Weekend Update: Part 2 of It’s A Landscaper’s World

 I talked about our 2019 landscaping project here. As promised, here is our project in 2021:

We were never fond of our front porch. It was minuscule compared to the house and rather unsafe with the mismatched size of the steps. When more than one person came over, it was difficult for me to open the storm/screen door to let them in, because they’d have to back up. I was always worried someone would fall off the porch. Plus, my husband has always wanted to put a chair and sit out there. I’m not interested in watching cars go by, but whatever floats your boat!

This is the sidewalk leading to the front door. The previous owner had stamped concrete done in 2006. It was cracked and uneven in spots, and as you can see, had faded into a dirty grey color. It was originally a tan/brown shade. The sun and elements were no friend. Also, note the brick pavers.  WHY would they change the path midway?

They must have wanted to use up the pavers that made up the backyard path to the deck. The bricks were covered with weeds and grass growing in between. So ugly. We also wanted to add landscape lighting in both the front and back. Overall, a fairly big project, so you’d think companies would be chomping at the bit to take our money. You would be wrong!

My husband spearheaded the project in March, calling landscape companies who also did ‘hardscape,’ a new word to me. First of all, there are not many. Like in my previous project, he left messages for three to start. He heard back from two, so not bad odds. The first guy gave us an estimate in one day, but didn’t listen at all to what we wanted. He just told us what stone he’d use and gave us a dollar figure with no details or breakdown. We didn’t think he’d be easy to work with, so we passed. The next company called on the day they were supposed to come look and said that they didn’t have enough workers, so they gave us a hard pass. Back to square one! My husband called the next three on the list (and actually, the final three of area landscapers capable of doing the project). Only one returned his call this time. And it happened to be the same guy who ghosted me with an estimate in 2019. This did not bode well for me, but let’s just say, beggars can’t be choosers.

Long story short, we went with him. He made blueprints of his plans, brought material books for us to look at and dropped off samples. That was the good part. It did take him a few weeks, so by this time it was April. We agreed on a price, but said we wouldn’t pay any money upfront until the day they showed up. He seemed okay with that and said they’d start end of May.

June begins and not a word. Husband emails the guy and he says they are “finishing up a project” and we are scheduled for late June. This ends up happening multiple times, until I finally see CAT equipment parked in our driveway in September! And the next day, it was gone!!! We thought we were hallucinating.

At this point, my husband and I turned the whole thing into a joke. He started saying, “That’s (landscaper’s last name’s) world!” similar to 'That’s Elmo’s World' whenever something strange happened with anything. We will be using that phrase for the rest of our lives. They FINALLY showed up and began on September 30th, four months later than the original start date.

What it looked like for weeks. We soon found out why the date was constantly postponed.  Our two week project actually took them five full weeks (thank goodness we had good weather). So yeah, despite being in the business for decades, the owner had zero clue on how long anything took. Funny side note: I ran down the driveway once to intercept an Amazon delivery and the driver asked me if that was our Halloween decorations. He was not kidding. LOL! We did have caution tape on the front door, but can you imagine renting construction equipment for Halloween?

You might wonder how it takes four workers five weeks to do this project? My husband worked from home a few of the days and commented that the guys seemed to work 15 minutes per hour. The rest of the time, they were talking on cell phones or eating potato chips. Or sitting in their trucks. Or just disappearing for a few hours, only to show up again, once you thought the coast was clear to park the car in the garage again.

In the end, it was worth it. We got a very nice front porch, with two pillars and steps that have under mount lighting.

Lots of lighting along the path leading to the front door, along with well lights.

And a new path in the back. They replanted all the grass and gave us exactly what we were looking for, so I can’t say I wouldn’t recommend them, but holy cow on it all!

And we are just crazy enough to have contracted with two other businesses for half bath and master bath remodels.

Do you have any home projects in 2022?