Website Design for Landscapers in Launceston

The state rules in brief. Tasmania's builder licences have no landscaping category. Who may build a garden structure is set by the Director of Building Control's Determination on categories of building work, and our page for Hobart landscapers sets out its limits for walls, fences, decks and pergolas. In short: a retaining wall holding up to 500 mm near a boundary, or 1.2 m elsewhere, is low-risk work an owner or competent person may build; an engineer-designed wall to 1.8 m needs a licensed builder; and work on land mapped for a natural hazard can need a building surveyor. Contract rules for building work, along with the city's levees and flood map, are on our page for Launceston builders.

Meander Valley's do-it-yourself checklist. Prospect Vale, Blackstone Heights and Hadspen are in Meander Valley, and that council publishes a checklist for retaining walls built as low-risk work. Step one is a current planning permit or written confirmation from its planners that none is needed; owners without either can send a basic dimensioned plan by email or drop it at the council office on Lyall Street, Westbury. Step two sets out the two building categories: within 1.5 m of a boundary no higher than 0.5 m and elsewhere no higher than 1.2 m, or up to 1.8 m where a licensed engineer designs the wall and the excavation won't affect sewer, stormwater or water infrastructure. Stormwater drainage goes to a licensed plumber, working either under a plumbing permit or, for simple stormwater work, lodging a Form 80 notice with the council within five days of finishing, and work worth more than $20,000 attracts state levies paid through the council. A landscaper working in those suburbs can link the checklist from a walls page and say which parts of it they take care of.

Nature strips in the City of Launceston. Councillors endorsed the city's first Nature Strip Policy in August 2020, and the guideline that goes with it asks residents to apply in writing before replacing grass with other plantings or surfaces. Plants stay below 600 mm, or 250 mm on a corner block. Planting keeps 500 mm clear of the back of the kerb and of the footpath edge, 1.5 m clear of the property line, 2 m from driveways, pits and hydrants, 3 m from power poles and street lights, and 9 m either side of a minor intersection, 15 m at a major one. Bark or mulch of 12 to 25 mm, or compacted washed granitic sand, can go down to 75 mm. Pebbles over 7 mm, sleepers, retaining walls, artificial turf, irrigation and lighting are ruled out except in exceptional circumstances, and residents may not plant, prune or remove street trees. Hobart lets a resident build a compliant verge garden without applying, so a site that covers both cities shouldn't describe the two as one.

A colder valley. The Bureau's Ti Tree Bend station, with records from 1980, averages 25 nights a year at or below 0°C and 57 at or below 2°C, with freezing nights recorded from April through to October. Launceston Airport, with records from 2004, averages 31 freezing nights a year; Hobart's Ellerslie Road averages 1.3. Rain at Ti Tree Bend averages about 680 mm a year and peaks from June to August, while summers bring around five days a year of 30°C or more. A planting calendar on your site, saying when you put frost-tender stock in the ground and which months suit paving and walls, gives owners a reason to book ahead.

The ground underneath. Mineral Resources Tasmania has mapped Launceston in its Tasmanian Landslide Hazard Map Series, with layers for potential landslide and rockfall hazard zones and another showing houses damaged by landslides, compiled from its own reports, council records and documents held by the State Archives. Land in a landslip or flood hazard area is one of the cases where garden work that would otherwise be low-risk can become notifiable, and owners can look up the planning overlays for their own address on LISTmap. Cutting, filling and redirecting water are what landscapers do, so a walls page that says when you call in engineering or geotechnical advice on a mapped slope shows an owner you take the ground seriously. We're an Adelaide team and work with Launceston businesses by phone and email, at the prices we charge everywhere. Our current clients are in SA, NSW, VIC and QLD, and none of them is in Tasmania yet.