Paving led landscaping for Perth homes
IBP Paving is a paving contractor that builds the hard landscaping around the paving, not a design studio or a plant nursery. In house: paving for driveways, alfrescos, paths and pool surrounds; limestone retaining and feature walls; garden bed shaping and edging; natural or synthetic turf; soakwells and drainage; and the crossover. Through partners or to your plan: reticulation, and planting to your own or a designer's layout. Paving is the core of it, within our brick paving service and our Perth paving work, with retaining walls and soakwells the two other trades that make up a landscaping job.
Why one contractor matters: a common forum question is who holds the warranty when a landscaper subcontracts the paving and the walls to different crews. With us it is one company. Landsdale based, over 20 years in Perth, fully licensed, and our lifetime workmanship warranty covers the paving, walls and soakwells we build. For a quote, request a free site measure or call 0449 020 336.
Front yards: driveway, crossover and verge
A front yard package is the driveway and crossover (the council crossover rules and contributions are on driveway paving), a front path (garden path paving), a limestone feature wall (limestone retaining walls), garden beds, and the verge.
The verge is council land, and paving, synthetic turf or concrete on it needs approval almost everywhere, with limits that differ by council. The rules below are correct at the time of writing.
- City of Wanneroo (our own council): brick paving or concrete may be laid on the nature strip to the City's standard drawing TS 07-9, with a 2 per cent positive gradient from the kerb to the boundary. No gravel, crushed brick or loose stone, and no walls or rocks. The City recommends submitting a nature strip landscape proposal for approval. The documents we have read publish no percentage cap.
- City of Joondalup: brick paving, concrete, poured limestone and synthetic turf are acceptable hardstand. The limit is 75 m2 or 50 per cent of the verge area, whichever is less (150 m2 or 50 per cent on a corner lot), excluding footpaths and crossovers, with a 1 m clearance (4 m2) around any street tree. No additional hardstand in Housing Opportunity Areas, and loose materials including pea gravel are not permitted.
- City of Swan: paving, synthetic turf and compacted aggregate are allowed only with written permission through the Application to Alter Verge. Concrete, asphalt, walls and loose aggregate are refused. At least one 1 m by 1 m opening per frontage is required for a tree or garden bed, and verge paving must be delineated from the crossover. No percentage cap is published.
- City of Stirling: paving, synthetic turf and in situ concrete need prior approval, valid for two years. Only one third of the verge area, excluding the crossover and footpath, may be hardstand; it must be 2 m from a street tree and is not permitted in Heritage Protection Areas. Verges under 10 m2 or 1.5 m wide may be fully treated with written permission.
- Elsewhere: Bayswater treats 30 per cent brick paving as deemed to comply, Canning allows 33 per cent, Cockburn requires approval above 25 per cent, Bassendean allows 30 per cent net of the crossover and footpath, Cambridge 18 m2 or 10 per cent, and Kalamunda 50 per cent.
Source: City of Wanneroo, Nature Strip (Verge) Treatment Guidelines; City of Joondalup, Street Verge Guidelines and Verges and crossovers web page; City of Swan, Verge Guidelines and Application to Alter Verge; City of Stirling, Verge Treatment Guidelines (August 2022); other councils' published verge guidelines, 2026.
We quote verge paving to the council's rules and include the diagram the application asks for. The crossover side of the story is in what is a crossover.
Backyards: alfresco, pool and retaining
A backyard package is alfresco or patio paving (patio and alfresco paving), the pool surround and coping (pool paving), limestone retaining walls to create level areas (limestone retaining walls), garden beds, turf and edging.
Two rules change a backyard plan. A retaining wall that retains more than 500 mm of ground, or is tied to other building work, or supports a neighbour's land, needs a building permit and an engineer's design; see retaining wall approvals in WA. Around a pool, nothing climbable may sit within 500 mm of the barrier and a 900 mm non climbable zone applies on the outside face, so planters and walls near the fence are placed to the Rules for Pools and Spas, cited in full on the pool page. Plants are allowed near the fence if they cannot act as a foothold.
Source: Building Regulations 2012 (WA) as summarised by the City of Fremantle and City of Vincent; WA Building and Energy, Rules for Pools and Spas, December 2025.
Landscaping on Perth sand: waterwise and low maintenance
Most of the northern suburbs sit on free draining Bassendean sand, listed by name through Wanneroo, Wangara, Tapping and Ashby. It holds little water, which is why paving, mulch and native planting outperform large lawns here.
What we build into a plan: a sensible paving to garden ratio; mulched beds with native and Mediterranean planting; drip reticulation through a partner; and synthetic turf for small, high use areas. Water Corporation's two day a week sprinkler roster applies to Perth gardens, which is another argument for less lawn.
Bore water in the northern suburbs stains paving and limestone, so bore fed reticulation is kept off hard surfaces or the paving is sealed; see paving sealing and cleaning. On blocks facing bushland in partly bushfire prone suburbs, non combustible paving in concrete, clay or stone is a sensible low maintenance surface on that side of the house; check your address on the DFES map. More in low maintenance landscaping in Perth.
Source: City of Wanneroo, Setting the Scene (Swan Coastal Plain dune systems); Water Corporation watering roster; DFES bushfire prone area map.
Landscaping cost in Perth
These are indicative Perth industry ranges from a published Perth cost guide, not IBP's price list.
| Item | Indicative range |
|---|---|
| Paving, per square metre | $63 to $170, typical $105 |
| Natural turf, per square metre | $16 to $42 |
| Synthetic turf, per square metre | $52 to $125 |
| Garden beds, per square metre | $52 to $190 |
| Limestone block wall 1 m high, per lineal metre | $295 to $630, typical $440 |
| Backyard makeover | $5,250 to $15,750 |
| Full design and build | $15,750 to $63,000 |
| Hourly rate | $58 to $115 |
Source: whatsthedamage.com.au Perth landscaping and retaining wall cost guides, 2026. Indicative Perth industry ranges only.
What moves a quote: paving area against garden, wall height and engineering, soakwells, the crossover, and access. Wall pricing is on retaining wall cost and paving bands in our Perth paving cost guide.
One contractor, or a landscaper and a paver?
Choose this page when the yard needs paving plus walls, beds or turf and you want one warranty. Go elsewhere for planting design only, pools, decking or pergolas, which are not our services. For just the paving see brick paving or stone paving; just the walls, retaining walls; just drainage, soakwells; commercial grounds, commercial and strata paving.
We work across Perth's northern suburbs from Landsdale, including Landsdale, Wanneroo, Joondalup, Ellenbrook, Yanchep and Scarborough. See all areas we service.
