Landscaping is much more than just planting your favorite plants and flowers in your backyard or keeping your lawn looking lush. There is more.

Keep reading to learn what landscape construction is and what services landscape contractors offer.

What Is Landscape Construction?

Landscaping construction is the art of converting a visibly bare land into a beautiful outdoor space by incorporating softscape and hardscape elements like plants, trees, retaining walls, pergolas, sod etc.

Even though the term landscape construction is relatively new, the practise itself dates back hundreds of years – as far back as the ancient Roma era. Over time, the art of landscaping has changed from the ancient Persian and Roman flowery gardens and Italian outdoor piazzas to the current patios, decks, and backyard escape.

Modern landscaping in construction is more stylish, high-end, and involves much more intricate or ornate designs.

Landscape construction is generally classified into hardscaping or softscaping.

Hardscaping

Hardscaping involves the use of “hard” elements such as the deck, patio, paver, swimming pools, fountains, and driveways to give structure and appeal to an outdoor space.

Landscape design companies offer a variety of materials for hardscape elements like wood, concrete, sand, faux wood, metal, brick, solid and loose stone, tiles, and pavers.

Hardscape elements can be used purely for beauty, to add to the structural design of the landscape, to separate various destinations within the yard, or to manage environmental effects like preventing soil erosion, flooding, or minimizing water absorption.

Hardscaping is a more intense job that requires expertise during construction and installation. It also involves solid materials like concrete, cement, and sand, as well as the use of heavy landscaping equipment like mini excavators or skid steers. The success of hardscaping hugely depends on the right equipment, companies like Rent1 USA have these machines available to rent for landscape construction services.

Softscaping

Softscaping includes the use of “living” elements like plants, grass, flowers, and shrubs to enhance a landscape. Compared to hardscape elements, softscape elements grow and change over the course of time and adapt to climatic conditions.

When planning for landscape construction, the hardscaping elements should ideally come first. Once the hardscape elements are in place, the softscape elements follow next to overarch the hard edges of the hardscape elements.

Landscape Construction Services

Landscape construction services include:

• Design and prep work: Coming up with designs and ideas, drawing up plans and other paperwork, as well as preparing cost estimates and quotations

• Foundation work: laying down irrigation and drainage systems

• Construction: Building of walkways, driveways, retaining walls, decks, patios, terraces, pergolas and lay pavers and other landscape structures. Installing fences and walls

• Landscape reshaping: reshaping of terraces, lawns and creating new planting areas

• Horticultural services: planting trees, flowers, shrubs and ornamental gardens

• Waterworks: Installing fountains, water gardens, ponds. Pools, catch basins etc.

• Outdoor benching

• Excavation for the repair of the landscape features

• Landscape routine maintenance: trimming, fertilizing, mulching, cleaning, seeding, edging, pruning, irrigation, tree removal and weed control.

Landscaping in construction entails a variety of projects which fall under hardscaping or softscaping. The services offered in these two categories could be simple basic landscaping services like planting flowers and trees all over the property to complex and costly tasks like excavating the backyard to install a water garden.

Regardless of the simplicity or complexity of the task, there is no denying that construction and landscaping are a perfect pair. Landscaping simply enhances what construction has accomplished.

About Author

Angelica Lovelock is the Content Manager at FortisHD. She loves to collaborate with industry experts and has written various articles around landscaping, heavy equipment, Gardening, and much more. In her free time, she enjoys riding everything from solo adventures in the mountains to big social night rides.