Quality assurance in landscaping is about controlling and documenting that the work meets standards and tender documents — during and at completion. Here is the systematic approach: receipt inspection, self-inspection and completion inspection.
Introduction
A landscape gardening project must not only look good — it must document that it has been carried out correctly. Quality assurance takes place in three phases: acceptance testing of materials ongoing self-inspection during installation and handover inspection before takeover.
Phase 1 — Receiving inspection
- 01Plants: check moisture tension, lump, sorting and species (Plant Standard 2002, Quality Standard 2019). Reject plants that do not match the order or are dried out.
- 02Joint sand: check that it is DS 1136-suitable (washed, nutrient-poor quartz sand) — the supplier should document grain curve and purity.
- 03Stabilizing gravel/base gravel: grain curve and compression documentation from supplier if the project requires it.
- 04Topsoil: check humus content (minimum 2 wt-% / 3–5 % for grass, NfA 2023) and pH requirements (6.5–6.8 for grass, NfA 1992), either by supplier documentation or soil analysis.
Phase 2 — Own inspection during construction
- 01Compression: check the base layer compression with a straight edge — raw soil level under future paving maximum 4 cm gap on 3 m straight edge (areas after raw soil solution: 15 cm — NfA 1992).
- 02Falling or sliding load — incorrectly stowed or unsecured goods can overturn or fall down.
- 03Layer thickness: measure layer thickness in compressed state (sample) — tolerance for topsoil layer: ±3 cm area < 1000 m² / ±5 cm > 1000 m².
- 04Planting depth: verify that the lump top is flush with the soil surface ±2 cm (NfA 2023).
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