Backyards are a portal to fun, adventure, and leisure. It can be a place for kids to play baseball, run around or go on imagination fueled adventures to far off lands filled with pirates and aliens. A backyard can be a place for gathering with family and friends, to talk and to eat delicious barbecue. Backyards can also just be the place to lay out in the warm sun, read a book or listen to a podcast, and just let your worries melt away.

But backyards also don’t magically appear. They take hard work to create and maintain. Especially if you are one of the many people buying a new home in western Idaho, your backyard is likely a blank canvas of dirt and rock. Even if you already have a backyard, you can always renovate to make it exactly what you want.

In order to do so, we’ve got some advice on building your perfect backyard. It might not be easy, but it is possible!

Getting Inspiration

Before anything else, you need to know what elements you want to bring it all together. Are you wanting fence to fence grass? A big playset for the kids? A garden to work your green thumb? What makes your dream backyard special to you?

If you need help figuring out what to do, go through places like Pinterest, ask to see other people’s backyards, or look online at some of the best backyards in the country. A dream backyard should have the elements you want while also being obtainable. You might imagine you want a massive waterpark in your backyard, but realistically that might not be possible. But if you want a hot tub or a small pool in the back, those are things you can achieve!

You Can’t Build without a Plan

To make it as easy as possible to build your backyard, you should start with a plan. Nothing is more frustrating than doing something in your backyard, just to see some of your work destroyed or have to be redone because a different element ruined it.

When building your plan, you need to consider every element and how they all fit together. Grass, shed, trees, garden, firepit, playground, hot tub, trampoline, and more are all pieces that need to be considered. Once you identify what you want, you then need to plan for supporting elements. Grass will need sprinklers, a shed might need a walkway or path, and a hot tub will require hookups to the house. All of this needs to be accounted for.

An important part of your plan should be a budget. How much can you afford to spend on the backyard? Your dream backyard might take some significant money and before you get started, you should make sure you can pay for it. For each element of your backyard, do some research to get a good sense how much everything will cost.

Getting Quotes

Even if you plan on doing everything yourself, it’s not a bad idea to get some quotes from professionals. They can give a good estimate on what your backyard will cost, and can also identify potential issues you haven’t noticed yet.

Don’t just get a single quote for everything, meet with multiple professionals. You’ll get multiple opinions and advice for your backyard and could find the one with the best price and service if you do want to go with a contractor.

Going DIY or Hiring Someone

Once the plan is set and you know what to do, it’s time to get to work. A great first step is to decide what projects you want to handle yourself and which ones you want to hire someone to handle. Likely, there are some tasks that are simply manual labor, while others will require technical knowledge and skills.

For example, before putting down grass, you need to rake out rocks and put down fresh dirt to make it all flat. This is something that just takes time and manpower, a perfect DIY task for most people. But putting in sprinklers for your grass is a bit more technical and could be a good job to hire a professional for.

If you do go with hiring contractors, be sure to go with a reputable company that comes with a warranty and will respect your vision and property. Sometimes, you might need them to come back and fix a mistake or tweak something, and a more reputable company will be easier to work with.

As you make decisions, schedule out when each piece will happen. Avoid having contractors all work at the same time or have to delay work that requires something else. For example, you don’t want to put down grass sod if you don’t have the sprinklers in yet.

Have a Maintenance Schedule

The first couple of years with your new backyard is the most important. Your grass is starting to put down roots, trees are establishing themselves, and everything is settling. You need to work hard to take care of everything or risk it going wrong.

Fertilize your lawn, water your grass and trees, keep everything clean and pull those weeds that will pop up. Make it a regular task to care for your backyard and it will stay nice. Be diligent those first few years you have it and it will be easier to care for in the future.

Paying For Everything

Building that dream backyard is not going to be cheap. Just doing the basics like putting down grass sod and putting in sprinklers will likely cost a few thousand dollars depending on the size of your backyard. Those extra that turn it into your dream yard will just be adding to that cost.

The first solution is to save up for the backyard. Look for non-essential purchases you make and instead, start putting that money towards your backyard. Pioneer’s Special Purpose Savings account is perfect for this goal. It can help you keep track of how much you have saved and keep it separate from the rest of your accounts.

If your home has a good amount of equity, which is very common in Idaho’s rapidly growing demand in the housing market, you could utilize that towards your backyard. A Pioneer Home Equity Line of Credit can put the buying power in your hands now and then let you pay it off later overtime.

Learn More About HELOCs!