Saratoga Landscaping - Approved Plans - Work Underway

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As Jason mentions, depending on what pavers you're using, poured concrete either won't be much less expensive and may even be more expensive than pavers.

In our case it was a couple hundred dollar difference or so (I forget the exact amount), but it was small enough for it to be worthwhile to pave the entire side path. In the long run it will totally be worth it I think, if even just for resale value. In the short term, it completes the look and just feels awesome. : )

Our landscaping was delivered yesterday. Today our plants will be installed, sprinkler system will be finished, fountain will be setup, and lighting will be configured. And of course the control panels in the garage will be setup to manage the lights and sprinklers. The entire job should be done today.

One complication we ran into was with the pomegranate tree we selected. It's more of a bush than a tree, so planting it behind the wall put the entire thing and the pomegranates it's currently bearing on the ground. What we decided to do is put that tree into a pot behind the wall to raise it up.

The apple tree in the other corner is beautiful and has probably two dozen Golden Delicious apples on it already. My only concern with that one is that the HOA is going to make me remove it, but we do plan to keep it trimmed to maybe 8 or 10 feet max.

Here's one photo without anything actually planted in the ground yet, which is why you can see a tiny bit of green from behind the wall. Once it's all planted it will be lower and totally invisible until maybe a year from now when it's all a bit bigger. The back corner is the apple tree. The pavers look much sexier now that they've been sealed.

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No Quarter said:
irvinehomeowner said:
JasonTheArtist said:
Based on a recent quote from a landscaper, concrete is slightly more expensive than paving stones.
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I think that depends on who you go to.

"Home Depot parking lot" landscapers have really cheap concrete prices.
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Good luck following up with them when the concrete cracks and you want a warranty repair!
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Do any landscapers give you a warranty against concrete cracks? I never heard of that.
 
@lucky:  I don't know if you are willing to divulge but what was the cost for the yard?  And if you inclined...what was the breakdown between hardscape and softscape.

Thanks for the thread again.  There needs to be some sort of special hand gesture for TI members so we can signal each other ;)
 
Thanks for the compliments all! :D

@JasonTheArtist - There isn't a pattern per se. After they first started going in I tried to visually discern if there was some kind of repeating pattern, but I'm now certain they inserted the bricks mostly randomly.

I'm sure they had some guideline about how many of which size and color could be near each other, but there's no pattern. And I'm happy with that. I think the random layout makes it feel less cookie-cutter and more "natural," and it goes with the overall rustic feel. But I think other people (possibly with OCD) might need an obvious, repeating pattern.

@Irvinecommuter - No problem. I've mentioned in the past (linked in my first post in this thread and other places) the total project cost is $18,000. (It hurts every time I say it.) The breakdown is about $12,000 hardscape and $6,000 landscape.

I agree. It'd be great if I was able to identify you fine people in real life, especially since so many of you are neighbors in one way or another.
 
lucky said:
@JasonTheArtist - There isn't a pattern per se. After they first started going in I tried to visually discern if there was some kind of repeating pattern, but I'm now certain they inserted the bricks mostly randomly.

I'm sure they had some guideline about how many of which size and color could be near each other, but there's no pattern. And I'm happy with that. I think the random layout makes it feel less cookie-cutter and more "natural," and it goes with the overall rustic feel. But I think other people (possibly with OCD) might need an obvious, repeating pattern.
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I also like the random pattern. So how long from start to finish?
 
Lucky,
I'm loving it, but why do you think HOA would remove your apple tree when it grows?  The leaves are not deciduos right?  As long as you trim branches that goes to your neighbor's direction, i think it s/b fine.
 
@irvinehomeowner

I'd say about 10.5 days, as they did a little prep work two Thursdays ago, then started all the real work last Monday.

@stromung

One of the conditions that came with the HOA's approval was that our fruit trees be "of the dwarf variety." Though we'll keep the apple tree pruned smaller, its natural size is a bit bigger.
 
lucky said:
@irvinehomeowner

I'd say about 10.5 days, as they did a little prep work two Thursdays ago, then started all the real work last Monday.
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That's pretty good. I hear horror stories about landscaping jobs that end up unfinished.

Congratulations on your new home and your new backyard.
 
