Some of our clients do their house and garden renovations together. They come to us saying they would like us to work with the builder who is renovating their house so they can construct the new garden too.

The key thing to understand is although a builder is highly skilled in their specific craft when it comes to gardens you need a landscaper to undertake the construction.

Let me explain a bit more landscapers are incredibly skilled people well versed in exterior hard landscaping and critical they understand plants and how to prepare and protect the soil during construction so they can thrive. They can also make sure the garden can withstand the elements. Landscapers know how to correctly install drainage and prevent land movement. Landscapers also know how to prepare the planting beds to ensure plants and trees thrive, if prepared incorrectly all the soft landscaping could suffer or die as a result. It is also far better to use the right team with the correct skills for the project rater than using the wrong one to make it more efficient.

However, there is one exception as there are building companies who have a building team and a separate landscaping team. This landscaping team will be experienced in planting, drainage and the intricacies that building gardens involve. If you have one of these companies lined up then please go ahead!

If you are undertaking building work for example adding an extension or building a entire new home sometimes builders will price to include a bit of hard landscaping by new doors so you have something to step out onto. Our advice wild be don’t allow them to do it. Usually the paving will not be constructed correctly and break within a few years. Little care is also taken to the areas around the property and you may be discovering rubble and other discarded construction materials under your lawn and flowerbeds for many years to come. To avoid working through this mess use a landscaper and the work will last for a long time rather than just a few years.

If the reasoning behind getting the builder to construct some hard landscaping as it will save you money. This is rarely true as said above you may be getting someone in to redo the work in a few years time when it has broken due to poor contraction. Waiting and doing it once is always better than doing the job cheaply and then having to re-do it a few years down the line.

If once you have done your bidding work you can’t afford to do the landscaping imminently it is worth working with a designer to come up with a plan you can execute later with a landscaper. This way you can maximise the opportunity of making the garden as good as the home you have created.

It is therefore vials important that when doing landscaping you get a landscaper to do the work rater than you’re builder.

We work with fantastic landscapers to bring our designs to reality. If you are just looking for a landscaper and not a designer then check out BALI or APL who have lists of repeatable landscapers in your area.