How much do you think you should spend on landscaping?
I am curious how much you think is appropriate. $3000, $8000, $15,000....What do you think?
We are looking at about $12,000 and it seems to be much higher than our neighbours.
$800 for irrigation
$1000 for fill
$3000 for a rock wall and contouring
$1200 for top soil
$1200 for turf
$2000 for fencing
$2800 for plants
I just thought I would see what you think.
To me landscaping is very important and a great investment. It adds so much to the value of your house if done right.
Of course ours is being done in stages. This year will be fill, rock wall, fence and plants on the slope. Next year everthing else.
Comment Guidelines
We welcome your feedback on Houseandhome.com. H&H reserves the right to remove any unsuitable personal remarks made about the bloggers, hosts, homeowners and/or guests we feature. Please keep your comments focused on decorating, design, cooking and other lifestyle topics. Adopt a tone you would be willing to use in person and do not make slanderous remarks or use denigrating language. If you see a comment that you believe violates any of the guidelines outlined above, please click “Alert a Moderator.” Thank you.
of house value should go to landscaping. Certainly, all people aren't into that rule as you can tell by many yards. Meanwhile, I don't think it means you have to do it all at once or can't work smart by going to plant exchanges, going directly to source or doing some things yourself.
If you are dealing with a brand new lot, it really does pay off to get a landscape designer in there before you do anything. I found the money I spent on one at my last house well worth it. She gave me a really solid idea of what order things needed to be done in, made me aware of the drainage and swale issues, drew me rough plans, told me where prices were best and generally set me on my way with a list of things right down to plants and trees. It was well worth the 2 hours of her time I paid for to get that type of info. I knew what I needed experts for and what I could tackle myself. It was very handy as I was dealing with quotes from landscapers to already have an idea of what the different components should cost and how they should be done.
I think $12,000 is an amazingly good deal!! I have read as well that landscaping should be 10% of the value of your home (we went overboard!). Good landscaping can have a very large impact on the property value of your home.
As for worrying about how much your quote is, let's say for our landscaping just the deposit was almost double your entire quote!! So don't feel too bad!!! A good and reputable landscaper is worth every penny!!
I hate to say it but $12,000 seems reasonable to me. We didn't get anything fancy done and that is about what we paid. That didn't include the plants. What you don't go with your cheapest quote...go with someone who is reputable and has good references. We were able to go see lots of work the guys who did ours did before we commited. Good luck!
We have just a landscape designer do up a plan for us and tomorrow an estimate for sprinkler and hydroseeding. It may be an option to help cut costs as they told me you can cut the cost of sod by 1/5 the price with hydroseeding. He claims you can walk on it in 3 weeksso if you have alot of sod going in this could make a difference. He also said be sure and do things in the right order so you are not digging things up twice.
So we have shopped around and seriously reduced our budget.
Originally our price was $12,000 (this didn't work out the way I wanted, but you get the idea)
Original New
$800 for irrigation $850 (we added a bit)
$1000 for fill $300 (found a closer company)
$3000 for a rock wall and contouring 0 (No rock wall required)
$1200 for top soil $900 (including countouring)
$1200 for turf $1200 (same)
$2000 for fencing $2000 (same)
$2800 for plants $2800 (plants and hydro seed)
New total $8050
We havn't shopped around for plants yet, but I am sure I can find better prices. I plan to visit the farmers market this weekend. I also plan to visit my Mom and her neighbours in the country and see if they have any donations.
It is all coming together. I can't wait to show the progress pictures.
i'm not sure if there is a rule about how much you should spend on landscaping...i think it's a matter of personal preference...and depending on the lot size...at our last house we had a 55 foot lot with patterened concrete wrapping around the house...and i found that just square plain in a straight line in front of the concrete was all we needed...i planted hostas, iris, peonies, roses and a few other small plants...then along the side of the house i planted hostas and roses...that was all it needed...here we have 3 acres....so that means a whole lot of $$$...i did a lil bit last year but just to clean it up a bit...and not look so blah...now we have an excavation company coming next week to level out part of our land near the front to park that dump truck i showed you and while he is here he's gonna dig me a pond in the middle of my circlular drive...but up at the house still needs to be done...i mentioned to DH that Rona has the tumbled stones i want to raise the bed and not bad priced...$2.35 each stone..the problem is that there is so much that i need that it starts to add...so basically it's all about personal preference and how much curb appeal you want...i want lots as i'm on a major highway..and everyone in smallville here KNOWS my house....sorry for being so long winded...LOL...:D
somewhere, some time ago, I saw an article where they said you should expect to spend around 10 per cent of the value of your house and property on landscaping. That would mean on a $300K house, you could expect to spend around $30K, which sounds like a lot, I guess, but then depends on how elaborate it is. As soon as you get into hardscaping (patios, decks, fences), though, it does mount up.
I would say for most houses (even those the developers landscape) they are *underlandscaped*, both in terms of amount of plant material and hardscaping.
So many people have a big house and then do *bitty* things along the ground level, when they should have height and weight in their plantings to creat substance and variety. This is what kind of irks me about big suburbs, becasue they have these huge houses, and then little rows or flat areas of grass and low level plantings along the bottom of the foundation -- looks really top-heavy.