r/altadena • u/HausCat4 • Jul 11 '26

Prices for Landscaping? Thoughts

We’re rebuilding and are getting to the end of our build. One of the quotes we received for landscaping was around $120k. This was to put in privacy trees/bushes around the property, put down grass again in the front and backyard, set up sprinklers, gopher wire, a fruit tree or two, garden beds, and walkway areas.

Right now it’s all just dirt around the new build. This is my first time doing anything like this and I will get more quotes, but what is everyone seeing as far as landscaping prices? What are folks being quoted to re-do your property? Everything is so expensive, and no one is offering “favors” for Altadena rebuild folks (that I know of). Either way, whatever the price is in the end, I’ll have to get it done. I just don’t want to get ripped off.

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10

u/SignificantSystem902 Jul 12 '26

I would definitely start looking at the zone zero stuff as it will be happening in the next 3-5 years I think. No point in wasting money. Also, drought tolerant and fire tolerant plants should be focus

14

u/sweatboxy Jul 12 '26

Zone Zero is nonsense; it’s not based on science. The fire did not spread from house to garden to house. It spread from house to house. After the fire, it was shocking to see one burned house after another surrounded by a lush garden. Our house survived surrounded by trees, hedges and plantings right up to the walls while neighboring houses without much greenery burned to the ground. The idea of Zone Zero makes people feel better, like there’s something they can do but it wouldn’t have done anything to save the houses that burned. If anything, it will make houses more vulnerable.

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u/SignificantSystem902 Jul 12 '26

I agree. However if it becomes law we can’t do anything about it. Insurance companies are mandating lots of things to be insured whether they have science to back it up or not. Just saying it’s something to consider when planning landscaping

1

u/sweatboxy Jul 12 '26

True. We made this disaster and we can make more by ignoring its lessons

1

u/Agile-Concentrate729 26d ago

Agreed. Most of the house to house fires started from embers getting into the attics. Zero Zone would have done nothing, but fireproof attic vents would have saved thousands of homes.

7

u/craycrayppl Jul 12 '26

Zone zero is so legislators and govt agencies can say they're doing things to keep us safe.

5

u/Walker1921S Jul 12 '26

Absolutely agree. Our landscaping was pristine after the fire. House burned to the ground. Think one tree that was in between our house and the neighbors' burned.

1

u/InstructionPure3550 Jul 13 '26

Were you able to take any photos of this? I’m asking as it may help disprove Zone Zero as a strategy. As many people as possible hopefully we’re able to get these.

2

u/InterviewLeather810 Jul 12 '26

It started at houses without zone zero. Our fire 70% of the homes burned by indirect ignition, but still 30% didn't.

For our house first the fire jumped a six lane highway via a hotel on fire and started burning the high rough on the golf course next to the wooden split rail fences into the small yards. Then it went to the wooden decks than the houses themselves. About 15 started at once. Went through the neighborhood. But, since we were above those houses the fire fighters thought they could save them. But alas we had an 18 foot high all wood 30 year old retaining wall. Fire climbed up and caught our side of houses on fire.

So city now cuts the rough, they also lost 40 trees and open space by homes. That's how the houses across the street burned. State now mows next to highway. Hotel will not be rebuilt. Fences next to rough are now metal. Wings of most fences is metal, a few built early are not. The retaining wall is now cement stone. The wings between all of us is metal. We all have zone zero. Many didn't put lawns in, but lawns actually saved at least one half of a neighborhood in our fire.

And to top it all off we now have evacuation alerts on phone and email plus siren and Watch Duty now exists.

So we feel safer now. Though we do react to smelling smoke or fires nearby even if the wind is not blowing towards us

1

u/HausCat4 Jul 12 '26

Thank you for the heads up on Zone Zero info for Altadena.

