Summer is the thing that decides whether a Prestons garden works. Out here it runs hotter and drier than the coast, and a yard built without shade or screening is a yard nobody uses from December to March.
Prestons sits about 37 kilometres south-west of the city in the Liverpool council area, at the junction where the M5, the Hume Motorway and the Westlink M7 meet. It is a long way from the coast, and summer here behaves nothing like it does in the eastern suburbs.
Inland south-west Sydney runs several degrees hotter than the coast through summer, and an unshaded paved area becomes unusable in the afternoon. Where the shade goes, and what it is made of, matters more here than the choice of pavers.
Sitting at a major motorway junction means a lot of blocks here back onto or sit near heavy roads. Dense planting on the right boundary does real work for noise and dust, and it has to be the right species to hold up in the heat.
A hot, dry summer punishes a garden built to soak up water it never gets. We set the beds, the mulch and the planting to hold what falls rather than designing something that only survives on a hose.
Most Prestons projects combine three or four of these, with shade and screening doing the heavy lifting.
Alfresco areas, paths and driveway edges paved to a level, free-draining finish. We place the paved area where it will actually get afternoon shade, because a beautifully laid slab in full western sun goes unused.
How we approach pavingNew lawn over properly prepared and graded ground, with a variety chosen to hold through a hot, dry summer rather than one that looks good in a nursery.
How we lay new turfWalls to hold the step between a building pad and the boundary and to square a graded block into flat, usable yard. Common on the newer blocks here, which were cut and filled to a pad.
How we build retaining wallsScreening hedges along the boundary, which do the privacy, noise and dust work on blocks near the motorway network. We keep the density low down where it matters rather than cutting them thin.
How we trim hedgesMulch at a depth that genuinely holds moisture through February. On an exposed Prestons block this is the single cheapest thing that keeps planting alive, and the depth people use is usually about half what it should be.
More on mulchingShaping young trees so they grow into the shade you actually want, and lifting established canopies off roofs and gutters. Early pruning on a new block costs little and saves heavy correction later.
See our pruning and trimmingBeds, paving joints, gravel and paths cleared back to a clean finish, roots included. An exposed block with thin cover grows weeds quickly, and clearing before planting saves doing it twice.
More on weedingOld paving, broken concrete, builder's leftovers and green waste taken away. Clearing a block before a build is usually its own load and we size it in the quote.
See our rubbish removalRemoving a tree that has outgrown its spot or come down in a summer storm. Where approval is needed through the City of Liverpool we flag it at quoting stage.
About our tree lopping workOut here the orientation of the block does more to the price than its size.
Three steps, a fixed written price, and the block left clean.
Call or send photos, and mention which way the back faces. On a hot block that is the first thing we want to know.
We check the aspect, the levels, the ground and the access, then put a fixed written price and a staged plan in front of you.
One crew from start to finish, all debris and green waste removed, and the paving and driveway swept down before we go.
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.
Prestons sits in the City of Liverpool with Casula, Moorebank, Hinchinbrook, Green Valley and Cecil Hills around it.
For upkeep rather than a build, see our garden maintenance in Prestons or everything we do across the Liverpool council area, and browse every Sydney suburb we service.
Shade in the right place, and it is worth doing properly rather than putting up an umbrella. That means working out where the afternoon sun lands, putting the paved area outside it, and planting or building for shade on the western side. It changes how much of the year you use the yard.
Usually two things together. The variety is wrong for inland heat, and the ground underneath is compacted so roots never get deep enough to find moisture. Fixing the soil matters more than watering more often.
Yes, more than people expect, but only if it is dense down low where the noise and dust travel. A thin row of standard hedge plants does very little. We specify for that boundary rather than planting the same thing all the way round.
Often yes. Most newer blocks here were cut and filled to a building pad, leaving a step at the boundary. Sometimes it can be graded out instead, and we will tell you which applies to your block when we quote.
If the budget allows, yes. One visit costs less per square metre than two, and the levels and drainage can be set out as a single system. We quote it both ways so you can see the difference.
Yes. We work across Prestons 2170 and the surrounding Liverpool council suburbs including Casula, Moorebank, Hinchinbrook, Green Valley, Cecil Hills and Edmondson Park.
Send us the basics and we will come out, check the aspect, the ground and the levels, and give you a fixed written price. The visit costs nothing.
Prefer to talk it through? Call 0451 267 287.
Whether it is bare dirt behind a new build or a yard that bakes every afternoon, we will come out and price it properly.