We just moved into a ‘fixer-upper’ in February. What we didn’t anticipate was how much harder a ‘fixer-upper’ is to manage when you have a one-year-old. Although the inside was gutted and remodeled, the outside of the house needed a lot of love, too. The shrubs were overgrown, creating the perfect habitat for bunnies, mice, squirrels, and apparently a woodchuck, too! We had some rotting boards in there that we couldn’t see that were attracting bugs as well. On top of that & possibly most importantly — the grading of our yard was pitched towards the house. This means that any water was draining toward the foundation of our house which could cause water to seep into the basement. Here’s a picture of the overgrown mess we had acquired with our ambition.
We met with Josh, the owner to come over and give a quote. He told us what he would recommend, removal of the shrubs, re-grading, new edging for fresh landscaping, trimming the trees that hung over the fence and house, and fixing the uneven slope in the front yard that our baby keeps stumbling down. After Josh gave us our plan, he passed us on to our designer/arborist, Melissa. She was a dream to work with! We had identical visions for the front yard, lots of pollinator plants, something easy to maintain that can thrive in our morning-light front yard. She drew up a 3D version of our plan for approval & I could NOT WAIT to see this come to fruition! The crew of 3 showed up with a skid-steer and a trailer for demolition. What would have taken my husband and I multiple weekends and lots of grey hair to accomplish ripping out, they had done in less than 4 hours. They even pulled out the overgrown lilies & hostas that were starting to crowd our already narrow driveway.
The next day, the crew was back and ready to plant, mulch, and lay new grass seed! They did such an incredible job. I’m not joking when I say every single neighbor swung by to tell us “thank you” for FINALLY taking care of this overgrowth and adding value to the entire neighborhood. It is a night and day difference in curb appeal.
What was amazing to me was that a crew of three could clear all that shrubbery, re-grade, trim trees, pull concrete stones off our driveway, clear the area next to our driveway, stage the flowers, plant them, mulch, and lay new seed in less than two days! From start to finish they were timely, professional, easy to communicate with and really went above and beyond my expectations.
I can’t wait to be picking weeds and flowers with my kids and watching them play in the yard without tripping over uneven spots. Check out the finished project!
