Weather and Landscaping in Stone
It’s chilly now, but soon enough Spring will bring in warm weather and new demand for landscaping stone. But the landscaping season isn’t the only way weather influences work with natural stone, whether it’s slate, granite or sandstone. When you plan your stone landscaping project it’s important to not only plan your work schedule ahead of time, but think of how you’ll respond to day to day changes in the weather.
The first step to planning your work for the season is to set a start and completion date. If you’re a professional contractor, the ability to provide accurate estimates in which you can complete quality work is essential. If you plan on doing it yourself you can take a more relaxed approach – to a point. You can work on your own time, but take care to account for how much time it should take to do each part of the job, from taking it from a stone retailer to finishing the clean up.
We recommend that you pick a realistic completion date and stick to it so you won’t leave your work half done. After all, we all know someone who has a half-finished landscaping job. That not only looks ugly, but some of these efforts will actually degrade over time. For example, if you do the digging for a stone retaining wall but put off completing it, the soil will eventually erode, wasting all of your effort.
It’s also important to anticipate the weather. Again, a good professional landscaping contractor not only learns to take this into account, but can set up precautions to account for weather issues. Whether you’re hiring tradesmen or doing it yourself, keep in mind that one day of rain can equate to a two or three day delay. Rain changes the consistency of the soil and makes some jobs impossible. If your job is scheduled to take place in rainy months like April and May, adjust your schedule to allow for one or two weeks of delay due to rain.
Planning for weather conditions will ensure that you can plan a move or renovation for your property without interference from contractors and machinery, and without having to worry about working around materials and scrap. While you might dodge the worst of the rainy season, including its delays in your estimate means that you can be confident that everything is ready to go.
If you want to find out more about realistically scheduling a stone landscaping job, drop by our showroom or call us. In addition to being a natural stone wholesaler for landscapers and architects, we bring decades of experience in the stone laying trade, and can help you set realistic goals and find the best natural stone to meet them.
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