Landscaping in Mulgrave, starting with where the water goes

This year we've been back to one Mulgrave household twice. The first job was groundwork: a crushed rock and washed sand base, a trench with conduit laid through it, and Daniel, our registered plumber, on site for his part of the work.

About a week after we finished, the same owners asked us back for a water problem. We cut a strip drain into their existing concrete and piped it away in 90mm stormwater pipe, then carted off the broken concrete and soil. Being asked back that quickly is the kind of feedback I like best.

We've also quoted and walked other yards around the suburb this year, so you won't be the first Mulgrave job on our books. Out of respect for those clients, we never publish addresses or anything that points to a particular house.

Mostly because water needs a fall to move, and a lot of Mulgrave yards don't have one. Many of the blocks we see here sit close to flat, the ground underneath is often clay, and paving laid decades ago may tip towards the house. Rain sits wherever the yard is lowest.

It's not just a garden problem. VICSES lists Mulgrave among the Monash suburbs at risk of flooding, and its local flood guide notes both riverine and flash flooding in the municipality's history. A backyard drain won't change what happens in a big storm, but it does stop everyday rain pooling against your back door.

There's also a rule about where the water ends up. Monash explains that the rain falling on a property is drained to what is usually its lowest point, called the legal point of discharge, and that the owner is responsible for the drains up to council's stormwater system. So every drain we put in connects to your stormwater, not to the back fence.

Here's what we usually find on a flat Mulgrave block, and the fix for each.

The order matters. Drainage goes in before the turf or the new paving, because digging up a fresh lawn to fix a pipe is money spent twice. Once the water has somewhere to go, a Sir Walter Buffalo lawn on decent topsoil has a real chance. We've laid 15,000 square metres of turf, and when a new lawn struggles, wet ground underneath is one of the first things I check.

Mulgrave runs from the Clayton side across to Dandenong Creek, and it filled up later than the suburbs closer to town. Farming carried on here well into the postwar years, with orchards along High Street Road, before the housing estates of the 1960s and 70s took over.

Those original estates are where most garden renewals happen now. The lawn and beds often went in with the house, so they're fifty-odd years old: thin couch, tired shrubs, and paving that has sunk or tipped. If yours has a big established tree, read the next bit before it comes out.

Check with council first. Some areas of Monash are covered by a Vegetation Protection Overlay, and council's online map shows whether your property is one of them. Separately, Victoria's canopy tree rules need a permit to remove or lop a tree at least 5 metres tall with a canopy at least 4 metres across, in specified residential zones. Under those rules, dead trees are exempt, and so is maintenance pruning that removes no more than a third of the foliage.

Then there's Waverley Park. The VFL opened its stadium in Mulgrave in 1970, and after the last AFL game in 1999 the old car park was turned into around 1,400 homes. Those homes are far newer than the original estates, so the starting point is different: less clearing out, more upgrading what the builder left.

The Mulgrave Freeway, now part of the Monash Freeway, cuts the suburb in two from the north-west corner to the south-east, and we work on both sides of it.

It depends on the yard. Turf changes with old lawn removal, topsoil depth and access, paving with the material and the base, and drainage is priced per job once I've seen where the water has to go. Every quote is free and written up after a site visit.

Your written quote breaks out labour, materials and waste removal on separate lines, so you can see exactly what the drainage costs compared with the lawn or the paving. If the budget won't stretch to everything, doing the drainage first and the garden later is a sensible split.

Their quote was reasonable, and was sent to us in one day.

1. Ring or send photos. Call 0489 952 492 or use the quote form. A photo of the wettest corner helps.
2. Walk the yard together. I look at where the water sits, where your stormwater runs, the state of the soil and whether a machine fits down the side.
3. Written quote. Every part priced on its own line.
4. The build. Levels and drainage first, then paving, then turf and planting.
5. After handover. You get a watering plan for any new lawn, and we're a short drive away if you need us back.

Behind that, Regal carries $5 million public liability insurance, and Daniel, our registered plumber, handles the plumbing side of the work.

Looking for a landscaper in Mulgrave? Tell me what bugs you about the yard, whether it's the soggy lawn, the puddle at the door or a garden that's had its day. The site walk and the quote cost nothing.

From the same yard we work across the surrounding suburbs too: Glen Waverley and Mount Waverley to the north, and our own patch in Clayton South. The full list is on our service areas page.