CSLB Landscaping (C-27) Trade — All Questions

A crew applies gypsum to a compacted clay pad that has normal sodium levels. What result should be expected?

• a.Slow improvement, because gypsum must first lower soil pH
• b.Rapid improvement, because gypsum increases infiltration on any soil
• c.Little improvement, because the problem is compaction not sodium✓
• d.Marked improvement, because gypsum loosens all clay soils

Gypsum corrects sodium-affected soils, and where sodium is not elevated it does very little, so the compacted pad still needs mechanical loosening and organic matter. It is not a general clay loosener, it does not raise infiltration on non-sodic soils, and it is not a pH-lowering material.

MWELO gives a compost incorporation rate for landscape areas where the soil report does not specify otherwise. Which statement reflects it?

• a.Six cubic yards per 1,000 square feet incorporated to a twelve-inch depth
• b.Two cubic yards per 1,000 square feet spread and left on the surface
• c.One cubic yard per 1,000 square feet worked into the top three inches
• d.Four cubic yards per 1,000 square feet incorporated to a six-inch depth✓

The ordinance default is four cubic yards of compost per 1,000 square feet of permeable area worked to a depth of six inches. One cubic yard at three inches is too little to change soil behavior. Compost left on the surface is mulch rather than incorporation. Six cubic yards to a foot exceeds what the ordinance requires and is rarely practical.CA MWELO (Title 23)

What is the primary long-term benefit of adding compost to a landscape soil?

• a.It builds structure, improving both water holding and aeration✓
• b.It supplies a high concentration of immediately available nitrogen
• c.It raises soil pH into the optimum range for most landscape plants
• d.It permanently changes the soil texture class toward loam

Compost feeds soil biology and builds aggregates, which improves water retention in sand and drainage in clay at the same time. Its nutrient release is slow and modest rather than concentrated. Texture is set by particle size and does not change with amendment. Effects on pH depend on the feedstock and are not a reliable benefit.

A designer is selecting turf for a full-sun sports lawn in the Central Valley that will go dormant in winter. Which choice fits?

• a.Creeping bentgrass, used on closely mown putting surfaces
• b.Perennial ryegrass, used mainly for quick cool-season cover
• c.Tall fescue, a cool-season grass that stays green in winter
• d.Hybrid bermudagrass, a warm-season grass that takes wear✓

Hybrid bermudagrass thrives in Central Valley heat, tolerates traffic, and naturally goes off-color in winter, which the owner has accepted. Tall fescue and perennial ryegrass are cool-season grasses that hold winter color rather than going dormant. Creeping bentgrass demands intensive management and is not a general sports surface.

A bermudagrass lawn is overseeded with perennial ryegrass in October. What is the purpose?

• a.To provide green cover while the bermudagrass is dormant✓
• b.To lower the water requirement of the lawn through winter
• c.To crowd out broadleaf weeds permanently from the stand
• d.To thicken the bermudagrass stand before it breaks dormancy

Overseeding puts a temporary cool-season grass over dormant warm-season turf so the lawn stays green until spring. It does not thicken the bermudagrass itself and in fact competes with it in spring. Water use goes up rather than down, and while dense cover suppresses weeds seasonally, the effect ends when the ryegrass fades.

A maintenance contract specifies the one-third rule for mowing. What does it require?

• a.Mowing height is lowered by one third going into summer
• b.No more than one third of the lawn is mowed in any single visit
• c.No more than one third of the leaf blade is removed at a cutting✓
• d.Clippings covering more than one third of the surface are removed

Removing more than a third of the blade at once strips the plant of the tissue that feeds root growth and causes scalping and thinning, so cutting height and frequency are set to stay within that limit. The rule is about blade removal, not the share of area mowed, not a seasonal height change, and not clipping cleanup.

A heavily used lawn drains poorly and the soil is hard underfoot. Which practice most directly relieves the condition?

• a.Top-dressing with a quarter inch of fine sand
• b.Core aeration that removes plugs and opens the profile✓
• c.Vertical mowing to cut through the accumulated thatch layer
• d.Raising the mowing height by half an inch

Core aeration pulls soil plugs out and leaves open channels for air, water, and roots, which is the direct remedy for compaction. Vertical mowing addresses thatch at the surface rather than compaction below it. Sand top-dressing smooths and amends slowly. A higher cut reduces stress but does not open compacted soil.

Sod is being laid on a prepared grade. Which installation practice is correct?

