Backyard build under way! Follow along! (move, pool, trees)

[HX_Guy]

Originally Posted by BlueCat1105

I know you've probably said somewhere or another, but who did your pool and landscaping? We are just beginning to build out in the East Valley.

The pool was built by Tribal Waters and the landscaping we've designed and have been general contracting ourselves.

[jimj]

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

The pool was built by Tribal Waters and the landscaping we've designed and have been general contracting ourselves.

Isn't it GREAT to G.C. the job yourself?! Not only does it make you understand how everything works and fits together it also allows you to make sure of a quality job. The other great thing is it saves you $$$$$.
I was the G.C. on my last house and I'd never let someone G.C. for me ever again!

[HX_Guy]

Originally Posted by jimj

Isn't it GREAT to G.C. the job yourself?! Not only does it make you understand how everything works and fits together it also allows you to make sure of a quality job. The other great thing is it saves you $$$$$.
I was the G.C. on my last house and I'd never let someone G.C. for me ever again!

Yes and no. Yes on all the points you made but being I'm self employed, I'm finding it's taking A LOT of time from my work...so the money I save on doing it myself I lose on the other end by not making money. I'm still enjoying it though.

[HX_Guy]

Holy cow what a couple of days! Note to self and others...do not try to move 1000LB trees, you can't do it.

We went out to the nursery yesterday to pick out the trees and plants we wanted. They had a great selection...the only down side is that first available delivery was 2 weeks out! Didn't want to wait that long so I had a great idea, I'll rent a truck myself and bring the stuff home...how difficult could it be?

Getting the stuff home wasn't a problem...kind of fun driving a humungous 26' truck with an actual semi-truck horn pull rope thingy. Unloading the plants, no problem, feeling pretty accomplished. Now the trees. I got a truck with a liftgate and rented a special "tree dolly". Yeah, could not even budge them with the dolly, the bottom of the dolly barely fit a few inches under the tree. So 4 of use guys wiggled the tree back and forth and back and forth until we got each on the liftgate and brought them down to street level but how to move them to the backyard?

I got the great idea of renting a skid steer from Home Depot...that should do the trick! Guess again...the thing literally tipped forward when we tried to lift the tree! Jesus Christ! Loaded it back up, went back to Home Depot and luckily the guy just voided out the sale since we were literally gone for like 15 minutes.

How did we finally get them in the backyard and planted? Called up the nursery we bought them from, Whitfill Nursery for the locals, and they were AWESOME! I guess deliveries were out 2 weeks but the install crew was available and they actually came out 2 hours later. I was in amazement. The way they manhandled the trees was nuts, pushing them around, moving them...the tree was in the backyard in 30 seconds! Even with 4 of their pro guys though, it took almost 3 hours to properly plant the trees even though the holes were mostly dug (they still had to dig out a bit more so the base of the tree was level with the ground). Big props to the nursery though for coming through so quick and at a very reasonable price (compared to another nursery I called that's much closer to me), I'm definitely going to give them some good reviews online and let the owner know how great the crew did.

Picture time!

The big rental truck that we brought the trees and plants home in...


Plants unloaded in the backyard...


Trees unloaded and the dolly I *thought* was going to do the job...


Digging the holes...




Skid Steer that again, I *thought* was going to do the job...


And the pros arrive! They obviously had the right equipment and knew their stuff.






First tree going in (Fan-Tex Ash)




Second tree in the back corner (Museum Palo Verde)


Third and fourth trees in (Fan-Tex Ash and Mayer Lemon)


All the trees in place!


Next step for tomorrow is to plant all the other plants and dig the trenches for the irrigation. Hoping to finish up the whole project by the end of the week.

[jimj]

It'll be interesting to see what happens during the monsoon season with respect to drainage. What did you do (if anything) to mitigate standing water or water running off to your neighbors?

[HX_Guy]

Jim, everything will be a lot more level once it's done with the gravel in place so there shouldn't be any of these pockets like there were now, it should all wash out toward the street. Plus, I found that the soil is extremely well drained. The water did add up quickly and stand for a bit, but it drained into the sound very quickly actually. It's very very sandy and rocky which I guess is good when it comes to water?

Plus we rarely rarely get 2"+ in 24 hours.

[jimj]

Ahhh, ok. Hey, what part of the valley are you in? I know out here (far west valley) it's 8 inches of sandy soil then rock/concrete hard soil.

[HX_Guy]

I'm in north Peoria and the soil is very sandy and rocky but pretty deep. You can see the make up for the soil in a cross section from when the pool was dug, it was the same all the way down to 5-6 feet.

[lewdog_5]

Do you do this kind of work for a living? I've got what I think it a fairly easy backyard remodel. Wanting to remove the grass, take the nine sprinkler heads out but turn the back three heads into some drippers to plant an orange tree and some succulents. Place pavers where the grass was located for an extended patio.

But your backyard will look stunning. You'll be skimming that pool for leaves every few days though.

[esiebert7625]

How exactly is gravel going to help you with drainage, gravel is porous and isn't going to do anything with eliminating standing water pockets. You're still going to have standing water regardless of gravel and it won't help direct water anywhere where it can drain properly.