Pardon my laughter. Three tons is 6,000 pounds. Have you ever shoveled 6,000 pounds of gravel? That’s like shoveling two SUVs or four or five golf carts. Do you own a big, sturdy wheelbarrow? A little one won’t do it. Can you push it and dump it? Can you do all this in Florida in July? I’ve shoveled tons of gravel and tons of soil mix. It is a LOT of work. I would pay a lot to never have to do that again. Sorry. I know the bill hurts. Get competitive bids if you like. Would you like to use only documented workers, or are you okay with workers who are afraid of being deported and willing to work for less money. I have friends who hire undocumented Guatemalans at a gas station, drive them to their house, pay them each $15 an hour and a rotisserie chicken for lunch. But they don’t have their own tools—you provide them. And they may not know how to do the landscaping the way you want it.

No need to remove the pine straw. Just add the other stuff on top. The pine straw breaks down as it is organic matter. You can get anything delivered in bulk to your door, just look on line. I love the pine straw. My house is surrounded with wildlife and many birds because my yard is filled with flowers and is nature friendly. I don't understand this fascination with rocks.

Rock
 

Just please be aware that every professional landscape designer I’ve talked with says rock is a huge “no-no”. It’s too hot for plants. Also, to change from pine needles to rock, you will need to get approval first from the architectural board, because it’s a major change in your front yard.

However, to answer your question. Most definitely you can do the work yourself.

It cost a lot of money to run a legitimate business. They should be fully insured, vehicle and payroll expenses not to mention taxes. Then they hope there is a profit at the end of the Job. It ain't cheep to be in business these days.

I've been in landscaping for 40+ years. Easy, quick number check. For $3 a square foot, you get bare minimum work, $5 gets you some nice grading and mulch or rock. Remember, these laborers are people, not machines. Some of these posts are really inconsiderate and others downright mean toward the people that do our work for us. I'll leave it at that.

hmmm...something for us to think about. We were considering rock in the garden when we eventually buy in TV for looks and lower maintenance. I see a lot of negative comments on it though. We were kinda hoping to get away from buying and spreading 10-15 yards of mulch a year for our current gardens once we retire. But if it doesn't do as well keeping weeds out and is bad for the plants, not sure it's worth it.

That's one of the reasons I wanted to start reading TOTV way before we move, learning before spending!
Thanks, all

I've got a guy! RMR Landscaping. Excellent work, great price!
 

RMR Landscaping, Cliff Robertson. 352-901-1985, cliff126767@gmail.com. He spread three yards of stone, put down landscaper-quality fabric barrier, and took all the old wood chips away. He is a hard worker and doesn't stop for anything! Great price compared to other estimates we received. Pleasant to have around too.

HUH? Of course you can do it yourself. Garden matting? Weed block fabric? Only 3 tons of gravel? That is 6,000 pounds. Endless debate pine straw vs landscape fabric and gravel. No matter what you do you will have weeds. With gravel you need to weed or pay someone to do it by hand. Tools will damage the landscape fabric.

REALITY-no matter what you do you will have weeds. We have pine straw. You will notice that in public areas the maintenance contractor uses pine straw. With pine straw you can use tools to weed. With gravel tools will damage the landscape fabric. Weeds are stubborn the will find every hole even come up between sheets of landscape fabric. Ten to fifteen yards of mulch our home is 2600 sq foot with beds all around? Reminder you are replacing what has turned to compost-rotted away. We use roughly 6 bales of pine straw every year cost is about 3-$4 a bale.

RE: low maintenance
Choice of plants is important as well as the proper plant in the right place.

Source for rocks
 

Dirt cheap on 441 Summerfield. They also deliver.

What the the contractor for the public areas uses is very telling. Thanks for all the info.
BTW, I see I left out an important factor with our current garden set up. We put out 10 to 15 CUBIC yards of mulch most years....didn't buy any this season because of dealing with other major issues like fixing our deck and 5 cubic yards of fill dirt to replace some lost due to erosion. it never stops.

We've hired landscapers twice now since moving to TV...

All my life I did the landscaping myself, it was a nice escape from the corporate world where it's sometimes hard to immediately see the impact that you're having

I've been impressed with the upfront sales talk , but lukewarm with the results from the two landscapers that we've used....but I'm beyond playing in the dirt at this
stage in my life

Are they overpriced...yes, but perhaps not for the stonework

Best advice I can give you is to hire a small operator that will actually be on site working with the crew

agreed-you will need the utility companies to come mark your property with those little flags

People first of all are replying to your original post. As I said no matter what you will deal with weeds. Truth, I am posting as I am procrastinating. With all this rain I need to do my weeding. I have not done it in weeks. Perhaps, I am lucky. My wife will complain but she will help me.

Do it yourself or pay someone. I do it myself. My wife helps me. Not only do I not pay myself, I do not pay her either.

When you hire someone they will do it all at once. When you do it yourself, you can choose to work for a hour or so and do more later or the next day or???????????

Call "Dirt Cheep" for your rock. They deliver. Dump it on your driveway with a tarp you can by from Home Depot or Lowes. Do the job yourself. Hire a handy man to remove the old Pine straw and haul away.