid and objective things drop out of their attention – the garden is engineered once for a lifetime (mostly) and international experience ascertains, that landscape arrangements demand not less than one-third of expenses for constructions of a building on this land plot.

Without a professional knowledge and experience, especially during development of the project and the working plan, selection of a landing material and landing process itself, installation of engineering garden utilities, and the most difficult stage of the project - land drainage, the owner dooms himself to constant alterations, changes and repairs. Where is the economy?! Thus, without active participation of owners, none of the professionals is unable to create a garden which will become The Garden to your family.

Prior to starting searching for a contractor, who you can entrust creation of your garden, it is absolutely necessary to fix an admissible budget and time frames for creations of a garden – these two steps determine all subsequent steps.

Design works are the starting point in process of garden creation. We do advise to enter into contract with landscape contractor not for full scope of work, but for design work for a start. What should I pay for on this stage – you may ask this question, my spouse will draw the design plan no worse than a professional will do even without a computer, Hessayon book contains all the necessary information which bushes where to plant...  Familiar position, isn't it?  Being limited in funds due to recent house purchase or erection, the best what a really wise and prudent person may do is to place an order for the full-scale project with a decent landscape contractor. Such project will unite competent works of hydraulic technician and electrician, geologist, dendrology specialist and agriculturist.

Yes, it may possibly cost much, but with full set of documents in your pocket and experienced construction site supervisor, firstly, you will not have to dig one and the same path for three times to lay water pipes, electric cables, alarm system and annually clean drainage pipes, secondly, you will avoid annual replanting of "all of a sudden" grown plants and. thirdly, will be able will be able to make overwhelming majority of works by yourself.

So, you have a project which is absolutely OK with you. At this stage you have to find a contractor for performance of works. If you deal with this landscape contractor for the first time, please make sure that there is a provision in the agreement for the possibility of its painless termination at any stage of performance of work. That is important to agree on step planning and step funding.

Here is the order of stages of work performance (optional):

1) preliminary preparation of the ground (approximately 5 % of cost estimate);

2) installation of sprinkling system, light fixtures, alarm systems (if needed), laying of paths and making drainage areas (approximately 25 % of cost estimate);

3) delivery and spread of a soil (approximately 15 % of cost estimate);

4) application of apply fertilizers, ameliorant, preventive fight against deceases, purchase and planting of trees and bushes, cutting, planning and firming the soil for lawns and flower beds, finalization of pond's dress works, as well as the same works for paths, areas, installation of garden constructions, creation of a rock garden (approximately 30-35 % of cost estimate), and the final one

5) creation of lawns and flower beds, cleaning, fixing and preparing the plot like a girl for the first dance night.