What people ask before they book.

The first visit is free. It takes about 45 minutes. We walk the garden with you, dig a small test hole to check the soil and drainage, and measure up. You get a written, itemised quote within three working days. If you want a full scaled planting plan drawn, that is a separate service from $660.

It depends on size, slope and access, but here are honest starting points. Planted and mulched garden beds are from $95 a square metre. New turf on a prepared base is from $42 a square metre. Paving is from $150 a square metre. Retaining walls are from $450 per square metre of wall face. A typical front garden with new beds, planting and a path comes to between $6,000 and $15,000. Everything is itemised so you can do it in stages.

Maintenance visits can usually start within two weeks. Planting and turf jobs are booked three to five weeks ahead for most of the year. In spring, and for paving and walls, allow six to eight weeks. A wall that needs a permit takes longer, because the engineering and permit come first. We give you a start week in the quote and tell you early if weather moves it.

Sometimes. In Victoria a retaining wall generally needs a building permit and engineering when it is 1 metre or higher, when it is close to a boundary, or when it supports a structure such as a driveway or a building. Most garden walls we build are lower than that. We measure at the site visit and tell you in the quote. If a permit applies, we arrange it with a registered practitioner before any digging starts.

We carry public liability insurance, and a certificate of currency is available on request before we start. We lay drip lines and sprinklers within the garden. Where an irrigation system is connected to mains water, that connection is made by a licensed plumber. We organise the plumber and show the cost as its own line in your quote.

Paving, walls, edging and steps carry a 12 month workmanship warranty, in writing. If something we built moves or fails in that time, we come back and fix it. New plants that die in the first three months are replaced once at no charge, provided they were watered to the guide we leave with you. New turf is checked at two weeks and six weeks.

We work in Heidelberg, Ivanhoe, Rosanna, Fairfield, Northcote, Thornbury, Preston and Reservoir. Keeping to a small area means we know the soil and can come back to check on a garden. If you are just outside those suburbs, ask. We will tell you straight away if we can get to you.

We plant under established eucalypts often. The ground there is dry and shaded, so we use plants such as correa, lomandra and dianella, and we dig carefully by hand around large roots. We do not raise the soil level over the roots. Removing or heavily pruning a tree is different. Council permits may apply to protected trees. We tell you when that is the case, and the removal itself is done by a qualified arborist.