Spring Reset

Preparing the plans

We were thankful to see this customers post on the Nextdoor app. They were searching for a local team that would provide a design for the recreation of their front yard. The team reached out and conducted an estimate the very next day. During the estimate, our lead project manager Brock, discussed their preferences as they related to the new design. Fortunately, they had a good idea of what they were looking for and provided pictures of other homes that our team used to reference when drawing up the design. The customer was intent on removing the existing, deteriorating retaining wall and extending the bed further into the yard. Although they defined many aspects of the projected they leaned on the team to provide options for a new wall and selection of plants that were low maintenance, tolerable to extended sunlight exposure, and provided different depths of color. The team discussed options for a retaining wall, boulder wall, and various other options. The customer reviewed the project blueprint and discussed questions over the phone. Eventually, we landed on a beautiful design that provided a wide variety of different perennials, a flagstone walkway, natural edging, a new retaining wall, and double ground black mulch to tie everything together! OwlEye provided a start date and sent additional pictures of materials to reference as the project approached.

During the project

The project took a total of two days to complete. The team eagerly got to work on day one removing the existing retaining wall, grading and defining the beds, and installing high grade fabric and many of the plants. Upon the start of day two our hardscaping lead, Jonathan arrived to get to work on defining the perimeter and leveling the base with crushed rock. Unfortunately, there was rain in the forecast from dusk until dawn and while we're typically on the lucky in the sense that we dodge the rain we weren't so lucky this time. Halfway through day two a thunderstorm halted progress. Thankfully, if there's an opportunity for our team to live up to their word they consistently do so. We set the expectation that the project would last two days and that was exactly the promise we intended to deliver on. After waiting out the rain, the team got to work setting the final bricks, installing the last plants, and spreading the richly colored mulch. To the team's credit the determination paid off, we were able to complete the job with hours to spare while ensuring not to compromise any of the work quality.

Special Considerations

• Ensuring the natural edging was our standard 4" throughout the perimeter
• Hand digging around all utility lines
• Installing fabric prior to rainfall to avoid an unnecessary mess
• Review plant placement with customer prior to breaking ground

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Outcome

When everything was finished we revealed the final result to our customers. To our delight they were thrilled! This is by far the best part of every project. The customers were extremely appreciative and were great to work with. To top it off, they gave the team a generous tip which is always deeply appreciated! The look of the front yard and home was transformed! A wide variety of low maintenance plants, a minimal sized retaining wall to preventing mulch wash outs, and defined natural edging to create a cost effective separation between the yard and the landscape bed. This was one of the many projects the OwlEye team has completed for our customers in St. Charles, we look forward to the many more in years to come!

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