Avant Garde Landscape Company Victoria BC

Avant Garde is more creative and unrivalled by other landscaping companies with our many years of construction services around Victoria BC. We are a company that has a passion for going out every day to design and build concepts for some really great clients who appreciate our attention to detail and trust us to do outstanding and beautiful results for them. No matter what your visions are, we will go above and beyond to create your dreams for you. Our team thrive on creativity and a good design challenge.

Welcome to our website and we hope that we are the right fit for your needs.

Serving Greater Victoria, Saanich, Esquimalt, View Royal, Oak Bay, Ten Mile Point, James Bay, Cordova Bay, Maplewood.

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Reviews from our clients about their landscapes

By working with homeowners through out the City of Victoria area, we have been lucky enough to receive some great reviews and testimonials, below are a few that show how clients have enjoyed their experience with our company and the professional interactions and results they have in their gardens.

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How to choose the right Landscaping company for you

When it comes to finding a contractor in Victoria BC, this can be harder than it sounds.  Just searching online alone will give you around 350,000 results. Trying to navigate through the minefield of web sites that all have fancy pictures along with well-worded text, only leaves you more confused. Every company that you see, seems as good as the last, and there is alot of competition

What is the answer?

Firstly it is important to know what you’re asking for in a service provider so you can use that criteria to find someone. 

One way is to take a walk around your local neighborhood to see what your options are and what local contractors are providing.  By doing this, you can see what level of quality, different people provide. 

Things to check out for (click to open):

Hardscapes

Does it slope away from the house?

• Any hard surface should always be sloped away from the house as you don’t want surface water sitting up against your foundation.

                Are there any low points?

• Low points in brick can mean puddles in wet weather and ice patches in winter.
• If its an old patio/walkway, it could mean poor prep or installation techniques.
• Driveways can give a telltale sign, which is sunken tracks where the tyres of the vehicle enter the garage everyday. Another sign of poor construction techniques

Lawn

Is it all green?

• Lawns with yellow or brown spots in them usually mean two things, either theres not enough soil under the turf or there’s poor or no irrigation.

 Is it graded nicely?

• Hollows and low points aren’t easy to mow and visually don’t look too nice. You don’t want a lawn that you dread to cut each week.

Planting Beds

•  Beds that are mounded high usually mean they were too lazy to dig them out to add good soil, as its quicker to mound on top of the existing sub-grade.
• Higher mounded beds make watering plants tough as the water just wants to run away.
• Dead plants are a good give away. This can be number of reasons; poor planting techniques, poor irrigation, poor soil or disease.
• Mulch doesn’t like to stay on steep sloped surfaces.

Irrigation

Are the heads equal distance apart?

• From a distance it can be hard to tell if an irrigation system is built well or not
• Dead or dying plants and shrubs are a good telltale sign
• Brown spot on the lawn are also signs of poor heads spacing

‘Over’ or ‘under’ watering?

• If the beds smell ‘marshy’ and your foot sinks into the lawn, then it’s a good sign of over watering
• Plants wilting and a brown lawn are signs of a drought
• A river of water in the gutter is another great sign of over watering. No one wants to pay to waste water, even less for a landscaper to waste your water

Retaining Walls

Are they sinking or pushing out?

• If the base isn’t prepped properly, then retaining walls have a tendency to sink
• Walls without drainage can sometimes push out and crack due to hydrostatic pressure
• Depending on the type, some garden walls should also lean back by a certain percentage to help deal with pressure

Soil

Is there any good quality soil?

• Turf installed on no topsoil or poor quality top soil will show signs of stress very quickly.
• Is the lawn ‘spongy’ or very thin/thatchy. A good sign of loam
• Plants will remain small or have a hard time growing if the ground doesn’t provide them with enough nutrients.
• High clay content doesn’t take water very easily. This makes watering plants a problem.
• Good high quality topsoil can be the difference between a sick or a healthy landscape.

Mulch

Mulch is decorative as well as functional

• It can help to reduce weeds (as long as you stay on top of it)
• Fabric under mulch doesn’t work! Mulch should be topped up every few years  and turned over every few months. Fabric makes this hard. Also when you are looking to do a top up, turning the old mulch into the soil can help boost the soil for the plants. With Fabric under the mulch,  it makes it impossible to do.
• Mulch won’t stay in place with fabric, and it doesn’t take long after the initial installation, for the fabric to show through and make the bed look untidy.

These are just a few pointers to check when looking at a contractor handiwork. If they claim to be professionals, then none of these issues should be occurring.

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Of course, the other way  to ‘vet’ a landscaping company is through reviews and testimonials. Reviews can be a good indication of other peoples experiences with the people in question.  It’s definitely a good idea to ask them to give you reference’s, so that you can talk to them first. We can also take you on a walk round of one of our previous work, so you can get a firsthand experience of the quality we provide, as well as talk to that homeowner.

A good landscaping company should have nothing to hide.

Many people will tell you that a company with a cheaper quote should not be considered. This is usually true, unfortunately living in a city where everything is subject to the ‘Island’ Tax, I would look at what they do, before throwing them out.

Unfortunately, a lot of companies will charge you a fortune and still give you a very below average result.  The focus is now about getting the job done quicker and not necessarily  done right.

Asking them ‘how’ they construct their products , maybe getting a demonstration,  should be another way to weed out poor quality as well. 

As a homeowner already paying a premium for services, don’t you at least deserve to have it done right, and for that matter ONCE!

Just because more and more products around us are becoming a throw away commodity, does that mean landscaping should join it.

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What makes us the premium choice?

Our Victoria BC staff offer more than just being a design and build company. We like to offer a unique experience for all our clients. We take time to understand each of our clients requirements and with the high level of knowledge, insight and experience, are able to construct a unique design concept that works for all your needs today and many years to come.

This level of personalized service sets us above and apart from other contractors around Victoria, BC and Vancouver Island. Our main focus is to provide you with a result that not only provides you with what you need, but also works on a day to day basis for maintenance.

How can we help you?

Along with this, we also provide our clients with the guidance of explaining the pros and/or cons to construction techniques we use. By working closely with you, we have found that you will come away with a better understanding and education of how the concept was built and how it functions, along with the benefits and longevity that provides for you as a homeowner.

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Premium Services that our landscaping company offers:

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The owner of Avant Garde in Victoria BC, Phil has been working in the industry for nearly two decades, he has worked in installations and renovations, maintenance and mowing. With these experiences, he has gained a good understanding of quality and creative installation techniques, coupled with creating ideas and the best maintenance aspects relating to your new design.

Professional Quality at an affordable price

We only install concepts with the best products available in the industry, whilst maintaining a competitive price point. This means offering you the best quality package without being more expensive than our competitors. In fact some of a clients have said we are actually slightly cheaper and more creative.

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Landscape Irrigation Services:

If you’re experiencing issues with an existing sprinkler system, or have been considering a new installation, be sure to give the our professional experts a call.

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LATEST FROM OUR BLOG

Check out some of our garden blog articles:

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Professional Results provided by

AVANT GARDE LANDSCAPES

VICTORIA BC

In addition to our Professional installations, we also offer;

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We offers services in the following areas around Victoria BC:

SAANICH / ESQUIMALT / OAK BAY / OAKLANDS / JAMES BAY / SAANICHTON / BRENTWOOD BAY / CADBORO BAY / CORDOVO BAY / MAPLEWOOD / PROSPECT LAKE / ROCKLAND / SAANICH / UPLANDS / VIEW ROYAL / TEN MILE POINT / GREATER VICTORIA