Professional Quality Concrete Landscape Edging - 5 Telltale Signs

As with any contractors, not all concrete landscape edging companies are alike. Since you can't "try before you buy", here are 5 telltale signs to guide your search for the right contractor.

1. Determine if the company is a "concrete contractor."

In the concrete landscape edging business, being a "concrete contractor" is a key indicator of the company's professional standing. This tells you the company holds the highest industry licensing and that they are insured.

Concrete contractors provide professionals for your concrete landscape edging that are covered under the company's own insurance. Less professional services do not provide this assurance, leaving your home owner's policy to cover any injured workers who are either not or improperly insured.

On the contrary, a concrete contractor takes full responsibility for their staff, alleviating that burden from you.

2. Initial and follow-up responsiveness.

If it takes a company more than a day to respond to your first phone call, there's a good chance things will go downhill from there. This is a general customer service principle, not just in the concrete landscape edging business.

Most often, the longer it takes a company to get back to you the first time, the longer -and longer - it will take them to get back to you with subsequent calls and requests. Responsiveness isn't just an important indicator of customer service, it tells you how serious the concrete landscape edging provider is about their business.

3. They do what they say they're going to do.

If the lights went out in your house, you'd called an electrician, hoping he'd be right over. If he showed up three weeks later -in the middle of dinner - would you still want to work with him?

The same idea follows in concrete landscape edging contractors. If you set up an initial survey of what you'd like to do, and they show up late--beware. Look for a service that not only shows up when they say they will, but shows up a few minutes early.

Chances are good your concrete landscape edging project will run smoothly and on time from there.

4. They don't use subcontractors.

Concrete landscape edging is a skill acquired in both specific training and practice. It is difficult to be sure that a subcontractor has the requisite expertise. Therefore, a concrete landscape edging service that uses only their own on-staff, factory-trained technicians provides a higher and more consistent level of quality.

5. Appearance

Without sounding too starched, it should be said that appearance does make a big difference. Compare the concrete landscape edging workers who show up with shirts untucked and unbuttoned with those who wear a neat and clean company version.

A company shirt is an outward mark of a professional attitude and work ethic. The person working for the company is more clear about the principles and values through which the company operates. For that matter, a company that puts some thought into appearance also makes a statement about how seriously they view their business.

Appearance may not be everything, but it definitely counts for a lot.

A strong beginning most often leads to a beautiful end. Look for photo samples of prior work. If you like what you see, use these five telltale signs to find a concrete landscape edging service worth their weight. Find a company that excels on all five, and you've found a winner.

Great Tips For Choosing Decorative Landscape Edging

Choosing a decorative landscape edging can be a daunting task if you don't have an idea of the statement you want your yard to make. What style are you implementing in your landscaping? Do you prefer a formal or informal appearance? Do want concrete, non-concrete or a brick edging? Do you prefer a more natural look or do you like the appearance of wrought iron? Do you like rounded shapes, natural brick or wood, plastic or metal to make a statement on your lawn?

There are well over 48 styles alone of non-concrete edging and at least eight styles in concrete. Brick edging is available in many shapes, designs and colors. The most popular edging is the non-concrete edging that is available in materials from wood, resin, wrought iron and plastic. You can even find edging that is made of wooden logs for an old fashioned log cabin design and the look is even available in cedar for an added insect repellent while still giving you a great rustic look.

Wrought iron edging has really made a recent return to the home landscaping plan in many areas. Wrought iron can be bent into some very interesting shapes and designs that can lend your yard just the right look from whimsical to elegant. The design can lead the eye to a focal point in your yard while giving your landscaping an appearance of order. Wrought iron works very well for the more formal landscaping but can be used in any landscaping with the right imagination and decorative piece in mind.

Interlocking edging is available in concrete and non-concrete styles and is easy to use. The pieces interlock to give a unique clean appearance to the design. You can find interlocking edging in wood, concrete, brick, wrought iron and even plastic. It works great for defining walkways, surrounding flowerbeds or around trees and garden areas. You can even use edging around entrances, in ground pools or even to help define your driveway.

