What can wait until after the build, and what cannot
Once the house is finished you can choose plants, terrace furniture, some of the paving and decorative lighting. Plot levels, drainage, buried pipes and cables, and the sub-base for the driveway and parking are decided during construction, while machinery is still on site.
Leave it all to the end and you will be digging through finished work: lifting a path to run an irrigation pipe, drilling a footing to get a cable to the gate, relaying paving by the terrace because water runs towards the house. Exterior works are a stage with their own design, not whatever is left of the budget for flowers.
Levels and drainage come first
Water has to move away from the house. That means every surface around it falls outwards, there is nowhere at the foot of the facade where puddles form, and rainwater from roofs and terraces goes to the drain network or into the ground by a clear route.
On a sloping plot, as is common in the Garraf or on the hills above Castelldefels, water from the upper garden runs towards the house. It is intercepted with channel drains and French drains before it reaches the wall. These details are designed together with the earthworks and retaining walls, not after the lawn has been sown.
Buried services: what goes in before paving
Before paths and terraces are paved, the following should already be underground: irrigation pipes with spare capacity for future zones; empty ducts for cable to the gate, garden lighting and cameras; the rainwater network; pool pipework to the plant room; water to outdoor taps and shower.
An empty duct under a path costs very little. Running a cable under finished paving means lifting it and relaying it. Everything buried goes onto a plan with dimensions and photos before backfilling: in five years nobody will remember where each pipe runs.
Driveway, parking and paving
The driveway sub-base is designed for the real load: a car, a delivery van and sometimes the water tanker that fills the pool or a maintenance vehicle. Paving laid on a footpath-grade base cracks under a car within the first year.
When choosing paving, think about three things: whether it is slippery when wet by the pool, whether it gets too hot for bare feet in the sun, and how it sheds water. Permeable paving and grass grids reduce the load on the drainage. Where paving meets the facade, leave a joint and waterproofing rather than butting it against the render.
Irrigation, planting and water
Irrigation is designed in zones: lawn, shrubs, pots and trees are watered differently and at different frequencies. Drip irrigation uses considerably less water than sprinklers and suits most Mediterranean species.
In Catalonia, drought years bring restrictions on garden watering. The current rules apply at municipal level and change over time, so check them with the ajuntament. It is a strong argument for plants that tolerate dry summers, a smaller lawn and a rainwater tank if the plot has room for one.
How it fits with the rest of the build
The sequence that works: earthworks and retaining walls; drainage and buried services; sub-bases for driveway and paved areas; facade finish; paving; irrigation; planting; lighting and furniture. The garden is planted once heavy machinery and pallets of material are no longer crossing the plot.
On the private house with pool and solar panels that BCN YARD built as a full-cycle project between 2022 and 2024, the exterior works were part of the same programme as the house and the pool. That avoids the classic landscaping problem: redoing work because a lorry drove over a freshly finished path.
What to prepare for the conversation
Make a list of what you want outside: a parking space, a barbecue area, a shower by the pool, a play area, a vegetable patch, a spot for the bins. Mark where the sun falls in the morning and in the evening. Add how much time you are prepared to spend looking after the garden.
With that list, the exterior works are designed together with the house. Our own crew does the work, specialist trades such as irrigation go to trusted subcontractors, and one person is in charge of the project.