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Do Perth Landscaping Companies Offer Warranties or Guarantees?

Do Landscaping Companies Offer Warranties or Guarantees?

When you decide to invest in your home’s landscape, it’s not just about aesthetics and immediate gratification. You’re looking for something that stands the test of time, a long-term transformation that adds value to your property and life. One crucial aspect that homeowners often overlook is whether the landscaping company they hire offers warranties or guarantees. This subject is particularly pertinent if you’re in Perth, where the landscaping business has been thriving.

A Brief Look at the Landscape in Perth

Before delving into the specifics, let’s set the stage. Perth is a city blessed with an ideal climate for outdoor living. It’s no wonder that companies like Principal Landscapes have found their niche here. This multi-award-winning company specializes in integrated pool landscaping and residential landscape design, bringing the unique vision of Managing Director Cullen Long to life. From his early days of crafting dry-stone walls with his parents to leading one of Perth’s most reputable landscaping companies, Cullen’s journey embodies the spirit of innovation and quality.

The Industry Norm

Typically, warranties and guarantees in the landscaping industry can differ from one company to another. They may cover various aspects, such as plants, hardscapes, and artistry. These are designed to protect the client from any potential issues that might arise post-completion. While some companies might offer a 1-year limited warranty on plants or a 5-year warranty on hardscapes, the details and duration can vary.

Category : Landscaping Posted by Principal Landscapes

07 September

How do I Prepare My Yard for Landscaping?

So, you’ve finally decided to transform that dull stretch of dirt and grass into a backyard paradise. Good choice! In Perth, we are blessed with a climate that lures us outdoors for most of the year. And there’s no better way to enjoy it than in a landscape custom-designed by the experts, like Principal Landscapes, where we specialize in “Designing Nature, Crafting Lifestyle.”

Before diving into the transformation’s heart, a well-prepared yard lays the foundation for a smooth process and a better result. Here’s how to get your yard ready for a makeover and why choosing a local, award-winning company can make all the difference.

Do Your Homework

Before you make the first cut or pull the first weed, decide what you want your outdoor space to be. Whether it’s a place for family barbecues, a peaceful garden retreat, or a lavish entertainment hub, your design will govern Everything from the choice of plants to the type of paving stones.

Clean the Slate

Remove all the unnecessary items from your yard. This includes obvious debris and old installations that won’t be part of the new design. By giving your landscaping team a clean slate, you’re speeding up the process and potentially saving yourself some money.

Category : Landscaping Posted by Principal Landscapes

25 August

What is the Difference Between Hardscaping and Softscaping?

In the lush tapestry of outdoor spaces, two artistic strokes bring the landscape to life: hardscaping and softscaping. When balanced thoughtfully, these two elements create gardens and outdoor settings that are beautiful and functional. At Principal Landscapes, we’ve mastered this art. Our multi-award-winning team, led by Managing Director Cullen Long, has been Designing Nature and Crafting Lifestyle in Perth, Western Australia, since 2007.

The Basics of Hardscaping

Hardscaping refers to the complex elements in your landscape—think patios, walkways, retaining walls, and even pools. These are usually made of hard materials like stone, concrete, or metal. Hardscaping provides structure and serves as the canvas upon which softscaping is painted.

“Principal Landscapes designed and constructed our outdoor kitchen and entertainment area. Our outdoor area has become the central hub of our house, and this is all down to Cullen and his team at Principal Landscapes,” says Ron Tait, a satisfied client.

Softscaping: The Yin to Hardscaping’s Yang

Softscaping is the planting of gardens, the arranging of shrubs, the rolling out of lush lawns—anything that grows. It brings life, texture, and colour to your outdoor spaces. Softscaping is flexible and can be changed or updated seasonally, unlike its hardscape counterpart.

Category : Landscape Design Posted by Principal Landscapes Hardscaping , Softscaping

15 August

Your Simple Guide To What A Landscape Designer Does

As landscapers, we often get asked by our prospects and clients, “What does a landscape designer do? “, and it is a perfectly valid question. Whilst many people will be familiar with terms like ‘gardener’ and mostly understand what those who work as gardeners do, there is often some confusion when they think about landscape designers.