Pricing for decorative landscape edging will greatly depend on the product you decide to use. It varies on the style and material of the edging. edging comes in many designs, textures, lengths and materials that all have an effect on the price. edging can be found from under fifty dollars all the way up to four hundred dollars, depending on how much you will need to purchase and the style and material involved.

Landscape Edging Ideas - Professional Landscaping Software

Landscaping Ideas and Software for Your Garden

The garden of the house reflects homeowner's personality thus a refreshing garden with stunning design landscape will make them the most unique, admired and talked-about in their neighborhood. Likewise, landscaping your own beautiful garden could be the most rewarding and enjoyable thing you'll ever do.

Flower gardens, eye catching landscapes and outdoor areas that please the senses and offer a wonderful escape from the daily pressures of life can be enhanced. How? To enhance your garden, landscape designs should follow certain principles and rules to meet your desire. landscape design must include walls, sitting areas, focal points, ornaments, paths and right plants themselves. Innovation in keeping the garden stylish and how to use the whole landscape are the keys. Today landscapes have changed into extraordinary feats and all in new level.

Whether you desire to create either as small or large scale landscape design you must take the time to plan ahead since this is the starting point to obtain a successfully landscaped yard you've always wanted. It should incorporate artistic elements with principles of designs such as uniqueness, balance, transition, proportion, rhythm, repetition and simplicity. Proper planning, analysis and exploiting landscape ideas such as landscape edging idea and landscaping ideas for slopes lead into functional, harmonious and aesthetically pleasant outdoor living area.

Landscape planning deals with conceptual, scientific and design approaches that emphasize ecological understanding and multi-disciplinary approach to analysis, planning and design. Landscaping ideas should be embraced in landscaping plan as this is a combination of art and science synchronizes aesthetically for better outcomes.

However, landscaping may encounter problems particularly in houses above street levels such as slopes. Hence llandscaping ideas for slope should be employ to get a solution. These ideas suggest using simple cost-effective solutions like ground covers, terracing regarding and retaining walls. Dealing with backyard landscapes, landscape edging ideas plays a vital role. Its purpose is to make a well define line between bed and lawns, and keeps the turf grass, from invading the buds, plus it keeps soil and mulch from spilling over into the lawn.

With so many different types of decorative edging available and looking for the right landscape edging materials is not simple; therefore it would be great if you will use the landscaping software that gives you perfect visual images for your garden. Professional landscaping software is user friendly featuring the architectural graphic symbols. These architectural symbols may include trees and shrubs, outdoor furniture, people, playground sets, vehicles, swimming pools and variety of shapes, materials and colors and many other landscaping decorations. In fact a lot of home owners and garden users use these. It can save your time, money as well as unnecessary work in the long run.

Landscaping ideas either for the slopes or backyards of the garden possess different components of arts and principles. A landscaping architect could help you to implement these best landscaping ideas efficiently to accomplish a great finishing look to your garden effectively.

Garden Edging Techniques - Creating Beautiful Landscape Designs With Edging

Garden edging is a great way to make your landscape designs pop. You can achieve many clean and decorative looks with various edging techniques. Garden edging will open up a world of landscape design opportunities in your yard because you can choose from a multitude of designs, edging materials, and edging techniques.

If you are not familiar with edging, it is a term used to describe a landscaping technique used to create "edges" around various landscape elements. You can place an edge around trees, shrubs, flowers, and hardscape elements like light posts and mailboxes. Creating an edge around elements in a landscape gives them a clean look and sets them apart from other elements in the yard.

Depending on the style you want to achieve with this technique you might want to choose certain materials over others. For example, cement can give a more modern look and brick can be used to create a more traditional look. Stone and brick are the easiest materials for homeowners to work with on their own. To begin you can try any one of these simple but beautiful techniques that use stone and brick.

