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Is it me, but I wouldn't have guessed it would have cost $15,000 to redo this area? That's a ton of $$$'s !!

Seriously? $15,000 for that transformation? That seems to me extremely wasteful. The main thing that looks different is the weather has put leaves on the tress. Other than that, there's new slate on the ground, a boring new fence and a few lovely (if non-flowering) plants.

Don't understand why that couldn't have been done for about $5,000 or less. With some cash left over to buy chairs or chaises that would actually be comfortable to relax in outside. Fifteen grand and just two uncomfortable metal folding chairs, a bare fence and a few plants? I don't think so.

I think it looks nice, but one picture was taken in the fall/winter and one in the spring/summer, judging from the tree at the far end of the space. It's like those weight-loss products that miraculously give the before/after person a makeover.

Hey guys - $15,000 is a lot of money for a lot of people, except when you put it in the context of New York City and the average cost of an apartment. This is also the budget that used a professional designer and contractor (not DIY) and includes their fees!

$15,000 for that! Maybe I've been gone from NYC for too long and have just forgotten how much more expensive things are there but that seems insane for a yard that size and a relatively simple makeover. We recently redid our whole backyard in LA, which is at least 4 times the size, --and I mean gutted-- installing a drainage system, leveling adding a small retaining wall, installing sprinklers, all new plants, a deck and a built in firepit with patio and new furniture) for about half that. Granted we did some of the work ourselves and are lucky to have some talented friends but I'm still amazed by that price.

Nice, but $15,000?
So I'm wondering how does one become a garden designer? ;)

Who has an outdoor space like that in Midtown?!? It's bigger than my apartment.

"Hey guys - $15,000 is a lot of money for a lot of people, except when you put it in the context of New York City and the average cost of an apartment. This is also the budget that used a professional designer and contractor (not DIY) and includes their fees!"
____

Aaron, I think we all understand that NYC is expensive, but the "design" involved seems really minimal and the cost of materials shouldn't be triple, or more, what they would cost in any other city.

I would also like to add that that fence style (I believe it is called "stockade") is generally considered the lowest of the low at Home Depot. For $15K I would have liked to see a custom fence design. Even the original one was better.

I do have to agree that 15k is a lot, but I think what makes it look like such a different space is the fact that one shot is in the winter and the other is in the summer when the trees are in bloom.

Laura
http://www.grafxnerd.net

The cost comes from the gold bars buried beneath the slate.

I would love to have such a space. Instead I have a fire escape that is almost large enough for one person.
Good for you!

Wow, the "designer" is laughing all the way to the bank on that one.

It does look fantastic given the space, but the pricing does seem quite high. The only wildcard I can think of is the bluestone - a resource that has gotten very expensive recently. I live a bit north of the city and we have bluestone everywhere. People ask us if they can mine the woods behind our house and they offer big bucks. Our determined efforts to "keep it local" sure do get a boost when we can build a patio from our back yard. I also try to get all my http://www.womanswork.com/catalog/>gardening supplies locally, too.

I can easily see how this could cost $15K. Think of:
- labor cost for removing the old brick tiles (and the disposal fees from carting).
- fencing is expensive. Even the cheapest home depot panels are around $20 a foot, and he's got about 50 feet at least. Then the labor to install it.
- Bluestone is pricey. The article points out that there is over 30% of the cost in the stone alone.

Could this have been done for cheaper? Yes. The homeowner could have done his own demo and much of the installation himself after getting the design. Of course, maybe the homeowner had other things to do besides haul brick and stone and dig up the yard. Remember that labor costs in NY are through the roof.

15K is CRAZY!! This makes me want to move from NYC asap. We did the same thing for about $2K and sweat equity and looks much better (not as much fencing or blue stone) but 15K is nutso!

Personal outdoor space is important to many people living in a busy, congested , chaotic city such as Manhattan.

I think the return on the investment is what I would look at. The owner will probably live there for a long long time and to have a serene space to your own would be worth it. Those trees are probably what cost the most and most likely some watering device and re do.

I think it is really beautiful.

I was also taken aback by the cost. But he did hire designers (did he really need 2 designers to come up with that scheme?), and we all know they don't come cheap! The design itself was probably at least 15-20% of that budget, maybe more.

15 THOUSAND???!!! I'm in the wrong business.

@Max

I understand what you're saying about the cost of not doing it yourself and maybe my brokeness is making the $15k a hard thing to wrap my head around in this day and age. However, it really just seems that the money was spent just because he could spend it and the results are not very apparent.

There were ways to offset that cost without having to DIY. The main thing would be to put ads up on craigslist for everything I was going to get rid of provided the buyers did the hauling because there was nothing wrong with that old brick and the old fence could have been repurposed. That way you get a nominal fee, save on disposal costs and have demo done.

If I was the designer, I would have taken the $15k, hired a hauler and sold the "waste" on the back end for a higher profit margin.

Hm. I preferred the brick. They could've saved about 75% of the money they spent replacing a perfectly good, long-lasting, historic, and beautifully textured material like old brick, and spent a little more on a nicer fence, comfortable chairs, and some more interesting plants.

who cares how much he spent as long as he's happy with the outcome. it's his money.

I don't think it was really worth it. If you read the article there's a breakdown of costs.

His personal happiness with the space isn't really the point. Why publicize that? By running it in the paper or on AT, it is supposed to be illustrative or inspirational to others. In this case, it seems that others just aren't that impressed.

i thought that this was awful.... and that was before i found out how much it cost. first of all the fence looked better before. second, if he wanted to replace the fence, he could have gone in a more modern direction. horizontal perhaps? the plants are soooo boring. and he talked a good game, but honestly, i did my garden with the same stone, and it was a lot cheaper

@hyzen--
In the article, he mentions that those were not real bricks--just poured-concrete fake ones. So that could account for some of the cost.

