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Hey everybody coach here hey thanks for taking a couple of minutes right during the busy holiday season to listen to me whether you’re on the go or at home or at the gym or whatever you’re doing thanks for taking a few minutes hey you know by uh designating a particular
Utility area in the landscape you really do consolidate things in the manner of location in needs of repair times or replacement times and keep from being spread out and Helter Skelter throughout the whole landscape that’s what we’re discussing this week we’re going to discuss this today and the wise and
Wares that go along with them hey I am really glad you’re here I am so glad to be done with the storm that we had come through Brooklyn Pond this week oh my God power lines uh nearly taken out trees down all over the place yeah it’s
Been kind of a whirlwind hey let’s get started shall we hey friends Maestro here just dropping a reminder to check out the podcast description for for Discount opportunities and any important links also if you’re listening to this podcast on a specific app please don’t forget to
Rate and review the show it helps us grow and continue to provide these free podcasts hey welcome back hey thanks for uh thanks again for being here so you know kind of throughout the residential landscape evolvement over the decades use areas for most part have kind of remained somewhat scattered and when I
Say use areas uh places that people use not for entertainment not for play not for gardening but use areas for functionality uh where do we put certain things that uh are useful outdoors and I’ll give you some examples garbage cans how many people have seen in neighborhoods where garbage cans go in
The front driveway or next to the side fence or visible from a public area that would be one one use area that we could address or the old proverbial lawn mower that just sits next to the the garage door it doesn’t have really a place it doesn’t have a home it’s never
Covered up and it just sits there until the next time it’s used why do we do this in my experience people do it because of ignorance and I don’t say that in a bad way it’s just you don’t know what you don’t know you’ve never been taught you’ve never been shown know
A different way and kind of that’s what this whole episode is about just a kind of a an aha an Awakening a way to look at something through a different colored lens often times we designate areas of use and utility because areas are dictated by what is made available at
The time we take occupancy and no thought as to modification to convenience and consolidation it’s something like eh you know it’ll work I it really does doesn’t matter to me that kind of an attitude that goes into it and like I said for instance you know garbage locations mowers kids bicycles
The extra car Etc but we often follow since many many people are kind of like sheep or Lemmings we do it because the Joneses down the street and the Smiths next door do it that way so we kind of adapt and fit in without really giving any extra thought to thinking outside
The box because of our particular situation it might work a heck of a lot better if we just kind of rearrange things just a little bit and I think in this day and age nowadays we can rethink things just a bit like the $6 million band many decades ago you know we have
The technology we can rebuild it and so we can locate most things like irrigation valve assemblies lighting Transformers garbage areas storage areas Tools in an area that is all in one place and very easily accessible and placed strategically so that it’s convenient but slightly out of sight so
That it’s not visible from the front yard it’s not visible when you go out on the back patio necessarily and it is removed from the outdoor entertaining the play area the gardening area unless you bring your gardening right up to that area so it’s really something to
Think about and it keeps away prying eyes of all the little things that you have there and no Snickers or uh looking down the noses at you because you’re not quite organized as everyone else might be you know when I was uh doing a lot of
Designing for folks I kind of made it a trademark of my designs depending on the side of course to kind of employ this consolidation Theory and when I did presentations I’ll be honest with you there were times that people initially could not get their heads around it it
Was like you want to what why what and then you know you have a five five minute conversation about it and you can see the rat on their mental light bulb just kind of brighten and they kind of go aha moments that come upon these customers minds and you know I would say
Could I do it for every landscape no not everyone there was just some layouts uh either because of size or space or the way it was to change it it would not have made a cost efficient move for them but could we consolidate parts of things
Yes we could and it was a like I said a big trademark of mine to not only redo the garden aspect of a landscape but also the functionality uh the navigation the store storage all those kinds of things came into play as a landscape designer and I would say uh of all the
Designs I did both existing homes and new homes I bet you there was or reorganization and rethinking of it probably 75% of the time and out of that 75% probably 50% actually bought in on it if it was cost effective I mean it fit their budget Etc so the elements
That we are consolidating are things that we call in the business the mechanical aspects of the landscape and here we’re talking things like if you have a lighting system lighting Transformers and the where everything comes to as far as those Transformers all the the cabling Etc irrigation assemblies where the irrigation valves
