White Gardens

[Smallaxe]

Another row to the garage would dress it up nicely.

Do you have water problems with the garage being so low? Around here almost everyone is on a hill; and sometimes they underestimate the water pressures , particularily in the spring thaw.

[White Gardens]

I do agree about the last course. I might talk the HO into letting me run it to the garage.

Here is how I took care of the water issues. The garage is on a pad, but the basement does get water, and the drain corrected that issue. They did have water once a week ago when we got 5 inches of rain in 36 hours, and they left a low spot where they finished off the electrical service into the house.

Since then I've corrected the problem and shouldn't be an issue.

http://www.lawnsite.com/showthread.p...r+French+Drain

[White Gardens]

Originally Posted by Whitey4

I think I would prefer the look of continuing the course to the end of the wall. Looks nice, but that one stone by itself looks a bit out of place to me.

I think I'll have to concede and agree. I'm talking to the HO's today and we are going to decide what to do.

Got to love Memorial day. Another day that all my suppliers are closed.

Don't get me wrong, I respect out troops and everyone who has faught for us. I figure if they can go out and work, risking their lives, 24-7, then I can show my respect by working somewhat as hard as they do on Memorial Day.

[Whitey4]

I was out there today too! I finished up that planting job I started a thread about.

[White Gardens]

So, in person, the job looks great. The homeowners are happy and that's all that matters.

I choose my plantings and spacing to allow a little room for the HO to piddle around with. She likes to do some gardening, and I'll I was trying to do is give her a good start.

I got the mulch down today before it started raining. Then I took pics after the rain. While I was there I was able to observe the function of my french drain and I couldn't be happier. In one pic is a puddle, and at the right edge you could see the water hit it and disappeared. The main source of the water was from the driveway, so there was a lot and the trench absorbed it with ease.

The other pic of the pipe is the outlet, ten minutes later and it was flowing twice as much.

Yes, we decided not to continue the last course on the wall. I really wanted to to help hid the downspout, but they were happy. If you were there in person it doesn't look bad at all.

The Easter Island guy was made by a local man, and I'm not sure if he is still around or not. The HO bought it 3 years ago, and I gave him a good home.

[White Gardens]

And, the last couple of pics.

[Whitey4]

Nice bro! Looks great! I still think I would have added, rather extended some of the courses a little, but it looks fine as is too. French drains... I don't mess with them, not trained, qualified or legal to do so. Are they a PITA?

[White Gardens]

Originally Posted by Whitey4

Nice bro! Looks great! I still think I would have added, rather extended some of the courses a little, but it looks fine as is too. French drains... I don't mess with them, not trained, qualified or legal to do so. Are they a PITA?

Ya, if it was my property, then I would have extended the course. In person, with the drop on the upper end, it works OK.

French drain wasn't too bad. Actually highly profitable. This was my first one, so I did all the homework I needed to do it correctly. The 6 inch trencher made a wide enough cut to lay a 4 inch perforated pipe. The worst part was lining the trench with fabric. Other wise, the back-filling etc... wasn't a big issue. It's all documented in the thread I posted a link too after smallaxe had questions about water drainage.

Thanks for the comments, anyone else can feel free to make some, good bad or ugly....

[Whitey4]

Originally Posted by White Gardens

Ya, if it was my property, then I would have extended the course. In person, with the drop on the upper end, it works OK.

French drain wasn't too bad. Actually highly profitable. This was my first one, so I did all the homework I needed to do it correctly. The 6 inch trencher made a wide enough cut to lay a 4 inch perforated pipe. The worst part was lining the trench with fabric. Other wise, the back-filling etc... wasn't a big issue. It's all documented in the thread I posted a link too after smallaxe had questions about water drainage.

Thanks for the comments, anyone else can feel free to make some, good bad or ugly....

I'm pretty sure my landscaper's license does not include things like french drains.... so it isn't on my radar in the near term. Might be worth looking into at some point. I know that just the liability insurance here would be a big nut for sure.

Question: If you really think that extending the courses would have made a big difference, would you low ball the price just to be able to finish it the way you want? Maybe some discount? I find myself doing this, and wonder if I am just negotiating poorly. Lets say you have priced it at so many $ per foot.... would you drop the per foot price 50% to get the job done if it wasn't going to mean too much time and labor?

[White Gardens]

Originally Posted by Whitey4

I'm pretty sure my landscaper's license does not include things like french drains.... so it isn't on my radar in the near term. Might be worth looking into at some point. I know that just the liability insurance here would be a big nut for sure.

Question: If you really think that extending the courses would have made a big difference, would you low ball the price just to be able to finish it the way you want? Maybe some discount? I find myself doing this, and wonder if I am just negotiating poorly. Lets say you have priced it at so many $ per foot.... would you drop the per foot price 50% to get the job done if it wasn't going to mean too much time and labor?

We don't need licenses for landscaping or such here. Don't really know why. I do know there is an Association for landscapers, but it seems that it is predominately up north around the Chicago area where it becomes a factor. I made a disclaimer for this customer stating that I wasn't responsible if water entered the basement because we used perforated pipe the whole distance. So far, there hasn't been any water in the basement, and solved the problem of the water that was entering the basement.

It wouldn't have cost me much more just to finish that course. Generally speaking, I would have been well withing my markup if I bought another 4-5 blocks to finish. Besides, when I give an estimate, it's only that, and sometimes my costs exceed the estimate. Another thing is to, that when you look at the total cost of the project, the customer 90% of the time doesn't as much raise an eyebrow over 50-100 bucks difference.