New Build Landscaping Adelaide
Your builder hands back a bare block. Yardner designs and builds the garden that turns it into a finished home, from levels and soil through to lawn, screening and mature planting.
Yes, Yardner works on new builds. A new home in Adelaide is almost always handed over as a blank block: compacted clay, builder's sand and rubble, no topsoil worth planting into, and nothing between you and the neighbours on either side. We design and build the entire garden from exactly that starting point.
It is the same crew, the same design process and the same finish as the established-garden work we are better known for. The difference is scope. On a new build there is nothing to keep, so every layer has to be built: levels and drainage, soil, edging, irrigation, lawn or artificial grass, screening, and the planting that stops a brand-new house looking raw.
New build projects run from $10,000 to $150,000+, depending on the size of the block, how much the builder left behind, and how much hard landscaping the design calls for. We scope the work to your budget, and phase it if the front garden needs to be finished first.
What a new-build block actually needs
The handover photo looks clean. What you are standing on is usually compacted clay, a layer of builder's sand, and buried rubble: offcuts, render, brick, and the odd length of conduit. Very little will thrive in it, and lawn laid straight over it tends to fail in its first summer.
So a new build starts underneath the garden, not with the plants. We clear what the build left behind, correct the levels so water runs away from the house rather than back into it, and bring the soil up to a standard that will hold a root system through an Adelaide February.
Adelaide soil and an Adelaide summer decide what survives
A garden that works in a display village brochure will not necessarily work on your block. Adelaide gives you heavy clay across much of the east, sand closer to the coast, hot dry summers, and water that costs money.
We select the plant palette against your block, its aspect, and the climate it has to live in, then source it through an established trade network rather than whatever a retail nursery happens to have in stock that week. That includes mature, climate-suited specimens and feature trees a retail nursery rarely carries.
Irrigation is designed into the garden from the start, so the lawn and the planting hold through summer on a fraction of the hand-watering. On a new build it is inexpensive to lay in at the beginning and expensive to retrofit later.
Privacy, on a block where the neighbours are 3 metres away
New estates and infill blocks are tight. The fences are new, the homes either side are often 2 storeys, and the upstairs windows look straight into your yard. It is the single most common thing new-build owners raise with us, and it is a design problem rather than a fencing problem.
We solve it with layered screening: decorative screens where the line needs to be immediate, and dense planting that grows into a green wall you actually want to look at. That earns you privacy without closing the garden in and turning it into a courtyard.
Mature planting, so the house does not look brand new
The thing that gives a new build away is not the house. It is the garden: 3 sticks in fresh mulch, a strip of turf, and a bare fence line. From the street it reads as unfinished, no matter how good the build is.
A new home stops looking new the day a mature tree goes in. Yardner sources established, advanced specimens through the trade, which is how a garden planted this year can look like it has been there for 10. It is the difference between a house that has been finished and a house that has been landscaped.
Getting the timing right with your builder
The best time to design a new-build garden is while the house is still going up. The design gets settled, the plants are sourced and reserved, and the crew is ready to start once the site is handed back.
Access matters more than most people expect. Once fences, gates and side returns are closed in, moving soil, turf, paving and mature trees into a backyard becomes considerably harder and more expensive. Tell us your handover date and we plan the sequence around it.
Many new estates and land titles also carry a landscaping condition: the front garden completed within a set period after handover. If that applies to you, give us the deadline. We build the front garden to meet it, then phase the rest to suit your budget.
What a Yardner new build landscaping project includes
Common questions
Do you work on new builds?
Yes. Yardner designs and builds gardens from scratch on new-build blocks, alongside the garden makeovers we are better known for. A new build simply carries a wider scope, because there is nothing on the block to keep: levels, drainage, soil, edging, irrigation, lawn, screening and planting all have to be built.
How much does landscaping cost for a new home in Adelaide?
New build gardens run from $10,000 to $150,000+. The size of the block, how much builder's spoil has to come out, the levels, and the amount of paving, retaining and hard landscaping in the design are what move the number most. We ask about your budget early and scope the project so every dollar lands where it shows.
When should I start planning the garden for my new build?
While the house is still under construction. That gives us time to settle the design and reserve the plants, and it means we can start once the site is handed back, while access to the backyard is still open. Once fences and gates close the block in, moving soil, turf and mature trees through gets much harder.
Can you do just the front garden first?
Yes. Many new estates and land titles require the front garden to be completed within a set period after handover. Tell us the deadline and we build the front garden to meet it, then phase the backyard to suit your budget and timing.
Do you remove the builder's rubble and fix the soil?
Yes, and it is not an optional extra. We clear the spoil and rubble the build leaves behind, correct the levels so water runs away from the house, and bring in topsoil and conditioner. Planting into untreated builder's fill is the most common reason a new-build garden fails in its first summer.
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Start the conversation today
If your home is ready for a garden that matches it, we'd be glad to hear from you. Tell us about your space and budget, and we'll be in touch to arrange a time.
- 0405 306 789
- Adelaide, South Australia. Metro and beyond, project by project
- Projects from $10,000 to $150,000+