Small Lots Cost Less to Improve

The expense of improving a landscape is a reason to look at small lots as a plus.

With a strong back, a good set of garden tools and a good nursery for advice and material, a homeowner with just a few hundred dollars in the budget can start a great back yard.

Which is not to say that you can’t spend a whole lot more.

Victor Garcia, who owns Santiago Pools, estimates that he spent about $4,000 for materials and put $32,000 worth of labor into his High Sierra-style watercourse.

Barbara Brinkerhoff said that while the landscape architecture firm Lifescapes has done multimillion-dollar jobs, it has also prepared conceptual designs for small back yards that would cost just a few thousand dollars to execute.

Josh Hard said a small (1,000 square foot or less) back yard native landscape can run $5,000 to $8,000, including a dry stream, but he says he can do a dry stream alone for $2,000 to $4,000, leaving the landscaping around it for the homeowners finish.