I still think it's a pretty pricey garden, though.

Price quotes like this are what keep me firmly in the DIY camp whenever possible.

It would have been more "apples to apples" if the before picture was taken when the trees had leaves. If you imagine it that way, not much looks like it's changed...

But there's nowhere to even sit!

They couldn't come up with $60 bucks for a chair with a cushion?

You're not going to make it through that thick book sittin' on one of those park chairs.

What a silly story to run in our current economic climate. More DIY victories, please, less extravagent dum dums.

wow, $15,000 to take an "after" picture when it was sunny instead of overcast. absolute waste of money, whatever city you're in.

It has been interesting reading everyone else's comments about this patio, and gratifying to see that so many people had the same reaction I did. I think the problem with this post originated with the over-the-top feature in the NYT (really, a slideshow with audio too?). It's easy for AT to pick up on stories that have been "sanctioned" by coverage in major news sources or design publications, without really questioning whether they have any value to AT readers. I think at this point we have become a well-trained bunch who know how to derive inspiration out of many things, even if they are not to our personal taste. This particular project seemed to have an unappealing combination of underwhelming ideas and overpriced execution.

I think if the editors asked all of us to submit pictures of favorite elements in our patios or gardens the result would be FAR more interesting and useful than this!

I like the bluestone patio a lot (if you read the article, the bluestone alone cost about $6,000), but the fence cheapens the whole thing a bit. However, the designer probably chose the cheapest fence because it will be covered by climbing plants anyway in a couple of years.

not really impressed with the result …

Paying for the designer? What design? It looks nearly the same. This 'transformation' was a waste of money.

I agree that the price is crazy high! Now I'm feeling quite proud of my DIY container garden: http://www.poweredbytofu.com/2009/06/01/we-dig-it/

No wonder the New York Times is going broke. The only thing newsworthy about this story is that someone spent $15,000 and got so little for their money!

Hosed! And what a waste of space, NYT...while it is still far and away the best Newspaper in the US, sometimes I cannot help but shake my head at the shit that makes it to the galleys.

I just finished reading the article... wow. I don't usually read the New York Times so I have to ask, are all articles written with this same, erm, style? Because at some points, as I was trying to catch my breath through gales of laughter, I wondered if the author was intentionally being a parody of the New Yorker stereotype, or is this just some form of NY wit that my country brain is too dim to grasp?

Bejeesus. Think what Anna @ D16 could have done for him with fifteen thousand smackeroos ...

I think it looks great. You really need to have a city garden to appreciate the complexities....polluted soil/air, unreliable drainage, awful light and terrorist squirrels!
Agreed its a big chunk of money but most of that goes in labor; midtown coop boards don't really approve of protracted DIY projects nor random guys from craigslist schlepping soil/mulch/gravel/fencing/pots/trees etc through your apartment. Dumpsters need permits, workers get parking tickets as soon as they step foot out of their vans etc... I can see how 15k can vanish very quickly on a project like this. But it's his cash and no doubt a capital investment in his property.

OK, I live in New Hampshire which is cheaper than NYC. But I recently had a 12x12 poured concrete slab priced ($3000) and some fencing (another $3-4000). Healthy nursery trees and shrubs can easily cost over a hundred (trees more, even at places like Home Depot -- real nurseries $250 and up...) Plus the demo, hauling, possible electrical work, drainage, etc. Moving a few tons of blulestone through the house to get to the back yard... I can easily see how it could add up to that much money.

And the difficulty with a job like this is it's so hard to capture in a photo why it might be worth it. You have to BE there to feel the change in ambience etc.

I DIY as much as possible to save money, because I have to, but if I had the cash, I'd hire it done in a flash! (Oh, any my slab and fencing are waiting for another budget year -- I don't have the $6-7K now or any time soon, and I'm not even THINKING of DIYing those projects...)

people, not all homeowners are diy types. i don't care how deep a recession the country is in, i'd rather wait, save money, and eventually pay someone to do a good job than run the risk of my own (inevitably) less than adequate diy.

whenever i take on a home reno project, not only do i consider the cost of supplies, but also i factor in the cost of my time. i simply don't have the time to diy a project like this. even if i had the time i wouldn't want to. why not? well,because i'm just not blessed in the major-home-project-diy department (and perhaps this homeowner isn't as well).

you can't get angry at someone for spending 15k on the project of his or her choice while touting your own project as somehow being more sensible for having only spent half that. couldn't someone make the point that the 7k you spent on your landscaping project could have been put to better use had it been donated to a charity or a homeless shelter?

there will always be someone out there with an opinion about what a "better" use of a your funds should be. here's the rub, though: it's YOUR money, spend it as you like, or don't at all.

echoclarke: frankly, i like the fact that he spent money on this place precisely because the economic climate is so bad. if this guy hadn't spent 15k on a reno during a recession, then that's 15k fewer dollars in the pockets of contractors, designers, and suppliers -- all of whom have their own employees and families.

Where is the lounge chair for reading?? Where are friends sitting when they come over for cocktails?? What do you do at the end of that little gravel path that leads to a brick wall???
In my opinion, this is poor design. A garden should be functional as well as beautiful. Shouldn't there at least be some comfortable seating? I would have thought this is part of the designers' job!

Well, it's quite stunning.....but for THAT much money...I could have put in a pool in the backyard.