ZeroLot said:I have no interested in reading the 100+ pages of HOA guidelines. I read a few random pages and fell asleep.
Oh come on ZeroLot, I was waiting for you to write a full summary/synopsis on HOA guidelines; its only 100+ pages.
ZeroLot said:I have no interested in reading the 100+ pages of HOA guidelines. I read a few random pages and fell asleep.
jmoney74 said:I want to just put up some planters in my yard with some fake grass and trees. Need some elevated ones since the back of the yard is on a slope.
.bones said:Goriot said:1. Echo Family (Jo) - 949.533.4055
Is echo a korean guy. Kinda skinny. Baseball cap. White van?
dealcatcher said:.bones said:Goriot said:1. Echo Family (Jo) - 949.533.4055
Is echo a korean guy. Kinda skinny. Baseball cap. White van?
Yup same guy. This guy seemed really nice when I met him but I did a little more investigation because his aggressive door-to-door approach seemed suspect. I checked a good number of his previous jobs and spoke directly with the homeowners. Most complained about how frustrating it was dealing with the guy and that they wouldn't use him again. They said it was a headache dealing with him.
-Couldn't keep commitments. Said he'd be on the job on certain days, but never showed.
-Sometimes hard to get a hold of.
-Randomly showed up in your backyard with new prospective clients w/o asking calling first.
-Very difficult to communicate with. He doesn't speak English very well. One time I told him I couldn't meet him at the house until a certain time, but I get a phone call from him 15 mins later saying that he was at my house. I told him I wasn't going to be home!
-Uses the same orange colored stone veneer at his jobs.
-Got caught charging one homeowner for stone that he ended up cutting in half and using at the house next door. The first homeowner shouldn't have paid for the stone at both houses! They should have split the cost if he was going to reuse. And what was he thinking installing the same stuff next door???
-Got caught by a neighbor not installing rebar unde the concrete as stated in the contract. Shady in my opinion.
-Got caught skipping out on footing underneath his pilasters. Footing is needed to keep the pilaster stable and secure.
-This guy does tons of houses in Irvine, but only because he's super cheap. Anytime you have someone that hits volumes like he does, you sacrifice quality and customer service.
You get what you pay for! Hope you find this useful.
The problem is you can't ignore the maintenance factor. Sure, upfront cost is less... but the ongoing cost, esp if you hire qwerter ( ), is significant.notTHEoc said:Feels like trend is towards lot more hardscaping these days in the backyard and less grass. I get the maintenance and environmental benefits and it's a little more usable with patio furniture, etc.
But am I missing something on why less grass these days? Outside of all the maintenance, it's a good play surface if you have kids and it looks better. Not to mention just a fraction of the upfront cost
qwerty said:When u have a 10 ft deep backyard, you don't have much usable space to begin with. u put grass on there u don't have much usable space left for any kind of furniture.
irvinehomeowner said:If I had a new small backyard build... I would put pavers or concrete all the way to the walls and lay down an artificial grass "rug" on top of it.
P.S. qwerter doesn't plant grass because of the toxicity transfer risk. >
bones said:GH said:bones said:jmoney74 said:I know it depends on what you want... But what do people usually spend on landscaping backyard?
Such a hard question to answer. Depends on so many factors: size of backyard, how much hardscape, building any structures, etc, etc. Just to give you an idea, I'm on a 5500+ sf lot in PP and for what I want to do - prob $45k-60k (quoted based on rough design). We're building one structure, building out the front yard, built in BBQ, building some planters for veggie garden, decent grass area, no concrete (mainly using stone and/or pavers).
Bones, for perspective, would you know the "usable area" of your front/backyard ? Ours is about the same sq ft lot and around 2400 sf usable yard area. We were budgeting around $20K-$25K, so somewhat shock with the $45K-$60K estimate :'(
Sure. My usable backyard is about 35 feet deep by 60 feet with a 15' front yard setback from sidewalk. So it sounds similar to yours? Are you building anything? I'm guessing we'll prob end up closer to $60k than $45k.
To be honest, $20k is really light for that size yard. I spent $15k in my old PS condo's side yard.
bones said:qwerty said:if you were doing all pavers for a 35x60 yard gopavers.com can do it for $21K (@ $10/sq ft). at my place they did about 1400 sq ft in four days.
Yea but who wants pavers in their entire 35x60 yard?