So, we want to eliminate any confusion that those reading might have and give you a simple guide into the work of landscape designers, including what it takes to qualify as one. Hopefully, if anyone reading is contemplating a change of career, this might help to encourage you to pursue one in landscape design.

What Is A Landscape Designer?

Let us start with the most fundamental question, ‘What is a landscape designer?’. A landscape designer is a professional that requires several specialist skills and considerable knowledge in creating outdoor spaces, primarily gardens, for residential and commercial properties.

The many skills and abilities landscape designers will have includes horticultural knowledge, garden design, aesthetics, technical knowledge, spatial orientation, and being able to create detailed plans and drawings that will be used to construct the garden or outdoor space they design.

How Do You Qualify As A Landscape Designer?

Many people not knowledgeable about landscaping are unaware that landscape designers will invariably have had considerable training and will have taken and passed a professional qualification. One of the most recognised of these qualifications is the Diploma Of Landscape Design. An alternative route for those wishing to pursue a career in landscape design is to complete an apprenticeship with a landscaping company.

Category : Landscape Design Posted by Principal Landscapes

07 December

7 Landscaping Tips for Creating A Peaceful Haven Within Your Garden

7 Landscaping Tips for Creating A Peaceful Haven Within Your Garden There are many reasons why you might wish to install a new landscape design in your garden. It could be you have recently moved to the property and wish to have a completely new garden. Alternatively, you might have lived there for some time and your current garden is badly in need of renovation.

As well as the overriding reason for new landscaping, it might also be the case that you have the desire to create areas within your garden that perform specific functions. Examples of these include a cooking area for barbecues with friends and family, a play area for your children, a pool area for family fun, and a quiet area for relaxation and meditation.

It is the last example we are going to focus on because homeowners are increasingly requesting that a quiet area is included in their landscape designs. The reason might include that they are reading ever-increasing numbers of reviews and articles about the benefits of having a peaceful haven within a landscaped garden, and wish to realise those same benefits for themselves and their families.

As for what your peaceful haven area looks like and consists of, many of the decisions regarding these will come from personal preferences and tastes. You will also have to take into account the practicalities of designing and constructing it too, which your landscapers will gladly assist you with. If you are struggling to think of ways in which you could create your peaceful haven, here are seven tips for creating one that you should consider.

Peaceful Haven Tip #1: Add A Fire Pit: A fire pit brings many desirable benefits to your quiet area. First, and as a practical benefit, on those chillier nights after the sun has gone down, it can provide you with warmth. In addition, a fire pit is a great centrepiece for a quiet area where more than one person gathers.

Category : Landscape Design Posted by Principal Landscapes Fencing For Privacy , Fire Pit , Landscaping Tips , Water Feature

08 November

5 Lawn Types Which Are Best Suited For Landscaping In Dry Climates

Lawn Types For Dry Climates An important consideration for anyone who undertakes a landscape design, be they a professional landscaper or a homeowner wishing to update their garden, is the location they are in, or rather what the climate is at that location.

It stands to reason that a landscaped garden designed in Perth, Scotland is going to be a lot different to one designed in Perth, Western Australia. Differences include Perth in Scotland having around 2 – 3 inches of rain every month whereas Perth, WA has 7 months with less than 2 inches of rain and several close to zero.

This is one reason why you will find that there are landscape designs created and adapted specifically to suit climates that are predominately hot, dry and sunny, and conversely landscape designs that are suitable for areas where rainfall is plentiful, even if sunshine and warm days are not.

Of course, if we are to believe all the news stories about global warming and accept the evidence that many areas are seeing their average and peak temperatures increasing annually, then the time may come when more landscape designs suit the conditions we currently see in areas such as Western Australia rather than what is found in Scotland, although, even there the high-temperature record was broken yet again this year.

