Like most new builds, this property had been given the bare minimum – a single slab path that led from the back gate to 9 small slabs by the patio doors, and even they were only laid on sand.
The rest of the garden was laid to lawn sloping away from the house, but also sloping right to left with a dip in the furthest left corner.
The brief was to create a 2 tier garden – top tier patio, bottom tier flat level grass. 2 x retaining walls with one at the bottom of the garden and one to retain the upper tier that came above the level of the patio with steps down to the grass.
After discussions with the customer, the idea of having steps by the patio doors and a ramp nearest the gate/garage to allow easy access for a lawnmower and the kids to get their bikes and toys up and down was agreed.
To create the lower grass level, we needed to protect the boundary fences – the bottom fence had concrete spurs added to each post. This would mean the fence posts would not require any future work for many years to come thus allowing us to create a retainer directly in front of the fence utilising 
all the space available. The left side neighbours fence also required a retaining wall, this was constructed using concrete blocks which would allow the neighbours to be able to work on their fence without causing issues to our customers garden in the future. We topped this with a soldier course of bricks to make it look like a brick wall above ground rather than a concrete block wall.
We managed to use the soil within the garden without removing anything to create the lower tier. Only having to bring in new topsoil to allow us to re turf the garden at the end.
The retaining wall, steps and ramp for the top tier was also created using concrete blocks. The wall was then rendered on both sides and topped with the same Marshalls Casarta Slate as coping stones. A small drainage gully was created between the wall and the patio and filled with decorative stone. The jointing compound used was buff coloured.
The lower tier was then returfed using 120 sq. m of turf.
The addition of a soakaway behind the garage came about as we found the rain drain added by the builder to the side of the garage taking all the roof rain was going nowhere but onto the grass. Whilst we had the digger on site, after discussions with the customer, we agreed to add a soakaway to ensure that the long-term effects of the rainwater didn’t cause issues with the new garden.
The additions of a soakaway, the customer extending the patio by a further 600mm wide, a soldier course of bricks on the top of the retaining wall, fixing a broken fence post on the rear fence coupled with a very wet November, made the job run slightly over the 12 days that we had estimated. We also fixed the customers gate which wouldn’t close properly whilst we were there.
The 60 sq.m patio, steps and ramp was produced 3 packs of Marshalls Casarta Slate.
The turf came from George Davies Turf Ltd, Olney, Northamptonshire. www.georgedaviesturf.co.uk
Other materials came from Hard Landscaping Supplies, Northampton. www.hlsupplies.uk