Evanston and the blocks around it
Original homes and newer infill sit side by side here. We plan a yard around the block you actually have, narrow ones included.
One crew covers the digging, the hard surfaces and the planting, so a tight yard is not left waiting on four trades.
Clearing, cutting and levelling where a machine has one way in and the same way out.
Falls, ag drain and stormwater set before anything is built over them.
Low walls to square up a strip, and boundary walls holding the step between two blocks.
Courtyard paving, side paths and driveways run down a narrow handle.
Small lawns walked on daily, with watering that reaches the corners.
Dividing fences and screens where the boundary sits close to the back door.
Spoil carted out in small loads when a truck cannot reach the yard.
Not every job is a whole block. Our landscaping services can be taken one at a time, and the site preparation checklist covers what comes first.
Evanston has been filling in for years. A wide old allotment gets split, a second house goes up beside or behind the first, and the yards left over are nothing like the ones the street started with. The same shapes keep turning up:
A block like that is not a shrunken version of a normal yard. Shade sits across it most of the day, wind funnels along its length, and there is no spare corner to park a heap of soil while work is going on.
So the plan starts from the constraints, not the wish list. We measure the real opening at its narrowest point, work out where material can be stacked, then set the levels before anyone talks about paving patterns.
It also fixes the order of work. On ground this size, the surface laid last is the one everything else has to be carried over.
Where the line sits between doing it yourself and handing it over is worth settling early.
A tidy yard and a usable yard are not the same thing. On a small block, the difference is whether a table fits without moving something else.
The instinct is to shrink everything. A strip of lawn, a strip of paving, a thin bed along each fence, and none of it big enough to use. Better to pick the two things the yard has to do, give them proper room, and let planting carry the rest.
Bins, the clothesline, a shed, the dog and the air conditioning unit all want space, and on a subdivided block they compete for one corner. We mark them on the plan first. Moving a bin store on paper costs nothing. Cutting a slab back later costs a fortnight.
When there is no more floor, the answer is up. Raised beds along a boundary give planting depth without eating into the space you stand in. Where a neighbouring window looks straight in, planting screens it better than a taller fence does. Fitting an outdoor entertainment space onto a small block is mainly a question of what comes out to make room, so ideas for small entertaining areas are worth a look first.
Most work here falls into one of two shapes, and they ask different things of us.
First house on the land, wide across the front, with older trees and a yard added to over decades.
A rear or battleaxe allotment reached down a handle, with the house close to three boundaries.
What fits down the side decides most of the schedule, so it is the first thing we measure.
Where nothing fits, the job goes back to barrows and a bigger crew. That shows up as time rather than as a surprise, and we would rather say so at the quote.
The handle needs looking after too. It is usually the driveway, already finished, and tracked machines mark it. We lay boards over anything that stays, and keep the loading point off it where there is room.
The same shapes turn up either side, so landscaping in Evanston Park and landscaping in Gawler South run much the same way.
On a tight block the order matters more than it does anywhere else.
Access, fall and everything fixed in place, measured.
A plan to real dimensions, costed by stage.
Old surfaces out, ground cut, spoil away.
Structure built while there is room to move.
Beds filled, turf laid, watering tested, rubbish gone.
Evanston runs into town at one end and the newer estates at the other. Most of our week sits inside that ring, plus landscaping in Gawler a few minutes up the road. Regular ground for us:
Not sure which side of the line your street falls on? Give us the street name on 0483 905 611 and we will sort it out. Landscaping in Willaston is on the list as well.
Usually. We measure the tightest point on the walk around, not the gate, and match the machine to it. Where nothing fits, the work goes back to barrows and we price the extra time up front.
It changes the logistics more than the work. Materials come in smaller drops, the handle is protected while machines use it, and the loading point stays off your finished driveway.
A small yard shows every shortcut, because you take all of it in at once. Levels and drainage matter as much as on a wide block, and there is nowhere to hide a surface that falls the wrong way.
Yes, and it pays to raise it with the neighbour early. Where the ground steps between two blocks, the wall and the fence have to be worked out together, and access often comes from both sides.
Less time than a large one, though not in proportion. Access decides it. A courtyard a machine can reach might be stripped in a day. The same ground by barrow takes most of a week.
We measure the access and the levels, then leave you with a layout and a price against it. The visit costs you nothing.