However, this is not an article about weather per se, but how to design landscaped gardens in a specific climate, and in this case we are looking at drier climates as experienced in many parts of Australia such as the aforementioned WA, and indeed most other states in Australia which are generally considered to be drier than many other parts of the world. Specifically, we are going to look at the types of lawns that are suited to the drier conditions found in those locations.

Category : Landscaping , Lawncare Posted by Principal Landscapes Bermuda , Buffalo , Couch , Kikuyu , Landscaping In Dry Climates , Zoysia

21 April

What You Need To Consider When Adding A Retaining Wall To Your Landscaping

When considering landscaping for your property, one of the more significant features that you may wish to discuss with our landscape design team is retaining walls. Whether you are considering one retaining wall or more, they require careful thought to ensure that they are both structurally sound and add to rather than subtract from your garden’s aesthetics. Let us explore what those retaining wall considerations are.

Location

It is first important to know that there is more than your preferences to consider when choosing the location of any retaining wall within your landscaping design. This is especially true if your garden borders a neighbouring property and your wall could, in effect, be facing their property as well as yours. As such you should discuss the wall with them in advance as well as any other neighbouring properties to ensure there are no objections.

In addition, you will likely be required to comply with local building regulations that may be a factor in determining where you can locate a retaining wall if it is going to be higher than 1 metre. Other issues which may affect where you can locate the wall are nearby public utilities such as drainage systems.

Type

There are four main types of retaining walls, although variations of them can be created meaning that your choices are considerable. The four types are Anchored, Cantilever, Gravity, and Sheet.

Anchored: These, as their name suggests, are anchored directly to the ground using cables. Rarer than the other types, they are often used for difficult or awkward spaces and scenarios.
Cantilever: These are normally made from stone or concrete and are normally strengthened internally by steel bars. Often configured in an L-shape, they are extremely strong and ideal if you wish to create taller walls.
Gravity: The name for these walls is derived from the fact that they are used to stop soil movement within a landscaped garden. They are made from concrete or stone blocks and are the perfect type if you want a short wall.
Sheet Piling: This is a simple wall constructed using a thin sheet of either timber or steel at its core and these are placed into the ground. They work well in small spaces, but on occasion may require some anchoring.

Category : Landscaping Posted by Principal Landscapes Retaining Wall

22 December

Why Including A Vertical Garden In Your Landscaping Is An Awesome Idea

Why Including A Vertical Garden In Your Landscaping Is An Awesome Idea When a landscaping project is being planned there will often be requests for features to be included in the landscape design that are not as common as others. These range from unusual plants, exotically designed structures, and the one which is the subject of this article, namely vertical gardens.

Vertical gardens are becoming more popular in landscaping and are requested for different reasons. A common reason is that the space available in the landscape design is extremely small and thus growing vertically makes the most use of the space that is available. Another reason is simply that a homeowner likes the idea of plants growing upwards and downwards.

Vertical gardens are also a great way to make what would otherwise be a drab, uninteresting wall, into something organic, alive, and full of colour. We are going to look further at these reasons, and some others that make including a vertical garden in your landscape design a fantastic idea.

What Is A Vertical Garden?

Before we go further, we thought we should clarify what a vertical garden is for those who have not come across this gardening feature before. A vertical garden is a means to grow plants of all types without their roots having to be in the soil in the ground. Instead, the roots will be in pots or other plant containers which are attached to the structure. The term often used for this type of planting is hydroponics.

The pots and containers we mentioned can come in all shapes and they are fixed to a structure that is either freestanding or will be attached to a wall or a fence. The layout of the plants can be configured as you wish so they could be in rows, columns, or aligned in shapes such as circles, squares, or even triangles.

Surprisingly, vertical gardens have only been around for 80+ years after they were first introduced to the horticultural world by a University of Illinois professor called Stanley Hart White in the late 1930s. His concept was further developed by the French botanist Patrick Blanc who introduced the idea of walls being used to grow plants and created the hydroponic irrigation system which could sustain them.

Category : Landscape Design , Landscaping Posted by Principal Landscapes Vertical Gardens

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