“Builder Basic” Landscaping
The builder of a home has many competing interests: architects, engineers, subcontractors, code enforcement, client satisfaction, weather delays and, most importantly, schedule and budget.
In order to do their job, the builder has to move quickly and keep costs down, with things getting especially squeezed the further along the project gets. This often doesn’t bode well for landscapes. By the time the builder is landscaping the home, budget and time are too tight. The result is well-known: “Builder Basic” landscaping. If you aren’t familiar with this phenomenon, start looking for it in Tallahassee’s landscaping. You will begin to see its hallmark patterns in no time at all. It is so consistent, in fact, that we can easily illustrate one in our program. While a normal design might take anywhere from 2-6 hours, a builder basic design can be drawn up in less than 10 minutes. Here is an example of how that process might work, with a design based on a recent property we visited.
Here is a nice, new house on a bare plot of land in a subdivision. Grading is finished with what they call “sandy clay”—a mix of sand and clay that is very well draining and not nutritious. This should not be confused with topsoil, which is much more habitable for plants (and much more expensive).
First thing we will need is irrigation and to resolve any drainage problems. Rarely will gutter downspouts be run underground so that it outlets into public receptacles for rainwater—downspouts will be left open at the corners of the home. But serious water erosion risks will normally be mitigated at this stage through additional grading, drainage basins, French drains, etc.
A builder will most likely need to get the cost down to about half of what a company like ours would charge. Subcontractors will often need to be chosen based on the lowest bid, which means they are operating on very thin margins, and will need to hedge their bets by making sure that their materials cost is as low as possible. Drainage pipe might be an inch or two too small for the amount of water that is going into the associated basin. Corrugated pipe may be used instead of schedule 40 even when going under high traffic, hardscaped areas. Pipe walls for the irrigation may be too thin, the irrigation controller may be the least expensive one available. The zones might not be marked or indicated on the controller map. Sprinkler heads will most likely be ratchets or sprays not adjusted properly for plantings, with too small or too large of a radius. The schedule may not be set properly. (All of these problems represent jobs we have had to do in the years following new construction jobs. Some do not rear their heads for 5-10 years).
After this phase, a driveway will be necessary if it has not already been installed. If possible a builder will try to go with straight lines to avoid bending form boards. The biggest risk will be subcontracting a crew based on the lowest bid. Low bid concrete contractors typically work too fast and loose, resulting in poor grading, form work and finish quality.
Once the driveway and landscaping are in, it’s time for a fence. In many Tallahassee subdivisions the HOA requires shadow box pressure treated pine picket, 6’. This is a big backyard and will require about 250’ of fencing. Lumber choice, hardware choice, the amount of concrete in each post, and even post spacing are all areas that can be wiggled around for the subcontractor to meet builder budget and ensure the subcontractor’s profitability. In some cases, builders look for subcontractors who do not do fencing normally (framers or general purpose crews). In these cases, the margins are very tight and the customer should work with their builder to increase the fencing budget or extend the timeline to ensure a quality fence. As in all of these cases, the best thing to do is talk to your builder ahead of time about the build quality of the fence and your priorities for its construction. Keep in mind that conversations like this usually lead to the customer needing to increase the project budget.
Now we are about ready for some softscaping. Sod is much less expensive than planting, both in terms of materials and labor. So a builder basic scenario will maximize the sod footprint. The most recent builder basic job we ran into looked almost exactly like this:
At this point a builder basic design has very little left. Soil amendment is not typically done prior to planting. The builder will want to minimize the cost of plants as much as possible by choosing the most common species and smallest gallon sizes possible. In Tallahassee landscaping, these plants are a few of the very common choices: liriope, loropetalum, yaupon holly, crape myrtle, drift roses. Using a few of those, here’s an example:
A budget-pinched builder needs to focus all of the plant money on the beds connected to the house in order to create the best first impression and establish some degree of curb appeal. The goal here is for it to look finished, and this will basically accomplish that. The ground cover is variegated liriope. Symmetrically planted yaupon hollies flank the door. Crape Myrtles fill in the larger beds on the corners. Loropetalum fill the side beds. We also put four more crape myrtles on the left to give some enclosure to the driveway:
We would do best to keep the backyard limited to sod, as we are looking at a ton of square footage and a reasonable thing to do is simply make it clean and flat. This leaves a blank slate for future investments like a playground, pool, deck, or a custom landscape. It also leaves plenty of room for pets and kids to run around. And again, the cost of labor and materials for sod is very attractive when taking the builder basic approach. This backyard design is basically a copy of a recent landscape renovation we did in Southwood. We removed nearly 7 pallets worth of sod from the yard in order to create planting beds.
To sum it up: here’s our overall builder basic plan. The back is all sod, so I’ll feature the front. It’s not bad, it’s not great, but it looks finished - and that is the key.
3 Ways to Landscape New Construction
If you or a friend are building a house, here are a few things to keep in mind. First, do not think that your builder is somehow aesthetically ignorant or careless about landscaping. Builders simply do what is required to wrap up your job on time and on budget, while still maintaining the profitability necessary to sustain and grow their business. Instead, consider these three different routes:
Accept Builder Basic
The first way is to go with builder basic and be okay with that type of landscape, or plan on making improvements at a later date. This will allow you to keep the budget down at the outset, but it will result in more total dollars being spent on landscaping in the future.
Work with a Landscape Architect
This is for more complex landscapes. This is to seek out a licensed landscape architect to do site plans. A landscape architect can conduct extensive assessments and surveys, then make sure that your landscape takes into account runoff, irrigation, lighting, landscaping, etc. Even if you do not complete the architect’s entire plan before moving in, it gives you a highly detailed road map for your landscape’s future. With that road map in hand, you can then go to a company like ours for installation. These plans are much more detailed and are most appropriate for tricky or very large landscapes. In Tallahassee, we have installed many projects by David Cowles, and have found his work to be top-notch aesthetically and very thorough in its technical aspects. You can see some examples of Cowles’ plans on his site.
Work with Landscape-Specific Professionals
In between the two previous options is the one that I recommend in most cases: work with a landscape designer and a landscape installer in concert with your builder. This will take more time, coordination, and money than builder basic, but not as much as with a landscape architect. The result will be a much more personal and beautiful landscape. Bloom Garden Co. is unique in that we are landscape designers, installers, and certified horticulturists. Because we usually don’t use subcontractors and instead do almost everything ourselves, we are in a good position to coordinate with you and your builder on design, schedule, and other detailed decisions.
As a point of contrast, here is a 3D walkthrough of one of our recently drafted landscape designs: