When A Landscape Project Goes Wrong
It seemed like a simple enough project. One of my clients wanted to redo the parkway in front of the new shop he had bought. A couple of inches of topsoil scraped off and replaces then two pallets of sod and it would be a quick one day job.

A Quick One Day Job
Well at least I thought so as the first two inches of soil was being removed the trouble began. There is a term which we use in the landscape business one we do not like it is known as “Unforeseen Conditions” . This is never a good term but one that we run into all the time.
As the first two inches of soil was being removed it turns out that the whole parkway was asphalt from end to end. As grass will not grow in only two inches of topsoil the quick job turned into a project.

The Unforeseen Condition
With the asphalt having to be removed we ended up having to bring in the heavy equipment to dig the area down 8 inches to get rid of the asphalt and stone. Of course this was a big budget buster because trucking and dump fees are not cheap and added about $650.00 to the cost of the job and additional topsoil added another $400.00.

In Comes The Heavy Equipment
As you can see the large chunks of asphalt that had to be removed. Once everything was dug out we placed the two zone irrigation system in and replaced the Chinese Elm tree with a Purple Robe Locust Tree . At about this time the owner decided they would like to added two 10′x12′ paver areas to prevent vehicles from running over the turf. This added 240 square feet of brick paver at $12.00 a square foot to the cost.

The Brick Paver’s Added A Lot To The Final Appearance
Once we had gotten the project completed we had thrown in a couple of large boulders and a few ornamental grasses in two planting beds along with a few perennials that added an additional $400.00 to the cost but I believe it was well worth it. The final appearance really dresses it up and one of the adjacent businesses has already expressed interest in a renovation of their parkway.

The Finished Project Looking Really Sharp
It is a good job but a good thing to remember when you are budgeting for a project a reserve should be set aside so that when unforeseen conditions arise you will be able to get the job finished in a timely manner.




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