Boulder Technique -- This is a very simple landscaping technique to start with. All you need are large sized rocks. Anywhere from 8 inches to a foot in height. Then you place them around your selected garden bed. You can use rocks that slightly vary in shape and color. This technique gives gardens an organic look.

Flagstone Technique -- Flagstone is a popular stone to use in landscapes. It has a distinctive look that most people recognize--a flat, wide surface with uneven edges. Because it is so flat it should be placed in small stacks to give it height. To create a simple edging with flagstone, take small stacks of the stone and place them side-by-side around a garden bed.

Diagonal Brick -- This landscaping idea gives a beautiful old-world look to landscapes. You can create the diagonal brick look by building a small trench around a select garden bed (minding plant roots, of course). Then, set your bricks in the trench so that they are laying on top of each other at a diagonal angle. Fill the trench back up so that most of each brick is covered. When you are done it should look like there are little pyramids of brick sticking out of the ground in a row.

You can create garden edging on your own or you can consult with a residential landscape designer who can create edging designs for you. However, creating your own beautiful edging only requires that you have an eye for detail, a steady hand, and a few materials. You can literally edge with anything that inspires you (sea shells, old bottles, etc.), but some traditional garden edging materials include wood, metal, brick, stone, cement, plastic, and aluminum. You can find pre-made edging materials at your local home improvement store that can easily be put together. You can also buy brick or any variety of stone to create you edging. This is most common. Professional landscape designers typically create cement edges but you can also buy pre-cast cement or faux cement edges that are easy to put together.

Decorative Landscape Curbing - Help For Creating the Perfect Look For Your Lawn and Garden

Are you looking for a new way to make your home stand out? Need a change and looking for some curb appeal that will stop the neighbors when they drive or walk by? Well, now there is an affordable way you can add that decorative touch to your curbs and really impress everyone.

So what exactly is decorative landscape curbing and what types of materials do they use to create the effects you are looking for? Decorative landscape curbing is a creative way of enhancing the way any yard or property looks to aid in the charm of your home. It can be placed as a border around beds of flowers or up and down the driveway. It is concrete that is continuously laid down in one piece with the use of an extruder and stamped and colored in various ways afterward. This unbroken border is custom fitted with any design you may have for your lawn and garden ideas.

There are a variety of packages to choose from when deciding on decorative landscape curbing options for your yard. Some of the reasons homeowners are opting for this choice is because it's affordable, it highlights and defines your yard, property lines and planters, helps with problems like keeping mulch in your flower bed, doesn't rot, rust or deteriorate, comes in a wide selection of shapes, colors and stamps to go with any decoration idea you have in mind, and it also saves time on mowing, weeding and edging.

These concrete landscape borders do not take much time to create the desired look you had in mind, and the results you will see will be completely outstanding. Some of the choices available for you with decorative landscape curbing are:

Slant Style edging geared for holding in gardening materials due to the higher back end. The front is lower so you will not have problems mowing around it.

Mower Style edging is very popular is built to both accommodate the lawn mower wheel at the same time as retain your gardening materials. It has great curb appeal by giving the landscaping a "picture framed" look.

6 x 4 Curb Style is the popular choice edging used in commercial lawn settings because it can handle the larger lawn mower wheels and has a more massive look. It can be installed as regular gray concrete or it can be textured and stamped. There is also a 6 x 6 curb style that is often used by commercial architects and placed deeper into the ground. These can also be used to help keep in your gravel, gardening materials and other driveway or walkway problem areas.

Once you have decided on the edging you would like to use, you will want to choose a finish. This is where the fun can come in. There is a wide variety to choose from such as Ashlar, BasketWeave, Bick Bond, Cobble Stone, Flag Stone, H-Brick with 2 variations, Herringbone, Nine Inch tile, Offset Bond, Random Stone, Six Inch Tile, Slate, Soldier Course, and Wood Grain.

You can either find a company by searching online and checking into their catalog of options or you can look in your local yellow pages for a location near you. With a short consultation, and a little time for planning, you can design a superb new look for your yard by choosing decorative landscape curbing designs.