Are where you happen to be if you have such a thing and the irrigation timers I often times placed irrigation and lighting timers right on the same wall all just mere inches away from each other and I always made sure that we had power that came right out to that area
Also sheds and sheds this you know in this day and age they’re certainly multi-purpose but in this case I’m talking about sheds that uh would alleviate space in the garage and transfer utility to those sheds where mowers and hand tools and many other storage things maybe some seasonal stuff
Could be placed and really eliminate the cluttered floor space and the the shrinking of a garage and also garbage can areas uh one of the things that I used to really like to do in designing was I would pour a concrete garbage can pad and then I would enclose it on one
Side uh actually two sides you had a side walkway a gate a driveway so your garbage cans were never going across lawn across Garden through narrow passageways or anything else and they were put back where they really needed to go another thing was pool equipment
If you happen to have a pool or thinking about one all of this stuff can go into one area and power could be brought to there gas lines can be brought to there all the plumbing and everything else so it’s kind of around the corner type of
Thing and it could be around the corner sequestered off with a small in yard fence area the shed could be behind the fence your pool equipment could be behind the fence Etc so it’s kind of out of sight and then your outdoor living areas and your landscape and everything
Else is kind of uninterrupted by those things those looks you don’t have a rake a shovel and a hoe and a bunch of other hand tools stuck in a corner sticking up out of a garbage can CU that’s the only place you ever decideed to put it so
These items and the like are in one area you know on many occasions I would urge folks not to convert their garage into a tool shed but rather designate that shed area bring power out to it and locate all the above items that I talked about and leave the garage for vehicles
Vehicles and if you’re in an older home maybe your washer and dryer out there if you don’t have a basement type of thing but hey what a concept huh just garage for vehicles and you can maybe make some space if you wanted to hang a bike or
Something up off the ceiling or whatever but to be able to walk around in a garage open doors you don’t have to let people out in the driveway and then you drive in the driveway because you can’t open or you drive in the garage because you can’t open the doors in there for
Everybody because there’s too much stuff that’s not what garages were meant for so with a little bit of forethought and not just doing what everybody else has done over the course of decades your landscape and more importantly all the supporting elements of that landscape can have a layout with
Convenience and function in mind it really can it makes a difference for you the homeowner it makes a difference for visitors it makes a difference when you put the sign in the front yard as far as selling the only caveat is the smaller the properties the like okay let’s make
A a real obvious for instance if you have a condominium okay and you have a very small patio situation with maybe a little storage Nook next to it that has the hot water heater in there too obviously you’re not going to be able to do this very much but if you have a
Particular property that is maybe 50 by 100 and you don’t have a whole bunch of stuff you can still get a small small shed where your mowers and your tools and maybe some seasonals and things that you don’t use on a regular basis you can use that shed for storage free up space
In that one or two car garage and when that garage door is open it’s not open to all the prying eyes of what do they have type of look you drive in your garage and when the doors open they see a car and that’s about it so it lends
Itself a little bit to security so is this the only way to approach utilitarian areas in the landscape of course not small skinny sidey yards and really small backyards are going to kind of hamper this a little bit but you can you can’t augment certain things like
Electrical and you can use your garage wall for irrigation timers and Transformers so they’re inside even though they’re rated for outdoor use you can bring them inside cuz that’s where your power is but I often often times went in checked out the electrical system on the panel saw what kind of
Power is being run to what and I would have my electrician come to the job and he would just pull pull power right from a interior plug and bring it outside and put an exterior rated plug on the outside without putting any damage to that particular run on that breaker
We’re not talking about exceeding any load I mean my gosh an irrigation timer draws milliamps when it’s actually working and The Lighting systems that are out there now especially on LED bulbs you’re you’re talking wattage not amps so anyway you you kind of get the picture
Of what I’m trying to portray here for you I’ll tell you one thing that is very much ignored as far as a convenient place to do things is an elevated deck area you know with the technology of drainage troughs that they can put underneath decks now you can make that a
Dry space you can open up and in enclose a gate that you could easily access underneath there and you can put all the things that I’ve mentioned and use the UND side of the deck as a dry storage area by graveling it in elevating it with a couple of shelving units or
