Australians are perpetual gardeners who are always looking to change things up and make their yard feel fresh and exciting. Some of these changes, like planting a new section of flowers or removing some old paving, are easily done on your own. Other tasks such as changing the elevation of one section of your garden require the help of professionals to achieve a good result. But where exactly is the line when it comes deciding what things are DIY projects and which ones are more suited for landscape contractors?
What Does A Landscape Contractor Do?
To establish whether you need landscape contractors or not, you need to first define and examine what service they provide. In general, landscape contractors work on any task that alters the design of your garden significantly. They can do smaller projects, but those are often done by the homeowners themselves without the need for a landscape contractor. Some tasks that landscape contractors do on a regular occasion include the following:
- Installing retaining walls
- Placing new paving down
- Adding decks
- Installing a watering system
- Creating a driveway
As you can see, landscape contractors primarily do larger cosmetic changes to gardens along with some functional changes such as the addition of driveways or decks. If you need construction work on your home, you do not call landscape contractors.
What Don't Landscape Contractors Do?
As aforementioned, landscape contractors generally do not do any structural work on buildings. Many of them are qualified builders, but when working under the umbrella term of landscape contractors, they really are only dealing with external construction. That can include items like gazebos and outdoor living spaces, but generally, they stop short of entering the home itself. Think of landscape contractors as fulfilling the role of construction workers, only outside.
Can't I Just Do That Outside Work Myself?
You can certainly try for most tasks, but the problem is that unless you have the experience that many landscape contractors do, you will take more time, do a worse job and can even make the situation worse than when you started. Something like building a retaining wall or a deck requires extraordinary precision, and unless you have experience with the right tools and similar materials, you are going to make mistakes. That would be okay if it didn't cost you a significant amount of money. It simply isn't worth it to do a lot of the things landscape contractors focus on because they do it better, quicker and cheaper than you can.
While lots of people pay a lot of attention to the interior of their home, they do not pay the same level of attention to the landscaping of the land and gardens which surround their home. I was certainly guilty of this. However, all of this changed when I visited a friend. My friend had spent a lot of time and money landscaping their property. It was very impressive and I decided to have some work carried out on my property. The local landscaping company were fantastic. They helped me to plan the new landscaping project and quickly completed the work.