How to Budget for Your Dream Landscaping Project
You can stretch your budget for landscaping by following some simple tips
Getting started on a new landscaping, hardscaping, or water feature design and installation project can be exciting, but let’s get real for a minute here – large projects require budgetary considerations for most people. At Ground FX Landscaping & Water Features, we’ve been proud to provide honest, upfront pricing on every project we’ve completed over the past 12 years because we understand that cost is a consideration.
Our goal is to help you get the outdoor living space of your dreams. While we offer premium service and materials, we also work with each customer to personalize the experience and provide options to find affordable solutions no matter your budget.
Making a Landscaping Budget Doesn’t Have to be Difficult
Whether you’re planning for the spring and summer now or you have big plans for a year or two out at your home in the Rock Hill area, we’ve put together some tips that we like to pass along to customers to help in the budgeting process.
After reading these tips, you may be surprised to learn just how easy it is to get the landscaping, hardscaping, and water feature services you’ve always dreamed of without breaking the bank.
Below are some simple tips to help you budget for landscaping services:
By separating wants, needs, and priorities, you can easily set a budget for landscaping and stick to it
Separate Wants, Needs, and Priorities First
The first things to consider when planning your landscaping budget are your wants, needs, and priorities. Your wants are the things you would like to have but are not crucial. Your needs are the things that must be included in your plan to make it complete. Lastly, your priorities are the absolute essentials that you simply can’t live without.
How to Separate Wants, Needs, and Priorities
Of course, separating wants and needs from priorities isn’t always a cut-and-dried process. Everyone is different, so we can’t tell you where to place items on your list, but we can share some ways to separate items that may make things easier.
Functionality
How do you intend to use your outdoor space? Are you looking to create entertaining areas, relaxation zones, or play areas for children and pets? Knowing how you plan to use your outdoor living space allows your landscape designer to provide options to get you the things you want with your budget in mind.
Aesthetics
What are your design preferences and style preferences? Are you drawn to formal, structured designs, or do you prefer a more natural, organic look?
If you’re open to changing your design and aesthetic style, this will definitely open up more possibilities on a tight budget. Our landscapers work one-on-one with customers to find solutions to get you the look you want within your budget.
Consider how much maintenance will be involved down the road to save on landscaping costs
Maintenance
How much time, effort, and resources are you willing to invest in maintaining your landscape? Are you looking for low-maintenance options that require minimal upkeep?
This is an ongoing cost consideration that some people ignore. While we install low-maintenance landscaping, hardscaping, and water features at Ground FX Landscaping & Water Features, we also make it a priority to go over the maintenance pros and cons of the solutions we offer. We always want our customers to be informed about the potential for ongoing costs.
Materials
Material costs make up basically half the cost of a landscaping project. After all, you’re talking about labor and materials. What’s important to consider here is that materials can affect labor costs.
Some materials take longer to order and install compared to others. Your choice of materials directly affects your budget, but it can also change the cost of labor. We encourage you to work with your landscaper to find solutions in a range of options so that you can find the right materials that will also keep labor costs in line with your budget.
Labor
This leads us to the actual cost of labor. Labor includes the actual physical work involved, but we also factor in the cost of experience and expertise. This is common across virtually all landscaping contractors in the Rock Hill region.
In general, the more experienced a landscape company is at completing projects like yours, the higher your costs will be. This is because the expertise that comes along with an experienced landscaper means your project will be completed faster and you will also receive peace of mind in knowing the job was done right.
Prioritize Your Wish List
With all of the above in mind, this leads us back to wants, needs, and priorities. We suggest taking things a step further and prioritizing your wants and needs. Your priorities are obviously essential, but your wants and needs may have varying degrees of importance.
Deciding between must-have items and nice-to-have items can help you stretch your landscaping budget further
Must-Have Items vs. Nice-to-Have Items
We often recommend thinking about things in terms of must-haves and nice-to-haves. The must-have items on your wishlist are your top priority aside from your essential, priority items. The nice-to-haves are extras that you can live without but would like to have if a budget can fit them in.
One way we go about things to work everything in is to take a phased approach to landscaping work. Our landscapers and hardscaping experts can work with you to design a phased plan that allows work to be completed in stages.
This gets our customers what they want now while offering additions later. We’re always happy to work with your budget, and we want you to have the outdoor living space you’ve always dreamed of in Rock Hill.
Maximize Your Budget with Smart Design Choices
You can also stretch your budget by making smart design choices alongside your landscaper. We recommend the following tips to our customers in the Rock Hill region to get the most bang for their buck:
Focus on High-Impact Areas
We always say to focus on high-impact or high-traffic areas first. This is especially true if you’re working on a phased plan. Areas like entryways, outdoor entertaining areas, patios that get used often, and areas that are seen by passing traffic can usually result in the biggest impact.
Low-maintenance perennials like coneflowers can be great choices for landscaping on a budget
Opt for Low-Maintenance Perennials
Although it’s not always possible, especially when designing for water features, we recommend looking for low-maintenance perennials as a good choice to save on costs down the road. These don’t require re-planting, and low-maintenance options are great for keeping ongoing landscaping costs low.
Reuse and Repurpose Materials
Our landscapers are also always happy to work with you to find solutions to reuse or recycle materials. We believe in sustainability, and if you have ideas about reusing existing spaces or materials, we’re happy to work with you to incorporate these ideas into your design.
Communicate With Your Landscaping Contractor
There are a million different ways to make your budget go further, but perhaps the most important thing you can do to maximize your landscaping budget is to communicate with your landscaper. At Ground FX Landscaping & Water Features, we’re always happy to discuss plans and ideas, and we work hard to create customized solutions for our valued customers.
To schedule your no-obligation on-site consultation in Rock Hill SC or the surrounding area, call our landscaping company today at (803) 371-2324, or reach us on the web using our convenient contact form right now!
