Landscaping

 
Homeowner Use and Maintenance Guidelines

Plan to install the basic components of your landscaping as soon after closing as weather permits. In addition to meeting your homeowner's association requirements to landscape in a timely manner, well-designed landscaping prevents erosion and protects the foundation of your home.

 
Additions

Before installing patio additions or other permanent improvements, consider soil conditions in the design and engineering of your addition.

 
Backfill

We construct the foundation of your home beginning with an excavation into the earth. When the foundation walls are complete, the area surrounding them is backfilled. Soil in this area is not as compact as undisturbed ground. Water can penetrate through the backfill area to the lower areas of your foundation. This can cause potentially severe problems such as wet basements, cracks in foundation walls, and floor slab movement. Avoid this through proper installation of landscaping and good maintenance of drainage.

Backfill areas will settle and require prompt attention to avoid damage to your home and voiding of the structural warranty.

Keep downspout extensions in the down position to channel roof runoff away from the foundation area of your home. Routine inspection of downspouts, backfill areas, and other drainage components is an excellent maintenance habit.

See also Grading and Drainage.

 
Bark or Rock Beds

Do not allow edgings around decorative rock or bark beds to dam the free flow of water away from the home. You can use a nonwoven landscape fabric between the soil and rock or bark to restrict weed growth while still permitting normal evaporation of ground moisture.

 
Contractors

You are responsible for changes to the drainage pattern made by any landscape, concrete, deck, or pool contractor. Discuss drainage with any company you hire to do an installation in your yard. Do not permit them to tie into existing drainage pipes without approval from GOODIER BUILDERS.

 
First 5 Feet

Place no sprinkler heads within 5 feet of your home.

 
Irrigation

Make provisions for efficient irrigation. Conduct weekly operational checks to ensure proper performance of the system. Direct sprinkler heads away from the home. Trickler or bubbler type irrigation systems are not recommended for use adjacent to the structure. Regularly drain and service sprinkler systems.

 
Planning

Locate plants and irrigation heads out of the way of pedestrian or bicycle traffic and car bumpers.

Space groves of trees or single trees to allow for efficient mowing and growth. Group plants with similar water, sun, and space requirements together.

See also Xeriscape.

 
Plant Selection

Plant with regard to your local climate. Favor native over exotic species. Consider ultimate size, shape, and growth of the species.

 
Requirements

Before designing, installing, or changing landscaping, check local building department and homeowners association requirements for any regulations that they require you to follow.

 
Utility Lines

A slight depression may develop in the front lawn along the line of the utility trench. To correct this, simply fill with soil and reseed.

 
Waiting to Landscape

If you leave ground unlandscaped, it erodes. Correcting erosion that occurs after closing is your responsibility.

 
Xeriscape

GOODIER BUILDERS recommends careful consideration of landscape design and selection of planting materials to minimize the demands of your yard on water supplies. Detailed information about Xeriscape is available from reputable nurseries. This has the triple benefit of helping the environment, saving on water bills, and reducing the amount of moisture that can reach your foundation.

 
GOODIER BUILDERS Limited Warranty

 
Care of Tress, Evergreens, and Shrubs

Your shrubs and trees were planted by an experienced landscape contractor and are warranted for one year from installation. We will confirm the healthy condition of all plant materials during the orientation. Maintaining landscaping is your responsibility. Depending on the time of year in which your settlement occurs, planting may be delayed until after closing since certain types of trees require specific conditions for planting. Your new landscaping should be watered especially well during dry periods (usually May through September). Trees should be watered at least every 12-14 days. However, be careful not to over water trees while watering your lawn. Too much water will kill or severely damage a new tree or shrub. Obviously, the different requirements of your lawn and your trees present a challenge when watering and require careful placement of sprinklers to avoid over watering the trees.

Trees or shrubs relocated by the homeowner will not be warranted. Shrubs and trees that are alive and healthy when you move into your new home and which die afterwards due to lack of homeowner care, drought, or extreme weather will not be replaced by the landscape contractor.

 
Care for your New Lawn

During the initial germination and growth of your new lawn, the seedbed should be kept moist until a good stand of grass appears. Unless it has accumulated in excess, straw mulch should not normally be raked off. Instead, it should be allowed to decay and add to the organic content of the soil. All areas should be kept free of foot traffic until a good stand of grass appears.

Seeded areas should be mowed to a height of 2½" to 3". Avoid cutting to a lower height as new grass is tender and can burn or dry out easily if cut too short. When your grass germinates you will notice weeds have germinated also. The weed seeds are brought in on the straw and are unavoidable. Once your grass is growing successfully, it will overtake the weeds. In the meantime, make sure to cut regularly (the weeds will grow faster than the grass) to avoid the reverse from happening.

An oscillation type lawn sprinkler should be used to water your lawn at all times. Direct application of water from a hose nozzle is ineffective and may damage the lawn by causing erosion. The contractor who applied the seed for your new lawn warrants 80% germination if, and only if, the homeowner properly maintains the new seedbed during the germination period and maintains the new lawn after germination. Eighty percent (80%) germination also means that twenty percent (20%) will not germinate. Raking, re-seeding, and fertilization after the original application of the seed is a homeowner maintenance responsibility.

Once your lawn has become sufficiently established, we will return ONCE for repairs and to fertilize. You will receive a notice stating that we will be returning for this service within a one or two week period. If you have already fertilized, or if for any reason you do not want us to fertilize, please let us know.