Destroy & Rebuild Adam will give details about planning a project, assessing a backyard before starting work, and what heavy equipment rentals he’ll use for removing shrubs and trees, moving boulders, and begin installation of retaining walls.

To begin a new project, Adam gets information about what the owners are looking for. Then he assesses the project space and plans the first day. The crew decided to begin by taking out trees and shrubs with excavators from Rent1 Equipment Rentals. Next, the crew piled up all the green waste and started demolition on the old rock wall that was first built with the foundation of the house. The crew plans to reinstall the wall so that it has a more clean, modern look.

From there, the crew will raise the yard with a retaining wall and then excavate the majority of the yard and prep to lay down artificial turf at the owner’s request.

The team expects the job to take about three weeks total, because the yard is machine accessible it makes it much easier to work quickly, especially because of the 1000 pound boulders in the backyard. The crew decided to rent a John Deere 35G excavator to help with all the heavy lifting. After excavation and demolition, the team will begin installation and design. Check out our next episode to see how they prepare the yard with proper draining and grade the ground before laying artificial turf.

During our last visit to this custom landscape before & after project, the crew from Bailey Landscape had the blueprints in and the planning done. Much of the heavy lifting had already been completed using excavator rentals from Rent1.ca. Now that all the hardscape work and the grass has been excavated, it’s time to install drainage and grade the land.

In episode 2 of our Professional Custom Landscape Design Before & After Series, Adam Bailey, owner of Bailey Landscapes takes us through excavating 6” to prep for artificial turf lay down. They will also hook up a downspout for drainage and tie it into the drain tile so that the entire yard drains properly. This is very important when living in coastal cities like the Greater Vancouver British Columbia area. They’re going to begin installing the garden wall and will load existing garden material into a disposal truck.

The customer had a rock wall built of miscellaneous rocks put in and the Bailey Landscape crew is rebuilding it to remove gaps and install a 2nd tier block wall, sloping away from the houses. Doing a natural stone wall would usually mean avoiding boulders but due to budget constraints, the crew is going to reuse the existing boulders and place them appropriately to look more natural and please the customer by saving money.

We came back to check in a couple days later to see all the excavation and demo is complete. Now, we’ll watch as the Bailey Landscape crew grades land with sub-base gravel and crusher dust. They will also use road base to bring up the grade 5-6” for preparation for the artificial turf and an elevated putting green! A putting green in the backyard? Talk about your life of luxury.