What to Expect with Your Landscaping Project

To begin, a landscaping project can be many different things, from planting new trees to resodding. In other words, each landscaping project is different to some degree, so to relay what to expect is a difficult chore. However, most landscaping projects have a few items that are similar, so this article exists to prepare you for those commons items. So use this article as a guide and not hard and fast rules.

Your Yard Will Be Muddy
With nearly any landscape project, your yard will find itself with exposed dirt. This can be from digging holes for flowers and shrubs to digging large holes for trees to removing the grass from the yard altogether for new sod. The moisture from below the lawn will percolate up, and even if it doesn't rain, mud clods will form. This should be no problem for you since you were planning on having your yard torn up for a little while anyway. However, landscapers will have this mud and dirt on their feet and they will be walking back and forth from the site to their truck and it will spread this mud around. The only problem that this part of a landscape project presents for you is that your sidewalk and driveway can get spotted and often covered in mud. Landscapers are good about washing this off, but sometimes the mud stains.

The trick here is either scrub the walk and drive or rent a pressure washer. The problem with scrubbing is that the scrubbed parts can come cleaner than what is left unscrubbed. So it still looks funny. Renting a pressure washer is probably the best way to go, as this is a good way regularly clean your concrete anyway.

You can usually rent pressure washers by the day and half–day, if you are up to it and know how to perform this particular task. If you need some help in this area, click this link and get matched to one of our licensed and insured contractors who are experienced in pressure washing.

Trampled Grass
Unless you are having sod installed or replaced, there will be several people walking all over your lawn, often while carrying heavy objects. This is going to trample your grass quite a bit. While this is a necessary evil to improving your landscape, there are some tricks that can help your yard.

If you know exactly when your landscaping project will begin, try to time it so that your lawn is a few days past needing to be mowed. This will do two things. First, the landscapers will be walking on grass that you will be cutting as soon as they leave, so really they aren't damaging anything. Second, this extra grass is acting as padding or insulation for the grass below, so the landscapers' bootprints aren't as damaging. This is also a good idea if you are having some exterior painting and staining done so that if some overspray lands on your grass, it should not damage your lawn because that grass will be mowed shortly.

The best rule to follow with any landscaping project is to talk with your landscapers. He or she can tell you exactly what to expect, the good and the bad, and can more fully explain what is coming, when, and why. So don't be shy about asking.