Landscaper!!

When DH and I bought our home almost 4 years ago a lot of the landscaping in the front was overgrown. Looked nice, but just too much. DH tries to keep up with it. It now is too much so we had a landscaper come over to give us a quote. Obviously we want to cut back a lot of the rocks and have more sod. Take out the big trees and put in smaller stuff. He said it would be about $15,000 to $20,000. We can't afford to spend our money on that right now when we are doing stuff in the house. Now DH wants to do it himself. He's a contractor so likes to be hands on with anything in the house. He has no time to do it, but he's determined to do a bit each night.
Anyone have any advise doing their own landscaping? Should we keep getting quotes?

Re: Landscaper!!

we did our own landscaping in part of the front of our house, it was a small area though, but saved us some $. You could probably do it yourself if you're willing to do the work, although, i don't know about taking out the big trees, its probably best to call a tree removal company for that.

Landscaper!!

I'm cheap. So I try to do whatever I can without hiring someone. But I do know my limits. I tried to remove bushes from the front yard that needed to be removed. But it is just too much for me. I didn't even get one set trimmed completely in one day. Eventually we called a landscaper. It would be $900 to remove everything in our front yard and bring in topsoil and reseed. This is just removing shrubs, not trees. That's another issue. But in my opinion, it's worth it. I can do the putting in on step at a time. It's the getting it out that is a problem.
We have a very overly landscaped yard as well. Like the landscaper said, it's like 10 pounds of clothes in a 1 pound bag.

Re: Landscaper!!

yes, get other estimates. But what type of trees are you getting? Before you get other quotes find out what they are giving you so you can compare apples to apples!!!

Landscaper!!

i would find someone who takes trees down exclusively for a job that big. Then, follow up with a landscaper for the basic stuff/ smaller trimmings. From experience, I have found this is is the cheaper way to go.

Landscaper!!

we've done quite a bit of landscaping recently. we did some ourselves and had professionals come in for the big things we couldn't do (remove trees). it's a lot of work and has taken DH MANY weekends to get it done.

you could always get a few more quotes and see what they can do for you that it more in line with your budget, or have DH do as much as possible and then hire a professional for the rest.

Re: Landscaper!!

I would call an arborist or tree removal company. I would think a regular Gardner would have to subcontract the work because they don't have all of the tools at their disposal. Just to remove one tree that was two stories tall and have the stump ground out was about $900-1000. I am in Nj. The home owners association. Paid the bill. Let me know if you need their info.

Re: Landscaper!!

Re: Landscaper!!