My outdoor contractor will be over in a few to finalize the plan.
New redwood front patio fence and remove all the crushed red rocks around the fence and replace with red brick so leaf removal will be easy.
New concrete walkway in side yard and 9 foot octagon concrete slab for hot tub
New 20x30 foot solid redwood deck with bench seat along one side with hinged top lids for charcoal and propane storage.
River rock to replace red rock in front yard between retaining wall and sidewalk.
Gonna cost 12 grand! Blow that dough -
How exciting! We want photos, before and after, once it is done! This sounds like some great improvements in your yard.
I blew $16K on my own yard improvements when I first moved in here, and to me it was worth three times that. It took 2-3 months for 3-6+ men working their tails off to complete, but what a difference it made and what a great and satisfying way in which to spend one's money.
In my case, here's what I did:
1) I had three [-]large[/-] truly giant water oak trees (maybe 6'-8' in diameter?) removed that were the largest in our old and very tree lined neighborhood, and were falling down from their own weight plus full of bees and termites.
2) The rest of the yard was a jungle of bushes and I had all those removed, too.
3) Then I had the underground sprinkler system removed,
4) yard re-graded,
5) topsoil added,
6) sodded both front and back with grass.
7) Then the icing on the cake was a lot of concrete work in both the front and back yards, to replace all that was there before. This included a big concrete slab maybe 10x12 or so between the back door and the garage, plus about 100' of walkways.
As a result, I don't have to do any yard work whatsoever except to put out money for my lawn guy. This is the most important result because I am getting ready to age in place. In this climate, lawns do not need watering or fertilizing so they require no care but mowing.
When hurricanes or wind storms threaten, I no longer have to worry about giant branches crashing through my roof (which was a distinct possibility before).
I don't often have to clean big piles of leaves and branches out the storm drain down at the curb in front of my house before rainstorms, hurricanes, etc., to keep our street from flooding. I still check it before each storm, but generally it is completely clear.
The oak trees were grown around (and around, and around) the power lines very badly, so now I don't have to worry about falling branches taking out the power for many of my neighbors and myself every time the wind blows; the power company and parish (=county) are delighted that I did this. In fact, the power company did the "tricky part" in removing branches near the power lines for me, for free when I told them what I was doing. The tree removal people coordinated between themselves, the power company, and the Parish which required permits for removal of these big trees.
I can walk to and from the garage on a level surface with no irregularities or steps to trip on or fall on.
And last but not least, my yard looks GREAT, with grass as lush and brilliant green as an ad for vacationing in Ireland, and my beautiful yard brings a smile to my face every time I see it.
My back yard, after and before, taken from about the same vantage point, is shown in the photos below. The after photo was taken about a month after the resodding. It has been a year and a half by now so it is even more lush and green now and so very fine and lovely IMO.
