Question
Hello
We are having a fence installed around our new pool. Because of the slope of the land, the fencing contractors put the fence in so that it goes straight across the top, but at the bottom in some areas (about two 5' sections) it is higher than the required minimum of 3 inches from the ground.

The fence guys seem to think this will be no big deal to fill in. My husband insists that he will need a truckload of topsoil to completely regrade from the pool down to the fence. He thinks it will take a long time and be a lot of work.

Have you encountered similar situations?  It didn't look like it would be a big deal to me, but I grew up in a city and never dealt with soil unless I was on vacation :-)

Would you recommend calling in a landscaper to help with this, or is it something people generally do on their own?

Thanks for any insight.

Answer
First, I can not really offer any specific advice without personally seeing the site or lots of pictures. It could be really simple case of a couple of $3.00 bags of soil and a wheel barrel or if it would cause drainage problems it could be much more costly and difficult. You'll have to make that decision on your own using your best judgement.

Note, If you hire a landscaper they aren't going to want to do the job unless it is a bigger job... so that is probably the answer you will get. You might want to get a Registered Landscape Architect and pay them for an hour of their time ($65 to $150/hr) to take a look at the situation and make a professional recommendation. Make sure the LA is not affiliated with a contractor or my last comment applies again.

The first thing I would do is just see what happens when the pool is inspected. If they don't notice it then your good to go. Unless you already know they will scrutinize it or if you have small pets, I would let it go.

If that is not an option you could go after the fence installer to fix it (legal action if needed). This is difficult unless the contract states fence is to be built to meet pool code or there were written specifications that required 3" or less.

Good Luck.


Sean J Murphy, LA,ISA, LEED AP
Please check out my blogs and articles on landscape topics like this on my websites.
http://www.seanjmurphy.com
http://amenityarchitects.com