[Tips.003] You might need to start landscaping work before your construction...

Yes, I am not joking. If the frontage of you land is not wide enough and your land requires retaining walls at the back, you might need to start landscaping work before your construction...

Our neighbour waited more than 12 months for their house to be completed (almost there...). They started getting quotes for landscaping and then they found a major issue. The paths on both side of the newly build house is only about 1 M wide, that is, the gap between the newly build house and the fence on both sides. But the landscapers' hole drilling machines are much bigger/wider than that! This means all the hole drilling work (for retaining walls) has to be done by hand, and that would be really expensive.

Luckily both our backyards join together, there's no fence at the moment and we just got our house demolished. If they can get their hole drilling work done before our excavation starts, we don't mind them accessing their back yard through our currently vacant land.

To avoid the same mistake, we already have an arrangement between our landscaper and the builder. The builder will excavate the land first so that the cut and fill are all done, and everything in correct level. The builder will then put everything on hold for 2 weeks for our landscaper to finish the retaining walls at the back. The construction will then continues, and the landscaper will finish the front part some time next year...

So unless your land got wide frontage, or you are one of the lucky ones who have a flat, even land, and don't need to have any retaining walls at the back - don't forget about your landscaping!