Lucky..great post and the yard has turned out really nicely. I'm sure appreciative comments from so many people reduces the impact of the cost :)

I'm just curious as to the total size of your yard? I am thinking of getting a similar job done.

lucky said:
Thanks for the compliments all! :D

@JasonTheArtist - There isn't a pattern per se. After they first started going in I tried to visually discern if there was some kind of repeating pattern, but I'm now certain they inserted the bricks mostly randomly.

I'm sure they had some guideline about how many of which size and color could be near each other, but there's no pattern. And I'm happy with that. I think the random layout makes it feel less cookie-cutter and more "natural," and it goes with the overall rustic feel. But I think other people (possibly with OCD) might need an obvious, repeating pattern.

@Irvinecommuter - No problem. I've mentioned in the past (linked in my first post in this thread and other places) the total project cost is $18,000. (It hurts every time I say it.) The breakdown is about $12,000 hardscape and $6,000 landscape.

I agree. It'd be great if I was able to identify you fine people in real life, especially since so many of you are neighbors in one way or another.
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lucky said:
The breakdown is about $12,000 hardscape and $6,000 landscape.
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WOW!! Regarding the landscaping cost -- I have a 3,000 sqft. backyard and was recently quoted $3,700 to landscape the entire area with plants, flowers, sod, top soil not including two smaller sideyards and a patio which have cement / brick. And to think I thought that quote was a little too high! (I passed, got it done much cheaper.)

How many square feet are they landscaping and what are they putting in? I did look at the drawing in the first post. I only noticed one wall of trees and some shrubs(?) on the side.
 
@socaltrojan81

Thanks! Yes, you're quite right. It really does help to take a bit of the sting out of that huge price tag.

@SoCal

Take a look at the last few pages, as there are several photos showing the work we're having done. Landscaping is the least of it, and for that the most expensive parts are putting in the irrigation, drainage, and lighting. 2/3 of our overall cost is just for hardscaping (including pavers as well as flagstone) and building a seating wall. The hardscaped area is about 700 sqft.

--

Below are a couple of photos after today's work. They almost finished, but will be doing the last little bits tomorrow. The fountain is finally installed and turned on; that was pretty exciting and it looks beautiful. After seeing the lighting in action tonight, I'm actually going to ask that they install 2 more star jasmine trees on trellises along with a few more lights, so that may require a little more time for it to be completed.

In the first photo you can see the fountain beside the California room and the apple tree in the corner. The second is the view from our courtyard looking down the side of the house toward the back corner where the pomegranate tree is. I'm really happy with the pebble-surrounded flagstone steps. : )

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Job's all done, though we're having them add a couple more star jasmine plants and some more lights. They won't be able to add them very soon due to other projects they're working on.

In any case, here's a set of 16 nighttime photos and here's a video walkthrough:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErYLjIs7ECU[/youtube]

Thanks to everyone who's made very nice comments through this journey, and I wish lots of luck to those of you whose landscaping is still not yet completed!  :)
 
@Lucky:

Nice video and nighttime photos.

I forgot who your contractor was but maybe they should arrange something with you to do some marketing for them. What was the song playing on your video? Homie almost cried.  :'(
 
Congratulations, no question this was money well spent, it looks simply amazing!  No doubt you will be enjoying your yard for years to come!  :D
 
@songkou @stromung - That's very kind of you to say, but you are definitely being too generous. Thanks for the very nice words. : )

@irvinehomeowner - Thank you. I thought you were referring to yourself as Homie, but from this comment it sounds like that's your significant other. That's cute. (And it makes me think of Homie the Clown from In Living Color.)

Hah, I'd love to do some official marketing for our landscaper, but I don't ever see that happening. The song is called The Luckiest by Ben Folds. It's on his album titled Rockin' the Suburbs, and it's definitely beautiful.

@phanpd - Thanks very much for the encouragement. That's comforting to hear.

It's our first yard ever and we really wanted something we and our kids could enjoy, and it's definitely making us all happy so far. Hearing it looks as nice to all you objective third parties, you've all really helped us feel we weren't [too] insane to spend as much as we did. Thanks again to everyone for your thoughtful compliments.  :-[
 
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