New build garden options

koolpc said:
How long is the guarantee? (Depends when you cut the grass!) Seriously though, is it a year guarantee?
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Verbally it was 15 years, but on their website it states 8 years. I expect it'll be clarified on the invoice. If not then I'll ensure it is.
 
Dooksy said:
Verbally it was 15 years, but on their website it states 8 years. I expect it'll be clarified on the invoice. If not then I'll ensure it is.
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No way!!! I have never heard of grass having a guarantee like that!! Are they BS you? I hope they can supply you a guarantee like that on grass!! Is it artificial grass?
 
surely the issue with the garden wasnt the grass but whatever is underneath it, ergo just having new lawn laid, whilst looking fab atm, will just end up like your last lawn due to the sub-base being insufficient/not great?!
 
koolpc said:
No way!!! I have never heard of grass having a guarantee like that!! Are they BS you? I hope they can supply you a guarantee like that on grass!! Is it artificial grass?
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No it is real. I guess I'll have to see!

R.O.S.S.I said:
surely the issue with the garden wasnt the grass but whatever is underneath it, ergo just having new lawn laid, whilst looking fab atm, will just end up like your last lawn due to the sub-base being insufficient/not great?!
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If you bother to read my OP you'll see that it's been dug our, new soakaways put in along with proper soil.
 
Dooksy said:
IMG_2306.jpg
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That fencing is a shambles isn't it? A corridor leading to one person's garage?

New build sites are farcical, overlooked and separated by some flimsy panelling.

If I were you I'd have a view to move before other peoples gardens accumulate with junk and the fences start looking battered/shabby.
 
The result looks great for the price! My back gardens a nightmare, mostly clay so it's either water logged or cracked to pieces in the summer. The grass is slowly turning to moss.
 
Good result. You should have left the front greenery. It was a small patch and would have taken a whole of 30 minutes every second month to keep tidy.

Not sure why Brits have an obsession with paving/bricking over every single bit of greenery around their property.
 
Looks like you've got a good result there now, but as others have said, this is what puts me off new-builds. The sling them up and run attitude they seem to be built with. Don't forget to look after that lawn properly though given the amount you've shelled out for it.
 
Any thoughts on planting a more substantial tree and other vegetation? The tree currently in the lawn is never going to amount to much.
 
Interesting thread... As another new-build owner we have a similar lawn but have had a go at fixing it ourselves... The soil just below the grass is pretty crap (very clay-y red soil and has bits of rubble etc. plus very compacted from all the heavy machinery driving over it during construction) but when we were digging a big hole to plant our tree we found once you get past that layer (with a pickaxe ;)) the soil underneath isn't so bad... Anyway almost 2 years on I'm unsure whether what we've done is working but here's what we did:

1. Massive scarification... nobody mentioned to us that not raking the grass heavily after each mow (and particularly one big going over at the start of the spring) was very important to get all the thatch etc. out... Do it every time we mow now...

2. Grab a (manual) hollow-tine aerator, do the whole lawn with it at the start of the spring... (it pulls out cylindrical cores from the turf) pretty tough work, especially since the top levels are so clay-y, the tines get blocked up and need unblocking every now and then

3. Buy some big bags of lawn dressing that is specifically quite a sandy mix (not pure lawn sand, just a higher proportion of sand)... Spread over the lawn with a stiff broom and particularly try to get lots of it down the holes made by step (2) above (don't cover up the grass with it though!)

4. Over-seed with some fresh seed (and feed, if you want) at the same time as the step above, to help any gaps to fill in with new grass...

My understanding is that by doing this each year you can gradually provide better drainage and allow the lawn + soil to breathe a little better... Fingers crossed anyway!
 
Well, thought I'd update this as after having the front of the house done and being £3200 lighter, I am not happy with the finished product nor the complete lack of aftercare I've received.

This is the email I've sent them after getting fed up of having phone calls and texts ignored (pics sent on Whatsapp).

I am emailing regarding work carried out in May this year to my back garden, this work was completed on May 27th.

I initially sent some photos to Henry of patches at the back of the garden where grass was dead/not growing. These were sent on June the 12th.

To this day no one has visited to look at the patches which still exist, despite numerous messages from Henry stating he would come around.

On top of this I have some other areas of concern, namely:

- There are a few other areas around the garden where grass remains patchy. I have watered and cut it as instructed by Henry.

The fence that was taken down between my garden and my neighbours has been put back in incorrectly. There are nails showing on the fence panels.

- Where the grass meets the patio there is a small strip of brown grass running along the join.

- As well as this, on the right hand side as you look out from the back of the house, there appears to be a bulge in the patio. Both the brick work and the grass is slightly raised compared to the rest of the patio.

- At the front of the house, between the door and the brickwork, there is a gap that changes as you go along the door. I was told this would be filled in, but it hasn't been.

When can I expect someone to come around and look and discuss these issues with me? I have tried texting Henry but I have had no replies recently.

I paid with a bank transfer within the timelines requested in good faith. I took out the work in the understanding that I would have a company local to me to address any concerns I may have, this has so far not been the case. I have also so far not received an invoice for the work as promised.
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Still waiting on a reply. The guy that runs it is basically ignoring me. Will send a registered letter next week and once I'm back from holiday I'll be looking at my options. They're on Trust A Trader so I've already left a 2* negative review on there.
 
Well funnily enough minutes within texting and saying I'll be looking at legal options and all of a sudden they can come around next week. I wait with baited breath.
 
Well it was never going to take because they didn't dig anything out, merely scrapped away the old turf and topsoil.
 
Skillmister said:
Another reason to stay away from new builds :o
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Yup, ours is sand/rock but with 20 years there's a good 30cm of top soil with the worms churning that up.

You may be better in 'fixing' the garden - making a buffer zone between the rocks etc and putting in a thicker top soil layer.

Our lawn has the death by draught and death by water logging/stepping on in winter.

I found a good raking out a year ago has solved a lot of the issues and now the lawn has 5 different seed kinds intermixed, so it stays green. It takes a long time for grass to really get a good root to survive.. a few years.
 
I've also had similar problems with drainage in my new build. Again, clay soil.

My developer has put in a french drain along 2 sides and re-landspaced the garden and returfed it.

It has been down about 2 weeks now and looks much better, I guess the real test will be over winter.

If it does it again I think I will make it a modern courtyard. Its only 5m x 7m after all.
 
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