The best thing about building a new home is that you are building a place that’s truly your own. While most of your attention might be fixated on the house itself, it is critical that the outside elements aren’t ignored. It is just as important to design the perfect landscape as it is the ideal home.

In fact, the last thing that you wish to do, is to make costly mistakes while landscaping your custom home. Here in this post, we will go through some of the errors that you can avoid while crafting a landscape design for your new home.

Landscape Design – If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. There are many factors of landscaping that need to be considered in line with the planning of your home. There are obvious aesthetics such as the look, colours and textures that may be viewed from inside and outside your home.Perhaps you need to think about window and external door placement so that you can enjoy your landscape from the inside.Also, there is the practicality and the maximising of space to make best use of your outdoor areas. Hardscape elements such as swimming pool, pool surrounds, patios, play areas and entertaining areas need to be designed as such, to blend the inside through to the outside.

Landscape Construction – With a plan in place, you will be able to implement the construction of your landscape in conjunction with the house build. Your builder will need to liase with your landscaper regarding timing and execution of the project. Earthworks, pool dig and sub-grading of the landscape areas may done during construction. Retaining walls, fencing, and levelling will also help your builder to run a safe and efficient site. If these items are constructed early while access is open, then they will be more cost effective. Other preliminary works include drainage requirements, conduits for irrigation and lighting, even the planting of advanced trees if they are included in your design. If the landscaping is left too late, it could prove very costly. As the home nears completion, access becomes restricted. This causes delays in finishing and possibly even some items having to be deleted due to poor planning, timing or allowances that were simply forgotten or dismissed by the builder. A well-managed landscape project sees the finishes implemented efficiently with just the installation of materials. Firstly, with hardscape items such as concreting, tiling, garden edging, paving, water features, decks, pergolas and screening etc, the completion of the pool and fencing, synthetic grass and the spreading of garden and natural turf soil.

Horticultural Services/Softscape – A professional landscaper will designate the correct planting palette in the design phase. Strategic placement of plants is imperative to enjoy their aesthetics from all angles of your home and property. Considerations include theming such as tropical, native, coastal, formal, low maintenance, features etc. and then deciding which plants will suit your environmental conditions. Environmental factors include soil type, sun positioning, wind exposure, salt air tolerance, elevations of natural ground and available minerals and nutrients. All of this will be considered when choosing the correct plantings for your project. Next is practicality such as the screening of boundaries or public areas, the level of maintenance and watering requirements involved (this also includes lawn areas). The size and growing potential of trees, shrubs and groundcover is most important so that the choices don’t become a problem in future. All this necessary planning is then blended with an aesthetically beautiful planting palette that compliments your house design and creates a living treasure.

Conclusion – As a new home builder, you know that the small details really do matter. The same rule is applicable for landscaping your new home. Every detail needs to be planned beforehand and nothing should be ignored.It is critical that your landscape contractor takesallthese details into consideration. A smooth, timely and mistake free execution of landscaping from design through to construction and softscape, really does matter when it comes to creating the home of your dreams.

For your new home landscaping in Gold Coast, you can count on Apunga Landscapes. We specialise in new home design, construction, and horticultural services as well as landscape renovations and pool surrounds.