Nothing is more personal than your home. This is the place where memories are made, futures begin and a place that we share with our loved ones. However, planning and perfecting a space worthy of such moments can be a lot of pressure. Follow these six tips to find your way to a seamless landscaping design project and a breathtaking finished product.
Style
All landscaping ideas are different, as is the house it is designed for and the needs of the owner. Identifying early what you want and don’t want, will save a lot of trouble down the road, and make your landscapers life much easier.
Be wary of passing trends and styles that only work for specific homes, while the look is very important it has to be functional. If this space is for relaxing and retreating then day beds and casual furniture and fittings will be the way to go. Or perhaps this is your precious family space, in which an open space and safe flooring will determine your landscape design. Have a very clear style concept in mind before you start consulting with a landscaping specialist.
Plan
As the old saying goes; “fail to plan, plan to fail”. Your next personal landscaping project is no different. Planning is an intricate stage of the project. One tip we always recommend is taking out a sketchbook and physically drawing the space you have available. With a discernible key to highlight the landscape design features within a few short hours, you can see your dream project come to life on the paper before you.
This type of plan also allows you to truly understand the limitations of your project, you have to find out eventually right? Additionally, this plan offers a relevant insight for your landscaping specialist into what you desire, and what resources will be needed to carry out the project.
Budget
Unfortunately for most us, we don’t have a money tree in the backyard to fund our projects. That is why a budget is a crucial tip for planning your landscaping project. By understanding what your budget is up front, you are in a far better position to make those tough calls on materials and whether parts of your project need to be DIY.
Find a project budgeting tool to assist and start crunching the numbers. You will be asked several times by several people what your budget is throughout the project, so it’s best to find that magic number early on.
Research
You can’t know what you like until you work out what you don’t like. Research is a key part to any project. Research the types of plants that will work in your environment, what materials you need and what they will cost. What styles have your neighbours, friends or family used? No matter what information you need, research is an integral step in the project.
However, that doesn’t necessarily mean spending countless hours searching website after website. Remember to use all the research tools at your disposal. Not surprisingly, the best help and most researched people are landscapers, although make sure you have done your own homework before consulting.
DIY vs Professional
There is no doubt that very few things in life rival the sense of accomplishment felt after achieving a goal. However, it can be necessary at times to get a more experienced hand to help out. Working out the parts of your next landscaping project that may need professional help is a great tip when planning your next project.
Planting trees, laying turf, painting are all great examples of where you can save money on your project by doing it yourself. But perhaps that concrete removal is a touch outside your competence range. At the beginning of your project, map out all of the key deliverables. Then assess whether it is something you can do yourself, or whether it is something you will require a professional for. Remember that projects can increase property value, so professional landscapers might be the best option.
Timeline
Any good project manager will be able to show you the 15 different Gantt charts they are using to track project deadlines and milestones. Now, for your next landscaping design project, I am confident we aren’t building a skyscraper, so a Gantt chart probably isn’t necessary. With that said, a timeline of your key project milestones is still a useful tool when planning your project.
A simple excel spreadsheet with the milestone, deadline and key dependencies will suffice for most backyard project managers. Liaise with you landscaper on timelines, as they will have the best idea of project durations. Planning your personal landscaping project is an exciting time. When the finished project is even better than any plan you could have imaged – that’s bloody exciting! Research your project and trust the professionals and you will have a beautiful space to call your own.
