Carlingford is being rebuilt a block at a time. Houses come down and duplexes and townhouses go up, usually on a slope, and what gets left over for a garden is a shape nobody has had to design for before.
Carlingford sits about 22 kilometres north-west of the city at around 129 metres, in the City of Parramatta, with Mobbs Hill as the local high point. Most of its housing dates from the 1970s and 1980s, and since the 1990s urban consolidation has brought townhouses and duplexes replacing older homes, with higher density around the town centre and station.
A duplex turns one generous yard into two narrow ones, each with its own access, its own drainage and a shared boundary in the middle. Getting both to feel private and usable is a design problem, and it is worth solving before the paving is ordered.
These blocks fall, often across rather than down. Dividing a sloping site leaves one side higher than the other and usually needs a wall on the new boundary, which is a cost people do not budget for.
Townhouse sites come with a shared driveway, a common entry and sometimes a strip that nobody is quite sure who maintains. We will build and scope those clearly so it does not become a dispute later.
Compact yards on divided blocks, shared access areas, and reworks of the older 1970s gardens.
Walls to hold the step created when a sloping block is divided, and to recover flat usable yard on each side. On a duplex this is usually the first structural job.
How we build retaining wallsCourtyards, entries, paths and shared driveway edges paved to a level, free-draining finish, set out so each dwelling has a usable outdoor area rather than a leftover strip.
How we approach pavingSmall lawns over prepared and levelled soil. On a divided block one side often gets considerably less sun, and we will say so before laying rather than after it thins.
How we lay new turfScreening along the new internal boundary and the outer fences. On a duplex the middle boundary is where privacy is won or lost, and it wants dense planting rather than a token row.
How we trim hedgesMulch at a depth that suppresses weeds and holds moisture, at a grade that stays put on a sloping site rather than washing onto the driveway.
More on mulchingLifting canopies off new rooflines and gutters, and reducing mature planting that survived the build but now suits a much smaller garden.
See our pruning and trimmingBeds, paving joints, gravel and shared strips cleared back to a clean finish, roots included. Disturbed ground around a new build grows weeds fast.
More on weedingConstruction leftovers, broken concrete, excess fill and green waste taken away. Clearing after a duplex build is usually more than one load.
See our rubbish removalRemoving a tree now too close to a new structure or boundary. The City of Parramatta controls removal and significant pruning of many trees, and we check before quoting.
About our tree lopping workThe slope and the new boundary do most of the work on the price.
Three steps, a fixed written price, and the site left clean.
Call or send photos showing the fall and where the new boundary sits. On a divided block that is what sets the price.
We measure the level difference, check the ground, the light on each side and the shared access, then put a fixed written price in front of you.
One crew from start to finish, construction leftovers removed, and the shared driveway and paths swept down.
Terry and his team are fantastic to work with.
The team have been very professional with their work, communication and they were also fast paced.
They use very high quality materials and workmanship is flawless.
Carlingford sits in the City of Parramatta with Epping, Beecroft, Cheltenham, Dundas and Winston Hills nearby.
For upkeep rather than a build, see our garden maintenance in Carlingford or everything we do across the City of Parramatta, and browse every Sydney suburb we service.
Yes, and it needs designing rather than dividing. Two narrow yards each want their own private corner, their own drainage and screening on the middle boundary. Done well neither side feels like the leftover half, which is the usual outcome when it is treated as an afterthought.
Very often, because dividing a sloping block leaves one side higher than the other. That wall is usually the largest single item in the quote and the one people have not budgeted for, so we measure and price it up front.
Shade planting rather than lawn, generally. On a divided block the southern side can be genuinely dark once two buildings are up, and turf laid there thins out within a season. We will tell you honestly which side can carry grass.
Whatever you agree, but it is worth being explicit about it. We set out clearly what we have built and where the boundaries of each area sit, so it does not turn into a disagreement between neighbours later.
Yes, staged around them. We would not lay paving or turf that is going to be driven over, so we sequence the work to what the site allows.
Yes. We work across Carlingford 2118 and the surrounding suburbs including Epping, Beecroft, Cheltenham, Dundas, Dundas Valley and West Pennant Hills.
Send us the basics and we will come out, measure the fall and the new boundary, and give you a fixed written price. The visit costs nothing.
Prefer to talk it through? Call 0451 267 287.
Whether the duplex has just been completed or the leftover strip has never worked, we will come out and price the build.