Something and using using that wasted space very very resourcefully uh I saw a YouTube video and I don’t remember the Channel that I saw it on I think it might have been April wilkerson’s Channel she did a fantastic Mega drawer pull system that she stored underneath
The the decking area where a lot of tools and stuff were laid into these drawers and then the decking was waterproofed up above and rerouted so these drawer areas were a dry area it was very very well done and it kind of stuck in my head but I think you know at
This point in modern day Modern Day stuff and all the information age that we have at our fingertip tips I think we should have evolved enough as homeowners responsible homeowners to where we don’t have the old ratty garbage cans in our front driveway you know and we don’t
Have the lawnmower the kids bikes the the ratty look shall we say in some cases you know people’s lives are so busy that maybe that’s just the way it’s going to be for you maybe maybe not but there is a different way and I think when it comes to Landscaping and Landscape
Organization you will feel much better driving in your driveway when things are done this way as opposed to it’s just the way I’ve always done it and I really don’t give a crap well give a crap I really suggest that you do you pay a mortgage on the place every insurance
And taxes you got neighbors that walk by your house why not put your best foot forward and show show that you really care about the home that you’re paying for now I will tell you this now at brooken Pond although it is winter I have designated an area already where
Many of these Concepts and elements that I’ve just talked about will be placed a large covered garage and shed will be erected next year it will accommodate trailers and my camper and tools all the lawn and garden implements everything will be relocated out of my garage my
Pseudo garage it’s the worst layout I’ve ever seen a garage ever and I have power out where the shed is going to go so it’s easily powered up as far as lighting as far as uh hooking up block heaters for my truck when I park it out
There Etc so it’s going to be much more functional and then yes then my garage will be tackled as well because of my layout I will be slightly hampered by not being able to scream C off the area visually not all of it anyway so there is that but I’m thinking of already
Selling way down the road and the curb appeal needed to generate that aha when they drive up the driveway moment for that sale and I don’t want to have a whole bunch of crap that people have to look at when they drive up my driveway
And they look at the house for the first time it should be a oh wow isn’t this nice moment it’s the same kind of thing when I drove up the driveway and I saw it and I said hey blank canvas wow so when someone sees it when we’re got the
Sign in the yard maybe it’ll be even better so a combination of garage modifications Landscaping outdoor seating and living area decking will be much more appealing and certainly not tainted with wood piles and sheds and trailers and all the other things things that go along with what’s going to be in
My utility area so to wrap this up let me ask a couple of questions what is your setup like are you scattered about with one thing here and another there does all your Mechanicals for outdoor service tools and other elements mentioned exist pretty much all over or
Pretty much in one place in closing I’d like to take an unofficial poll how many functions does your garage serve how many functions is it a Carson garage uh a collection place of many things or do you go all out and just stuff it to the rafters with everything except a vehicle
Hey join me over on YouTube join me over my channel on the YouTube community and throw an answer back hey it’s the holidays take a few minutes if you got a couple days off you know take five minutes and just jump on and let me know
I’m kind of curious of man am I the only one that has this kind of thought be kind of nice to know you know I hate my garage right now and I will be changing in 24 in a big big way I need to reacquire my tools and other things from
A storage trailer out west though so we’ll be back on the road again come springtime well here it is a few days before Christmas 2023 new year’s is right around the corner so hey any plans mulling around in the head for a landscape project for next year now is
The time to start thinking about it it is anything of size now is the time to start putting it down on paper if you’re doing it yourself you know thinking about budgets and designing and planning and sourcing stuff and if you know that you want to do something but you’re not
Sure exactly what to do with it so basically you’re stuck we can Banner some ideas over email if you want and if you’re really stuck and you want to get off on the right foot check out the lowcost consultation that I do online over at yyard coach.com hey that’s what
I have for you this week and until next time I really do wish you guys the best of the holiday season and as always to your organized landscape success and I’ll see you guys next week thanks for staying with me see you over on the YouTube channel any questions you can
Always reach out bye for now hey friends Maestro here just dropping a reminder to check out the podcast description for Discount opportunities and any important links also if you’re listening to this podcast on a specific app please don’t forget to rate and review the show it helps us grow and
Continue to provide these free podcasts again thanks for listening to this week’s show and we’ll see you right here next week