The front yard is an often neglected area; however, it is essentially the ‘face’ to your home – it makes up your home’s outwardly appearance and is what you present to the world (or street, to be precise). For those looking to up their resale value (or simply make their neighbours jealous), updating your front yard is the easiest way to give your house a quick and easy facelift. People don’t have to know what’s going on in the background if you’ve got an immaculate, well groomed, modern facade. So, how can you spruce up your front yard? What are some things you can do to make it look a bit more luxurious and expensive?

Choosing Your Design and Style

You may or may not already have a style in mind for your front yard, but utilising a clear style or vision is a good first step towards designing your front yard. It’s important to make sure this design is also consistent with the look of your home and its interior, so that it doesn’t clash. For example, a Queenslander can be updated to look like a modern Hamptons home with some crisp white paint, colourful summer-time flowers and pastel accents. Or if you’ve got a brick home, you may want to emphasise it’s cottage charm. For endless inspiration, search through platforms like Pinterest – be warned though, you may go down a rabbit hole of endless scrolling! Also keep in mind the maintenance you’ll need to do in order to upkeep your home – are you happy to spend lots of time and effort on your garden or are you more likely to want landscaping that is low maintenance?

For those that don’t have a particular ‘look’ in mind, we’ve got some general ideas that will help you enhance your home!

1. More greenery.

There’s a reason why ‘greener grass’ is associated with things that are better. If your grass is looking sadder than usual, it might be time to upgrade it with some fresh lawn. Out with the old, and in with the new, we say! Laying down a new lawn is a great (and fast) way to get those brown patches sorted and enjoy your newer, greener front yard straight away. To fast track the process of clearing your old grass, it’s best to utilise the power and versatility of a Bobcat loader or excavator. Both come with a bucket attachment that makes easy work of scooping up that dead, brown grass.

2. Carport or Driveway

On the other end of the spectrum, you may not want to mess around with grass that you have to maintain and water; in that case, a nicely paved front yard or driveway may be more your style. Depending on your state and local laws, you may have to apply for a permit to build a driveway or carport, or work within size limitations. For example, in Brisbane the minimum width of a driveway is 2.5 metres and the maximum depends on the size of the lot. For getting the smoothest, sturdiest, and most level driveway, we highly recommend using a compactor. You’ll want to use one of these to pass over your driveway material (concrete, exposed aggregate and bluestone are most commonly used) to ensure it is packed in tightly as it sets. This helps prevent material from crumbling when it’s dry and leaves a smooth, even surface.

3. Pathway

So, you’ve just laid down all that fresh green grass. Are you going to let people just walk all over it and tear up all your hard work? Absolutely not. And that’s why you’ve got to throw in a pathway while you’re at it! A nice, simple brick or tile pathway adds an elegance to your front yard and gives it a homey charm. It’s also ridiculously easy to create one!

Check out some of these well-executed pathways for inspiration. Remember, try to complement the style of your home. After you’ve chosen a look, all you’ll need to do is dig in where you’d like to lay down your bricks, stones, tiles, cement, sand – or whatever material you end up going with. To ensure you’re precise with your digging, mark out where you’d like your pathway to go with some spray can paint. To make quick and easy work of the digging, get yourself a 1-tonne excavator – it’s perfect for small to medium sized front yards. You’ll breeze through the excavation process and have more time for landscaping and making sure every tile is in place perfectly. To get even more use out of your hire, look at your attachment options – this mini loader comes with an optional post hole borer which is perfect for our next topic, fences. To get even more bang for your buck, get yourself a mini dumper in a combo deal. Trust us, you’re going to have a lot of dirt and materials to move around and lugging around a wheelbarrow will get real exhausting, real quick. With its own petrol engine and hydraulic system, the high tip mini dumper makes light work of up to 600kg of materials – which means fewer trips to the skip as well.

4. Fence

A fence can change the complete look of a home; just check out this amazing and affordable transformation on Better Homes and Gardens. Our hot tip for getting your fence up and painted faster is to eliminate the work of having to dig up post holes by hand – it’s exhausting and unnecessary. Thankfully, Ryno Hire provides a bunch of extra attachments – including drill bits of various sizes and post hole borers – with most machines, so that you can knock out as many jobs as possible with our multitasking equipment. As we’ve mentioned, our excavators come with optional post hole borers, but did you know that you can also add on a post hole borer to a Bobcat loader or a mini loader? If you’re ever unsure of which attachments goes with which machine, just let our friendly team at Ryno Hire guide you. For a full list of our specialised attachments, click right here.

