While landscaping improves a home’s beauty, you must start on the right foot, especially when working on a new home. Before beginning this project, you need to consider every aspect and potential challenge and prepare for them. You must ensure that your landscape beautifies and adds to your home’s value instead of creating issues for you. So, before you dash off to purchase new plants, here are seven important things to consider when landscaping a new home.
- Be sure of the HOA requirements
Different states or locations may have specific HOAs requirements governing homeowners. HOAs (homeowners associations) are private organizations that oversee how residential communities are managed. They have specific rules that those living within their jurisdiction must follow. The rules cover architectural controls, lawn decoration, home maintenance, noise complaints, etc. So when landscaping your new home, find out and keep in mind the various landscape requirements your new home must meet. Then, submit your landscaping plan for approval. The last thing you want is to start and have to stop halfway for lack of approval.
- Consider the climate
It’s very frustrating picking up healthy plants for a new yard or garden, only to watch them die a few weeks later, despite your best efforts. When this happens, climate is usually the main culprit. A good understanding of the local weather patterns and trends is crucial when planning landscaping for a new home. You need to know the right temperature and humidity levels to work with, as the climate will determine whether your plants will thrive.
- Know your yard
The climate aside, you need to know what your yard looks like regarding its topography and soil type. Remember that your yard’s specific conditions can create a microclimate, depending on how much shade and sun exposure your landscape receives. Also, take the time to observe how water drains in your yard, as you want to ensure that water moves away from your home and towards other parts of your landscape. It also helps to know your home’s structure to avoid interfering with the building’s footing system and foundation.
- Identifying the right location for your garden beds
If your landscaping features a garden, you must identify the best places for it. Experts advise against building garden beds around your house without creating enough space for drainage. That’s because the closer your garden beds are to your house, the more likely they will affect your building’s foundation, especially when you constantly water them without effective drainage. Also, grade your garden beds away from your house while providing surface drains to carry excess water away from your building’s foundation. This way, you can prevent over-moisturization of your foundation, so feel free to consider this.
- Accessibility issues
You want your yard or garden to be accessible to the right people. You want it to be a place where your loved ones can spend quality time outdoors with no hassle, including all ages and (especially) people with disabilities. So adopt a design that allows access to people that use wheelchairs and other types of assistive devices. Consider incorporating smoothly paved pathways with level surfaces into your design. This way, you can ensure that anyone allowed to visit your yard will enjoy the space.
- Think about people, pets, and pests
But while considering accessibility for some, you should be careful not to give access to others. Admittedly, landscaping takes time. And during that period, you can expect many unwanted guests trooping in and out of your unfinished projects. Chief of these unwanted guests will be people and pets. If you live in a busy neighborhood, you can expect to see kids stomping your yard to retrieve a ball after kicking it across your lawn. Pets and pests are another consideration. Therefore, find ways to keep people and pets away from this area until the project is completed. While at it, you can work with exterminators to eliminate vermin.
- Work with a quality contractor
Unless you’re a landscaping expert, your best bet is to work with a professional to create the landscape of your dreams. Search for qualified contractors or landscaping experts experienced in working on new homes. It’s even better if they’ve already completed successful projects in your location, as that will show that they know the weather patterns. You can even find landscaping companies like MasterScapes capable of designing, creating, and maintaining your landscape. Only ensure your chosen company is licensed, certified, and has the skills and equipment needed to start and complete the job.
