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Home » Buy and hold real estate investing properties » 4th House: Raised Bungalow Build » Landscaping Around Our New House – What we’ve done so far

4th House: Raised Bungalow Build Buy and hold real estate investing properties Outdoor Ideas

Landscaping Around Our New House – What we’ve done so far

Just over a year ago we started building our raised bungalow on 30 acres of land in the country. Last fall and into the winter we finished off most of the major work on the inside of the house. This spring we have been focused on landscaping and growing grass around our house. A construction zone can be a muddy mess, and it takes a while to get everything looking nice. For us, landscaping around our new house includes finishing the final grade and getting topsoil, raking and removing any rocks, and growing grass from seed.

Landscaping around a new house includes final soil level, picking stones, and growing grass from seed

Final Grade

The final grade and landscaping around a house is very important so you don’t get risk getting water in the basement. The final soil level should have a gradual slope away from the house. This way any water that falls near the foundation will naturally drain away and not seep into the house.

In the fall we had our civil contractor start to do the final grade and topsoil at the front of the house and around the right side of the house. It was getting late into the fall and we weren’t ready for him to finish off the final grade around the rest of the house. At some point this summer we’ll have him come back so we can finish landscaping the rest of the yard.

Rock Picking

This is how our front yard looked in April after all the snow melted. There were so many rocks! Instead of paying for truckloads of topsoil, we used the soil that was excavated for the foundation.  We saved money by using our own soil, and just had to put in the time raking and picking all the rocks. We did buy a load of topsoil for on top of the septic bed, and that soil was beautiful with no rocks.


I bribed the kids and told them I’d pay them a penny for every rock they picked. They all quit after picking 100 rocks and realized it really wasn’t very much fun.

Rocking picking new construction

Tony and I spent a lot of time raking and picking rocks, but we got this side of the yard looking great!

Final grade of a new construction raised bungalow

Growing Grass From Seed

After we raked the topsoil we spread grass seed, threw on some fertilizer, and pressed the seed into the soil using the lawn roller.

Growing grass around a new house

It’s important to water grass seed regularly while it’s still young.  Once the grass was established a little bit we cut back on the watering.

final grade new house

Ta-da!! We have grass. We ended up with a lot of weeds too, but it’s green and it looks pretty good when it’s mowed. It’ll take a few years for the grass to thicken up, but at least now we have somewhere for the kids to play.

Landscaping a new house

We don’t have topsoil yet at the back of the house and that area isn’t growing anything. And we still have a bunch of construction leftovers that we have to clean up too…someday.

Raised bungalow owner builder Landscaping a new construction raised bungalow

Behind the house is a large area that used to be weeds and long grass. When it’s mowed it looks great. We also set up a play structure and sandbox. The kids have lots of things to do outside, and there’s plenty of space for them to run around.Landscaping a new house Owner builder raised bungalow

That’s it for now! Over the rest of the summer we’re hoping to finish the rest of the topsoil, grow some more grass, and continue cleaning up around the house.


11 Comments

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jenn says

    June 21, 2017 at 10:42 pm

    Looks awesome, guys!

    Reply
    • jessvanderveen@gmail.com says

      June 28, 2017 at 8:54 pm

      Thanks Jenn!

      Reply
  2. Ola says

    June 22, 2017 at 1:15 pm

    Boy that seed took really well! You had a LOT of ground to cover. I’ll have to show this to my husband since he’s super passionate about lawn care. He would definitely enjoy this!

    Reply
    • jessvanderveen@gmail.com says

      June 28, 2017 at 8:53 pm

      We’ve had a really rainy spring, so I think that really helped us with growing grass

      Reply
  3. Julia at Home on 129 Acres says

    June 22, 2017 at 8:50 pm

    Great job. I can’t imagine picking up all those rocks. There’s a new build near us and two years in they still don’t have grass. It looks like it’s still a construction zone. Your house looks like home!

    Reply
    • jessvanderveen@gmail.com says

      June 28, 2017 at 8:53 pm

      Thanks, we’re getting there!

      Reply
  4. Red House Style says

    June 23, 2017 at 5:40 pm

    Looks amazing – what a huge undertaking but such a great reward!

    Reply
    • jessvanderveen@gmail.com says

      June 28, 2017 at 8:52 pm

      Thanks!

      Reply
  5. Lidia says

    June 28, 2017 at 10:30 am

    The land! I’m totally envious…I have a small patch to play with so I may need to come over to openly gawk at your gorgeous space!

    Reply
    • jessvanderveen@gmail.com says

      June 28, 2017 at 8:52 pm

      Lots of land means lots of work!

      Reply

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  1. Tour Our Home: Open Concept Raised Bungalow • The Vanderveen House says:
    August 28, 2017 at 8:20 pm

    […] is so much landscaping to do when you build a house. There is a lot to do and I’m sure it will take a long time to get a […]

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Welcome! We are Tony and Jessica Vanderveen, and are accidental real estate investors in Ontario. Find out how you too can create long term wealth, while maintaining your work life balance. Find out more...

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