Another how much would you budget for...

[Daboomboom]

Small 2 up 2 down Victorian terrace. As you can see there is nothing in the front yard but broken concrete and weeds. I know it's ugly.🤣 The door is about 4ft from the pavement.

How much would you budget to make it look pretty like the pictures (apart from the fancy tiles on the path because we know they will be expensive and plants)? The concrete needs to ne removed and new wall footings added so literally everything needs to come out.

I wouldn’t call that a garden though, I’d call it a boundary. Personally I’d go with gravel too, simple, easy to maintain, cheap. Your house doesn’t look as grand as those you’ve pictured, so I wouldn’t spend a lot on it.

No it's not a garden, its a yard. Enough room for plants though so more than just a boundary line. 🤣

Either way, it doesn't mean it cant be pretty. Dont worry, I'm under no illusions of grandeur but I'm not putting gravel down. I personally think gravel would look really ugly here and if I want ugly, I'd just leave it as it is.

Just because it's an ugly house, it doesnt mean I cant do nice things with it.

I totally understand that and I wasn’t saying it’s ugly, just that the houses you referenced as examples aren’t the same style house.

I would find a couple of local recommended landscape gardeners and get quotes for what you want. Or perhaps let them know how much you have to spend and see what they suggest.

Gravel can still look nice with potted plants around. I accept you don’t like it which is fair enough but I’ve seen plenty of boundary areas with gravel that look tidy and neat.

Oh it is ugly. 🤣
It's the whole "worse house in a good area thing". But it's safe and dry so all is good.

Exactly, we have to work with what we have! And I truly think most houses have potential to look pretty, unfortunately it just takes time and often money!

Good luck with it - remember to post the “after” once you’re done!

2 quotes have been achieved! Lots of messing about by other tradesmen.

Quote 1 - £1000. Even I knew that wasn't right! When I asked him for a breakdown to see what he had missed off he wouldnt give me one. We wont be going with him.

Quote 2 - £4600. This excludes the fancy tiles but includes fitting them. There are a few compromises eg more basic railings, no fancy wall toppers, only having railings on the front and plain walls down the side etc. However, thinking about it, it's pointless going really fancy because the house is what it is so I think I'm happy with the compromises.

As long as we dont go crazy on the fancy tiles and wait a while to buy the plants we can stretch to this. I'm excited!

However, my husband is now having second thoughts and thinks the money could be better spent elsewhere. Grr. We've wanted this done for 13 years! Im going to argue over this and it might involve stamping my feet a bit. 🤣

Gutted. Im really, really disappointed. The man also quoted for another bit of work at the same time (he broke it down into costs for individual jobs). I was very honest and said we might not get the other thing done. We've decided not to get the other thing done. But when I tried to book a date with the man for just the garden, he said he wasnt interested in doing that.

So back to the drawing board. So disappointed. Id started looking at tiles.

We're also finding it imposdible to get anyone to repoint one wall. We've got damp patches on the wall from water egress but no one will help.