Lara- Thanks :-D Yeah the most noticable thing I mentioned is the well head which you can no longer see lol

Sassy- Yes, even a minor improvement can have a huge impact on potential buyers (don't know that I would say this was a minor improvement as it was a complete overhaul lol). This homeowner has just been putting off this project for a few years and decided to have it professionally done.

Jesse- Thank you. Yes it was a complete overhaul of the entire landscape. The only thing we didn't change, move, or completely remove was the green shrub in the left corner of the picture.

Terrylynn- Sooo true.... and its also the last thing they see when they are pulling away to decide to either keep looking or make a respectable offer ;-)

Konnie- My parents have been RE investors for over 20 years.... I have yet to do a landscaping job that cost as much as a bathroom or kitchen remodel... and thats including my sweat, not the homeowners lol

NJ- Thank you very much :-D Yeah it definitely made a big difference, and even without a lot of added plants it gives it just enough color to brighten things up. I was kind of worried when the homeowner came back with just the two mums that there may not be enough color or it might look empty (the space is actually quite a bit bigger than it appears), but everything worked out great and we were both very happy with the end results.

The retaining wall is often the hardest part of the whole thing (when done right anyway) in my opinion especially when there are curves or angles in the wall as it basically becomes a trial and error process to get everything to line up properly.

NJ- I agree, the amount of color is just right. Also from the distance and angle that picture is from you can't really tell that much but there are actually some decent colors in the natural stone that is filling the area.....

NJ- Thank you. One of the beautiful things about using natural stone as opposed to a "fancier" quartz or other highly colored stone or mulch (which there are actually times those do work better also, just depends on the person and the home) is that it can go with any color home (this was a blue house) and make things "come together" a little more as it has so many different colors (mostly blues, reds, oranges, tans, and even whites). I generally try to go with a more natural blended landscape look and pull most of my real color from the plants/ objects themselves rather than have the landscaping materials stand out alot. :-D

Tracy- Its amazing what giving layers to an otherwise flat piece of land can do for the look of not only the landscape, but the home itself. Just wondering, but why did you decide to go with grass inside the steps as opposed to paver bricks, or maybe even patio stones possibly offsetting the color of the outline for the steps. Not saying that the idea is bad or it doesn't look good because thats definitly not the case, I just know the 1st thing I would hear around here would be... so what was inside the steps before the grass took over. :-\

NJ- What can I say I love what I do :-D

NJ- Yeah I know I am very lucky in that regard. Heck not only do I love what I do, but I am also my own boss, can't get much better than that lol. Sure the summers can get pretty hot, but hey I get to work on my tan while I work lol, and the cold winters aren't that bad, I mostly sit in my heated truck raising and lowering the plow, and this year we are also selling firewood, so I still don't have it all to bad eventhough it does get pretty cold and snowy up here :-D

NJ- Yeah its kind of different though in my line of work, because while yes I am my own boss, I have to make sure my clients are all happy too, and I really work for them.... So on paper I am my own boss, but techniqually I have quite a few bosses. Luckily I have a great group of clients who pretty much just trust me and let me do my own thing because they know I know what I am doing and talking about. Sure I am young, but like I said I love what I do, so I have spent alot of time researching and implimenting different ideas to help me have a very high customer satisfaction level. :-D

NJ- I can't complain to much, but I (like so many others) would be alot better if the economy was good (or even decent lol). I am still a really small company so in some ways its worse on me than the bigger ones, but in other ways its better because I don't have to make huge cuts or lay offs atleast.

NJ- I hope things pick up for your son, I hope if he does get laid off he doesn't have to worry about supporting a family or has money saved up to survive until he is able to go back to work. Goodluck, hopefully he will be able to keep working. Couple weeks I'll basically be laid off until snow starts flying lol

NJ- Thats good that he would be ok for a while if that does happen. :-D

Beth- New retaining wall/ landscape installs can be quite time consuming to plan, prep, build, and finish if done properly... I had about 20 hours into this project.

Phyllis- Yeah theres quite a bit of elbow grease that goes into this kind of work, but like you said it is worth it in the end as hard work does pay off :-D

Bob- Thank you. Yeah I tried talking her into a basic walk way even but she said " I don't even use the porch enterance so its not needed" and since she isn't planning on moving, just getting some of the work done she wanted to do when she moved in 13 years ago. And since she wants more work done in the up coming years, I wasn't going to argue lol... one of these days though ;-)