Imagine if there is a beautiful landscape, your family will have a great place to admire the scenery, eat and drink together, a spacious place for your children to play, a nice place to receive guests… Furthermore, colorful, well-maintained landscaping often increases the value of your property. Gardening and enjoying the outdoors can improve your mental health and well-being. However, landscaping and maintenance can be expensive when you add in all the plants, tools and other materials. Therefore, the tips in this article help you avoid unnecessary costs and have an attractive and impressive landscape.
Why is landscape design important?
Benefits of having a professional landscape design done before you start your work!
Solve your goals
You can set goals for landscape design, such as having a place to relax outdoors, a place for children to play, a place to entertain guests…. When you have a clear and reasonable goal. then the design and construction will meet the requirements as well as within time and cost
Landscape design prioritizes low maintenance
Two important things that customers request are a complete landscape for their property and a complete landscape that requires little maintenance.
A well-designed landscape will increase the value of your property.
According to a study, good landscaping will increase real estate value by 20%.
Helps you save time and money
for example doing multiple jobs (such as retaining walls, decks, patios, fences, etc.) at the same time, thus saving you time and money by eliminating risks. Address specific environmental challenges e.g. winter, sun exposure, shade
Satisfy all existing conditions
such as complying with local, provincial and federal regulations.
Tips for good landscape design
Creating a beautiful landscape makes life for you and your family more fresh and enjoyable as well as helps increase property value. Landscape design seems simple, but it is not easy because it involves many factors such as tree survival, maintenance, water saving… Below are valuable tips that will help with landscape projects. Your new one is off to a good start.
Determining your goals
Start by making a list of your needs, writing it down or making a file on your computer/phone will be very helpful. Some important questions are as follows:
- Does your child need a play space?
- Does your family like to gather on the patio around the fire pit table?
- Do you receive guests in the garden?
- Do you want to build an indoor dining area?
- Do you want to grow vegetables?
You can discuss your goals with family members to have an end goal
Considering your location
You write down on paper important items such as:
- Temperature
- Season
- Area
- Direction
- Sun
- Wind
- Land
- Topographic
Having these elements will help make the design more effective
Setting budget
The cost to landscape an average house is from 2,000 to 25,000 USD, this cost depends on the size, design and list of materials. Landscaping costs can range from 3% to 12% of the total value of the home. Completing new landscaping usually requires 2-4 workers and takes 3-6 weeks.
Cost per unit
| No | Item | Unit | Average | Low | High |
| 1 | Cost per square foot | Per square foot | 5 | 3 | 12 |
| 2 | Cost per hour | Per hour | 50 | 30 | 110 |
| 3 | New installation | Project | 12,000 | 2,000 | 29,000 |
Cost according task
| No | Task | Unit | Average | Low | High |
| 1 | Landscaping | $ | 15,000 | 1,000 | 90,000 |
| 2 | Interlocking Brick | $ | 12,000 | 3,000 | 29,000 |
| 3 | Patio Installation | $ | 6,000 | 4,000 | 12,000 |
| 4 | Sod Installation | $ | 1,200 | 100 | 3,500 |
| 5 | Sprinkler System Installation | $ | 4,000 | 2,000 | 10,000 |
| 6 | Tree Trimming | $ | 500 | 300 | 3,000 |
| 7 | Care | $ | 300 | 100 | 1,900 |
| 8 | Cleanup | $ | 225 | 115 | 320 |
Identifying your zones
The next step is to specifically identify the area. Depending on your goals, there may be the following areas:
- Growing zone (flowers, vegetables, tree…),
- Rest zone
- Dining zone
- Playing zone
- Enterzone
You should draw these areas on paper and take time to edit them to perfection.
Zoning
You determine the location of each area on the floor plan. The more detailed and dimensional the specific areas are, the better. When zoning, you should pay attention to factors such as roads, electricity and water systems (water supply and drainage).
Planting
You proceed to plant trees according to the drawing. Note that the shortest plants should be placed in the front, while the tallest plants should stand near the back. Pay attention to the factors of each type of plant such as the temperature level at which the plant can live, its tolerance to sunlight, the amount of water needed, and whether it will regrow after winter…
Installing watering system
There are many types of automatic watering that will help you a lot so that you don’t spend a lot of effort and don’t waste water. There are many types, and it is helpful to control the amount of water and water it from time to time. Furthermore, there are many options for automatic irrigation systems to help you, such as a remote control, fertilizing through the irrigation system, and rain sensors.
Keeping maintenance
Maintenance is a matter of regular maintenance to ensure your garden is always green and healthy. To reduce maintenance work that can cost you time, you can do the following:
- Choose plants, flowers… that require little maintenance
- Set up an automatic water system.
- Choose types of content that are durable over time
- Solar lighting system
In Conclusion
Landscaping is great because it brings you everything from improved quality of life to increased financial benefits. To create a beautiful and effective landscape, you need a reasonable plan and smooth construction. There may be some difficulties along the way but the end result is fun for your whole family! You are creating a space for your enjoyment. Putting effort into landscaping construction and maintenance can transform your yard into the paradise you envision.
