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"Will it upgrade my home's resale value?"
What is the value of a "Home-Improving" landscape? What is the amount of money that you can expect to add to the resale value of a home with a quality design and installation? Is there a benefit to investing in an "upgrade" instead of just a "replacement?"
Garden Design has consistently strived to improve the quality of design in the landscape installations we undertake. It is only on the strength of those designs that an exterior improvement will add dramatic value to the perceived resale of a home. Bad landscaping is just another quick fix.
At Garden Design, we always suggest the installation of a new path as part of the development of an Entry Garden:
To replace that 30" wide concrete strip we never propose anything less than a 4' wide grand approach to the front door. More often than not, there is the creation of a small sitting area or patio off to one side of the curve and a larger entry pad at the point where the path meets the driveway or street. All of this adds dollars to the budget but significantly impacts the perceived value of the investment. It should not be decided lightly to replace one square footage with a similar amount of more expensive product. That concept went out the window with the advent of 4000 square foot houses on ¼ acre lots.
Our normal front of house renovation normally includes the removal of a concrete path and overgrown, evergreen, shrubby house eaters plus the installation of a new, grander entry path/landing with complete replanting in the "new" style of four-season color.
Individual planting of street trees (8'-10' tall) if we are already on the job site doing the front of house can be added to the planting plan very economically. There are many types of trees that are not appropriate for this type of installation: Pyrus (Bradford Pears) or Acer platinoides (Norway Maples) are plentiful but very short-lived. Larger "tree-spaded" trees (18'-20' in size) would be priced by the piece. Availability on proper species is always an issue for the bigger sizes. Evergreen trees are potentially less costly as a tree spade but not necessarily appropriate for a street planting.
At Garden Design we do not encourage the homeowner to install wood decks. Maintenance and longevity are two issues that make these design solutions impractical for the homeowner and impossible to evaluate increased home value.
We believe strongly in the installation of "outdoor living rooms." These designs bring you down into nature instead of sitting on top of it! The hardscape would include concrete pavers, dry laid stone retaining walls, flagstone garden paths and boulder or preformed concrete block steps. Planting in our style includes a complete four seasons of color and structure.
We don't plant hedgerows but living screens. The mix of plant material that we use guarantees four seasons of color and structure and is never purchased in increments of 8' tall Thuja (Arborvitae) screens. In fact, if you drive through many neighborhoods in our area after this very hard winter you will see the danger in planting such monocultural environments and the damage affected by the weight of snow specifically on older growths of Thuja (Arborvitae).
"A well-designed landscape adds 15% to your home's value!"
From "Smart Money" a publication by the Wall Street Journal, March 2003.
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