Planning Hedging for New Builds: A Simple Guide

Planning Hedging for New Builds requires only a little time and actioning those plans represents an infinitesimal proportion of the total build cost.

Hedging for New Builds

We must make one thing clear from the start: we are not suggesting developers should install fabulous, perfectly planted show gardens – or anything like. When it comes to gardens, prospective purchasers want one of two things: non-gardeners want low-maintenance and the horticultural equivalent of plug-and-play. Those interested in gardening and creating a garden will want to put their ideas into practice and all but the first-time buyers among them will almost certainly be bringing – or hope to bring – favourite plants with them. So what can you do to make the outside as inviting and special as the inside?

Hedging for New Builds: Front Gardens

As much as we might wish it were otherwise, the car now owns what used to be the front garden and hard-standing is the order of the day for most new front gardens. But that does not mean these areas need to be sterile and uninviting. We’ll look in more detail in future posts at how this can be achieved for different types of development, but do include simple options at the planning stage. For example:
 Demarcate the boundaries of front gardens with low- maintenance low hedging (e.g. Lavender. The front garden is no longer regarded as an enclosed, private space that must be self-contained
 Place evergreen hedging plants in containers on the hard-standing to bring life, structure and colour to an otherwise flat bed of stone, brick or concrete.

Back Gardens

Back gardens require – and deserve – a little extra planning because, frankly, they are more important and prospective purchasers know they have a direct impact on their quality of life. It is telling that the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) have a raft of advice for their c.500,000 members on the remedial action that purchasers of a new build (not just gardeners) are likely to have to undertake to make their back garden fit for purpose, whether that purpose is to have a kick-about with the kids or create a Lavender bed. Again, detail will follow but thinking ahead as to what the landscapers should do is a highly beneficial first step. For example:

Prepare the soil with care – and improve it if necessary. This is as important for a barbecue and football garden as it is for a gardener’s garden. As the RHS states: “On heavy clay, lawns will deteriorate with the winter wet while, over a sandy soil, they will become starved and prone to drought.”
And lay turf with care and choose the variety of grass appropriate to the type of property

Benefits

In terms of the total build cost, doing it right is negligible. In terms of the budget set aside for soft landscaping the on-cost will still be slight even if the percentage increase is more pronounced. However, if you do make the effort, the sales and marketing benefits, as we will see, are disproportionately positive and will, at least, help minimise the time it takes to sell.