Final Grade

On Monday the dirt was moved around to establish a final grade. Most of the debris was raked out, although some remains.

Monday afternoon we had a meeting on site to again discuss our landscaping plan. In addition to Pringle's landscaping contractor and my builder, the Pringle Construction Manager, the Pringle Director of Construction, a City of Mount Dora Planner, and the University of Florida's Yards & Neighborhoods Multi-County Coordinator attended. This was apparently because we had developed a more detailed plan for landscaping from the "standard" menu of plants than other customers had done, and the Florida Friendly Landscaping expert had been asked to review the plan.

We got suggestions on some changes / additions / deletions on the plants we had selected from the standard menu. Some would grow too large, others were not appropriate (right place / right plant), and others would not do well on out lot, which is essentially full sun. As an example, we were strongly discouraged from using Pampas Grass to screen the A/C unit as it would grow too large, has sharp edged leaves, and might attract snakes. We also found that we could substitute some other recommended plants that were not on the standard plant menu, at no increased cost to us.

It was agreed that we could upgrade, at our cost, from the standard pine straw in the rear to earth tone pine nugget mulch. We also agreed on the rear "buffer" landscaping.

Overall, it was an acceptable meeting for me, an "OK, but not great" meeting for my wife, and I hope satisfactory for the other players.

Our landscaping is now scheduled to be installed on Monday, October 22.