[AZTLANLC]

picture #3

[AZTLANLC]

#4

[Bill Schwab]

Crazygator:

If walls are where you want to start, and you are capable of reading engineered drawings, and following the instructions as per written, you can learn a whole lot simply by doing so. The rules are, not to deviate from what the engineer tells you to do. If you want to build little nick nac corners and things, you take you basic core knowledge and use your creative abilities and make some fun stuff.

Since every area of the world has a slightly different soil, the specifications will vary place to place. We are breaking ground for a paver patio, retaining wall and seat bench with a fire place out of Country Manor in a few weeks. I'll try to be a bit more diligent with my photos so you can get a step by step if you like..

[BJR]

No formal training or licencing for structural landscaping is crazy!

The licencing and the new system of "Continued Professional Development" that has started here has weeded out and will continue weed out all of the dodgie tradesman.

Continued Professional Development is a scheme that has just started. It requires a licenced tradesman to undertake courses and further education to earn points. If the tradesman doesn't earn enough points in 3 years he or she is unable to renew their licence. Therefore they are unable to continue working.

[Crazygator]

Originally posted by Bill Schwab
We are breaking ground for a paver patio, retaining wall and seat bench with a fire place out of Country Manor in a few weeks. I'll try to be a bit more diligent with my photos so you can get a step by step if you like..

Wow. You guys are awesome here. Yes, I would love the play by play to learn from you pro's. Heck I wish I had the time to just fly out there and learn in person......hehehe

Thanks everyone for your strong commitment to heping others, like me, to learn and to help the wealth of knowledge continue to grow. That is trully giving back, which is rare in most business today. It makes me feel proud to have found this forum and I look forward to each and every time I have come back.

Many many thanks to you all!

[Lawn Lad]

Installing hardscapes is definetly a specialty and one that I believe you need to be willing to commit yourself to if you're going to be good. When I look at the "first" patios we installed years ago I feel a bit guilty. The customer doesn't know any different - but I do.

Looking at ones we install now I feel better - but I knew we could do better. The problem for us since we were not set up to do them every day is that our quality was not as high as it could be. So I've hired a sub contractor that lives, eats, breathes this stuff. Now I can call him in for the hardscape and we do the excavation work, the beds, lawn, lighting, etc. We don't get hung up on the hard scaping which tends to slow us down. I truly believe you need a great foreman for this work. And often a foreman who can do hardscaping may not have the skills to do the other work necessary on the job.

Here is a job with unilock we did at my house earlier last year.

[Lawn Lad]

The first picture is from the back door looking back along the path to main part of the patio. The total patio measures about 1200 sq ft. There is no way I'd have time to install this size/type of patio w/o using a subcontractor.

Second picture shows the large open area in back. We decided to layout the edges after we layed the field, so we pulled back up some of the patio and would up digging up excess base that would have been in the beds. The problem with my doing my own house is that I can't make up my mind - costs extra money. On the customer's job... no problem, we don't really make these design changes. I think this job had about 12 different designs over time.

[Lawn Lad]

Last pic... I think this one is cool. The one edge of the patio was raised over current grade by about 6 to 7". We dug out the excess base beyond our 6 to 8" overdig. Beyond the over dig we took out in one area where we included a "swoop" in the patio edge about 24" we removed. This is the profile of the base after we excavated the compacted back fill before we back filled with bedding soil.

I like this picture since it shows a good cross section of how a patio is installed

[jwholden]

AZTLANLC,

That has got to be one of the neatest excavations I have ever seen for a sidewalk. Is that one of the benefits of your new MT52?

[VoodooChile]

AZTLANLC,
Ditto JW on the excavation, and props for having the courage to share your evolution as a hardscaper. The last path you posted, #4, looks phenomenal!

[Crazygator]

Awesome work guys

[AZTLANLC]

Sorry guys I went in a little trip to Mexico, but I'm back and doing a lot of reading.

Yes it was done with the MT52 don't you guys love it? I know I do.

Thank you all.

[johnkeegan]

Some of the pitches on the walkways look much too steep, especially in the first example. If you're in an area with snow/ice that could be lethal. Adding a few steps/landings would alleviate that. P.S.- another machine that does a neat, concise job of excavating is the ASV RC30. With a 48" width,ample power and a clear view of the bucket as you're excavating, it prevents alot of over excavating. Besides you can dump the load directly into the dump truck. Not sure if that's possible with the MT52.