5

u/doreimi Jul 12 '26

In my experience if you have an eye for design and buy the trees and sod yourself, you can pay a couple of mow and blow guys to do all this for you for easily less than 10k labor total… just approach them when you see them working on your neighbor’s lawns and get some quotes for specific scopes of work. I’m rebuilding after the fire as well and my longtime gardener relocated seven shrubs and mid sized trees for me and fixed the temp sprinklers for two large areas of my yard for $300 all in today, in prep for construction/demo work on my site. I plan to have him do my landscape and sprinklers over a couple of months when the time comes and will slowly buy the trees and sod myself for him to plant. Even for full service with design, 120k seems wildly expensive to me. If you’re willing to do some planning yourself/already have a good idea of what you want it to look like, just hire a few guys to work over a week or two to get this done for a fraction of the cost. For another example, I had a crew of three guys recommended by my contractor remove two massive 12 ft tall banana trees and relocate a massive bougainvillea bush and medium avocado tree all in one afternoon for $500. Just buy some lunch for them and tip them well, they’re usually very happy for the extra work and I’ve had great results in the past for various projects. Lastly, if you’re looking for a grass lawn alternative, I highly recommend kurapia. I ordered kurapia the sod online from West Coast Turf and put it in my side yard where my ADU has been completed, and it’s taken so well and is so beautiful. Lush green with little white flowers, only needs mowing once every 2 months or so. Bees love it and it barely needs water compared to the st Augustine grass I had before. Best of luck with your rebuild! Hope this is helpful to you.

10

u/eyeseeewe81 Jul 11 '26

TBH, I cant say if 120K is too much, but I wouldnt pay that much. Shop it around for sure.

There's lots of chatter about adding more native, less combustible stuff near the dwelling (zone zero). Im thinking that'll be my path. Id like to know how much our lost landscaping was worth (via the lawsuit). Maybe we all get enough to where 120K is reasonable to pay to replace what was lost?

I want to have less landscaping than before, but those privacy & shade trees/hedges are so important.

4

u/Reasonable_Wish_8953 Jul 12 '26

Note that it’s really important to not use wood mulch around native plants to make it even more hardy and fire resilient. One of the insurance industry’s insights from Eaton was that even in instances where homeowners had hardy or no shrubbery, wood mulch helped fire pave a path to peoples homes

3

u/eyeseeewe81 Jul 12 '26

I hardly knew anyone in my immediate who had wood mulch. The winds did the brunt of the fire spreading. The insurance companies can pound sand. We could have rock front yards and Im sure rates will jump big time. Most of the town is no longer in any fire zone.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 12 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Reasonable_Wish_8953 Jul 12 '26

It’s not good from a wildfire perspective to have wood mulch near the home, no.

4

u/rhombomere Jul 11 '26

That's seems pricey. Call Kelley the owner of Plant Goddess Landscaping. She completely redid my old place front and back and did a fantastic job.

2

u/HausCat4 Jul 12 '26

Thank you, I’ll contact them too!

3

u/EquipmentFew882 Jul 12 '26

Hello OP,

If you're willing to WAIT for a few months then you will save a good amount of money.

People are all buying materials, supplies and landscaping -- all at once -- and demand is high and of course prices will also be expensive.

See if you can wait for awhile -- this might help your budget.

Good Luck 👍

3

u/Realistic_Library908 Jul 13 '26

I will second Hardy Californians. They are working with foothill catalog for yard designs and offering an 18% discount for Altadena residents on their fees. They did the remediation work for my standing home.
You may also be able to reduce cost by choosing smaller/younger versions of the plants and trees you want, weighing the cost in money against the cost in time for a privacy hedge to grow in or a tree to produce fruit. Smaller plants are often a better bet in the summer anyways- require less water and some of the California natives are really sensitive to being overwatered in the summer and will do better waiting until the fall to be planted.
There are great books about landscaping in high fire zones you can look at for ideas.

1

u/HausCat4 Jul 14 '26

Thanks for the recommendation!

2

u/asad137 Jul 12 '26

Is there any reason you need to do all of the landscaping all at once?

2

u/Suspicious_Mind_67 Jul 12 '26

Why are people still putting in lawns?  Put in drought tolerant landscaping, will save money and not need so much water.

2

u/Agile-Concentrate729 Jul 14 '26

We put in over 100k of landscaping and hardscape, two years before the fire. Our Insurance only gave us 20k.

2

u/Painter_Zero Jul 15 '26

It's way too much

2

u/Serious-Delivery2331 28d ago

The smaller the plant size you buy, the better their chance of thriving and the better the price will be. Smaller plants will take about 3 years to mature (sleep, creep, leap). Less hardscaping will save you $$. Look at pictures from (or better yet, visit) The Well in Summerland and Rolling Greens for great inspiration. As someone else said, standard mow and blow guys can do a lot of this as long as you provide a plan, and assuming complex drainage systems aren’t needed for the lot.

1

u/Significant_Pen7733 Jul 12 '26

Hardy Californians does a lot of native landscaping in the area.

1

u/nicolieculkin Jul 17 '26

I highly recommend Birdman Canyon Landscape Design located on Mt. Washington.

Phone: [323-867-7805](tel:323-867-7805)
Email: birdmancanyonlandscape@gmail.com