One tip we will share is that if you’re going with a fence made of heavier materials (you know, those that are a two – or more – person job to lift), then you’ll want to utilise the strength of a concrete sleeper attachment. It can be a health and safety issue transporting heavy panels or sleepers from a to b, and in any work site you want to negate the risk of injury as much as possible, so that’s why it’s best to make the equipment work for you using specialised attachments on the right machines.

5. Landscaping and Plants

Nothing brings life to a front yard – in a quite literal sense – like an arrangement of plants. Flowers, trees, succulents, and all kinds of vegetation can give your front yard vibrancy and appeal, but you have to choose the right plants for you. Remember, plants are living things and require care and maintenance. While roses may have that ‘wow’ factor, they will require watering, pruning, and a level of dedication. If, like many, you need plants that you can essentially ‘set and forget’, Bunnings provides a great list of low maintenance plants for your landscaping needs.

The placement of your plants is also important. You want them to enhance the facade of your home and make it look more expensive and grand. For a cottage-like charm, you may like to line your pathway with some dainty flowers. On the other hand, you may actually want to enclose your home for more privacy – plants can also help you achieve that. Neat hedges at the front of your home, or wild vines that grow around your fence, can block out the busy streets and make your home feel more secluded and intimate. You can also mask unappealing features around your home by planting tall plants, such as bamboo (which also provide an exotic touch). At the end of the day, it’s up to you. For more inspiration, check out this collection of landscaping images by Country Living. For whichever design you choose to go with, a mini loader will become your go-to for landscaping. These compact machines will efficiently transport all your soils, mulch, pebbles, plants, and whatever else you need.

Considering displaying all your lush vegetation within a brand new retaining wall? Read our guide on how to make one!

6. The Extras

Now, these are the things you don’t necessarily need, especially on a tight budget. However, if you’re looking to splash out and really invest in your front yard, consider adding some of these stunning features.

• Seating. If you have the space, a little seating area for two to enjoy a hot cup of coffee in the morning is one of the most ideal additions to a home.
• Lighting. Even on budget, adding some quick lighting with a loose arrangement of outdoor lanterns adds so much warmth to a home. Even better, most outdoor lighting will operate on solar energy, meaning you don’t have to worry about installation. Just stick it in the ground and let the sun do all the work.
• Decorations. Statues, water fountains, gnomes, and other artistic features add more personality to a home. If you’re less of a plant person, you can still add character to your home with a range of fun decorations.

Before You Begin – Things to Consider!

• Consider space. Determine this first to figure out what you can and can’t do. You may want extravagant plans for your front yard, but do you have sufficient space for it to work?
• Consider your budget. Make sure you’ve factored in everything from the materials, to the equipment, to labor hire, if you need it. Determined to DIY? Ryno Hire has got you covered. All of our equipment is made for dry hire.
• Check for council approval. Some particular constructions, like a driveway, fall under council regulation. Always double check with your council that your plans are within regulation before you start a project.
• Set a schedule. There’s nothing more frustrating than a job that drags along. Set a schedule for yourself and make sure you’re completing everything in the right order by doing your research and checking in with a Ryno Hire expert.
• Set safety precautions. Now more than ever it’s important to ensure that you’re taking every precaution to stay hygienic and safe. Have social distancing and hygienic protocol at front of mind. Read about some of the measures Ryno Hire is taking to keep our customers safe during COVID-19.
• Write a checklist of the equipment you need and take it to Ryno Hire! We can help you narrow down what you need in regards to equipment and attachments, organise a rental period for when you need to use the equipment, and work out a great combo deal for you.

We hope that this article has inspired you to recreate your front yard and turn it into the sanctuary you’ve always wanted. If you’re ready to start hashing out the finer details of your project, speak to one of the friendly staff at Ryno Hire who can help you get set up with the right equipment. Enquire online or call (07) 3353 2230 today!