Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Commercial Construction: Student Housing, Auburn, AL

Student housing, below, Auburn, AL.  Red clay upon arrival, 3 weeks into construction with Heard's Landscaping, Inc., below.


Design constraints: rectangular site between major east-west USA railroad track, and a college street parrallel.  Maximizing student housing, parking. amenities  (pool, sunning terraces, golf, dog walk, volley ball, grilling, student safety.)


Shaefer Heard, Heard's Landscaping, Inc. has worked with the owner of this project for 3+ decades in several states, myriad sites.  Malls, doctor's buildings, fast food restaurants & etc.  Projects range from $50,000.00 - $500,000.00 + .
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Owner, for the above, puts together an experienced team for scouting sites, buying, designing, construction, maintaining. 

Heard's Landscaping, Inc. & Construction, licensed home builder, is a traveling minstrel for commercial gardens & construction.   


 Georgia red clay, above,  to swimming pool, volley ball, turf, irrigation, fencing, painting, lighting, stone, grilling & etc.  Heard's Landscaping, Inc. is local, and out-of-state for commercial projects.  In addition, between larger projects, Heard's Landscaping, Inc., creates residential gardens.


Plant materials are personally sourced, above, by Shaefer Heard.  All of the plantings, above, arrived via 18-wheeler truck.


Owner of this project knew a busy railroad track & parking detracted from selling his new student housing.  Large specimens were planted to diminish both.


Pool decking, above, is travertine set in sand.  Shaefer Heard Landscaping, Inc. has been installing pools for 2 + decades with this team.





Commercial projects are a team.  Heard's Landscaping, Inc., looks forward to working with this owner at each bid.


Of course this project was installed during July/August (2014), temps above 100f many days.


Deadlines loom.  Some work days ended at 1am.



The Auburn Tiger's, War Eagle, stadium is within walking distance of this project.


A multi-million dollar project for the owner, each student housing suite needed to be rented.  Aesthetics, and safety, sold the units.  All units rented ahead of opening.


Heard's Landscaping, Inc., after completion of this project, is totally miffed at the lack of control over students walking their dogs near every door entry/exit.
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An apartment complex in Atlanta, GA requires residents to supply their dog DNA to management, for dog poop fines.
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Maybe?

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Filling in the Pool & Keeping the Jacuzzi

Client wanted their swimming pool filled in, yet keep the jacuzzi, below.
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Pebble Tec & new tiles were added to the jacuzzi, and a lower waterfall basin, with new stone coping to match the existing on the jacuzzi.


A Conservatory will replace the swing, above, with the next layer of their garden plan.


We built the arbor during this phase, see previous post.



Fire Ring

Asked to fill in the swimming pool, turf below, a fire ring was added.



Pool decking, above, was kept to use as a patio.

Adding French Doors to a Living Room Wall

Hired to fill in the swimming pool, Tara Dillard, designer on our team, designed French doors, below, to replace the wall between a pair of windows in a living room.


With an arbor, pair of ceiling fans, chandelier, and new garden seating area.


Turf, below, is where the swimming pool had been.

Front Porch Curb Appeal: Widened Steps

Three foot wide steps led to the front porch & front door.


Out of scale with the home, Tara Dillard, our team designer, designed wider steps.  


 Curb appeal, a gracious welcome.

Boulder Stone Retaining Wall: Dry Stack


Stone boulder wall, retaining a hillside.  Dry stack, no concrete or mortar.


Built at a client's vacation cabin.

Potager with Cobblestone & Gravel


Granite cobblestone edging, amended soil in raised beds, #89 granite gravel paths.


Small potager in front of a client's carriage house.