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Exposed Concrete, Fencing & Macrocarpa Planters — Torbay
A Torbay front yard where rain collected against the house entry and the gardens had grown beyond what their owner could keep up with. Six weeks: 40 m² of exposed concrete re-graded away from the house, three raised planters, and 40 m of new fencing across the boundary and both sides.
What was there before
An old paver patio, uneven and tired, with the fall running the wrong way, so every downpour left water pooling towards the front door. The gardens were loved and well planted but had become overgrown, and some of the trees had got away entirely. The front yard asked more of its owner than it gave back, and it was the part of the property everyone saw first.
What the client wanted
Two things, in this order: solve the water, and make the whole front yard easy to get around and easy to keep. Not lower-maintenance by taking the garden away — the garden is the point here — but by raising it, edging it, and giving every bed clean access off a firm, level surface you can walk, stand and work from.
Water first, then everything else
Water was the first job, and it set every level that followed. We assessed the falls and redefined them so the surface drains away from the house instead of towards it, into a channel drain at the new low point, clear of the entry, carrying water off to a cesspit. The concrete then had to reach the front door on a curve: a straight path to a door is a corridor, a curve is an invitation.
What we built
The patio is about 40 m² of 20 mm Longburn pebble exposed aggregate, 4 kg of black oxide per cubic metre, on 665 mesh with D12 borders, saw-cut at 3 m, no sealer. Same retarder-and-wash method as the Point Chevalier driveway, with one difference: the slurry stayed on site and went into a bin afterwards.
The front fence is the signature: dressed pine slats, 90 × 19 H3.2, smooth, at 10 mm spacing, on dressed 90 × 90 posts and 90 × 45 rails. Every post stands 100 mm proud of the line, so the posts read as posts and the fence divides into bays. Between the double rails runs a 100 mm gap with three vertical blocks at 100 mm centres — a negative detail, and the reason it looks made rather than bought. Boundary in off-white, side fences black.
Three raised planters, 2 × 1 m, in 200 × 100 premium Macrocarpa sleeper grade on 125 × 125 concreted piles, with a Macrocarpa edge about 20 m by 1 m alongside. Each has a scoria base ramped high up the sides, filled with premium lawn soil: it drains, because it carries sand, and holds its level under compaction.
Who did what
No consent was needed on this job, and no other trades were on site. We protected the lawns before the digger came in for the concrete prep, then used the same machine to strip the beds and take out the trees that had got away. Supplies from Central Landscape Supplies and PlaceMakers, paint from Resene.
Water first, then everything else
Water was the first job, and it set every level that followed. We assessed the falls and redefined them so the surface drains away from the house instead of towards it, into a channel drain at the new low point, clear of the entry, carrying water off to a cesspit. The concrete then had to reach the front door on a curve: a straight path to a door is a corridor, a curve is an invitation.
What we built
The patio is about 40 m² of 20 mm Longburn pebble exposed aggregate, 4 kg of black oxide per cubic metre, on 665 mesh with D12 borders, saw-cut at 3 m, no sealer. Same retarder-and-wash method as the Point Chevalier driveway, with one difference: the slurry stayed on site and went into a bin afterwards.
The front fence is the signature: dressed pine slats, 90 × 19 H3.2, smooth, at 10 mm spacing, on dressed 90 × 90 posts and 90 × 45 rails. Every post stands 100 mm proud of the line, so the posts read as posts and the fence divides into bays. Between the double rails runs a 100 mm gap with three vertical blocks at 100 mm centres — a negative detail, and the reason it looks made rather than bought. Boundary in off-white, side fences black.
Three raised planters, 2 × 1 m, in 200 × 100 premium Macrocarpa sleeper grade on 125 × 125 concreted piles, with a Macrocarpa edge about 20 m by 1 m alongside. Each has a scoria base ramped high up the sides, filled with premium lawn soil: it drains, because it carries sand, and holds its level under compaction.
Who did what
No consent was needed on this job, and no other trades were on site. We protected the lawns before the digger came in for the concrete prep, then used the same machine to strip the beds and take out the trees that had got away. Supplies from Central Landscape Supplies and PlaceMakers, paint from Resene.
Why it cost what it cost
Sprayed, not brushed. Over 40 m of fence a gun is faster, but that is not the reason: slats, posts, rails and blocks carry a lot of edges, and spraying lays an even coat across the grain and into corners where a brush leaves a line. The same logic runs through the job: falls set before the concrete was ordered, scoria as high up the planters as it goes, beds raised to a height you can work at standing.
What the client said
Great price. Fantastic job from Kevin! Very accommodating and easy to work with. Great result, thanks again.
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