• a.Lay the sod on dry soil so the pieces do not slide out of line
• b.Stagger the joints in a running bond and butt the edges tightly✓
• c.Align all joints in straight rows so the seams disappear
• d.Leave a half inch between pieces so the roots can spread

Staggered, tightly butted joints keep the seams from drying out and knitting poorly, which is the usual cause of a checkerboard lawn. Gaps between pieces dry and fill with weeds. Continuous aligned joints create channels that erode and stay visible. Sod is laid on moist soil, since dry soil pulls water out of the new roots.

Why is new sod rolled lightly and watered immediately after installation?

• a.To press out air that would otherwise encourage disease
• b.To level the surface so the first mowing is uniform
• c.To ensure root contact with soil and prevent drying out✓
• d.To compact the soil below and reduce future settlement

Sod roots only where the mat touches moist soil, so light rolling closes air gaps and immediate water keeps thin roots from desiccating during the first days. Compacting the subsoil would work against rooting. Surface leveling is done during grading. Trapped air is a rooting problem rather than a disease mechanism.

A client wants a lawn established at the lowest material cost and can wait for coverage. Which method fits?

• a.Sprigging, which suits only certain warm-season grasses
• b.Seeding, which costs least but needs careful watering✓
• c.Sod, which gives an instant usable surface
• d.Hydroseeding, which is used mainly for large sloped areas

Seed has the lowest material cost and the client has accepted the wait, though it demands attentive irrigation while it germinates. Sod is the fastest and the most expensive. Sprigging is limited to grasses that spread vegetatively. Hydroseeding suits large or steep areas where broadcasting is impractical and costs more than plain seeding.

A crew is pruning a large limb from a mature tree. Where should the final cut be made?

• a.Leaving a six-inch stub that will drop off naturally
• b.Flush with the trunk so the wound closes smoothly
• c.At the midpoint of the limb to reduce weight first
• d.Just outside the branch collar so the tree can seal it✓

The branch collar contains the tissue that seals the wound, so the final cut goes just outside it. A flush cut removes that tissue and opens the trunk to decay. A long stub cannot be sealed and dies back. Reducing weight at the midpoint is a preliminary step in the three-cut method, not the final cut.

Why is the three-cut method used when removing a heavy limb?

• a.It prevents the falling limb from tearing bark down the trunk✓
• b.It allows the cut to be made without a chainsaw
• c.It reduces the diameter of the final cut by about half
• d.It leaves a stub that protects the wound through winter

An undercut and a relief cut let the weight drop away before the final cut, so the limb cannot peel a strip of bark off the trunk as it falls. The method has nothing to do with the type of saw. Any stub left by the second cut is removed by the third. The final cut diameter is set by the limb, not the method.

A client asks the crew to top a large shade tree to reduce its height. What is the professional response?

• a.Top it during dormancy when the tree can best tolerate the cuts
• b.Top it as requested but seal the cuts to prevent decay
• c.Decline topping and offer crown reduction to appropriate laterals✓
• d.Top no more than half the leaders and revisit the rest next year

Topping leaves stubs that decay and forces weakly attached sprouts, so accepted practice is to decline it and reduce the crown by cutting back to laterals large enough to assume the terminal role. Wound sealers do not prevent decay. Dormant timing does not make topping acceptable, and topping only half the leaders still produces the same defect.

What is the general limit on how much live crown should be removed from an established tree in a single season?

• a.Up to about half, if the tree is vigorous and well watered
• b.No more than about a quarter, to protect the food-producing canopy✓
• c.Up to about two thirds, if structural correction is needed
• d.No more than about ten percent, on any tree of any age

Leaves make the tree's food, so removing more than roughly a quarter of the live crown at once starves it and triggers stress sprouting. Half or two thirds is well past the point where decline begins even on vigorous trees. A ten percent ceiling is stricter than accepted practice and would make routine structural pruning impossible.

An aphid population appears on a hedge with lady beetles already present. Under integrated pest management, what is the reasonable first action?

• a.Apply a systemic soil drench as a preventive treatment
• b.Monitor and wash the aphids off, preserving the natural predators✓
• c.Apply a broad-spectrum insecticide to the entire hedge and surrounding beds
• d.Remove and dispose of every infested shoot on the hedge

Integrated pest management starts with the least disruptive effective action, and lady beetles already at work will often finish the job if they are not killed. A broad-spectrum spray removes the predators and invites a rebound. A preventive systemic drench treats a problem that may not develop. Stripping the shoots removes the plant along with the pest.

Sticky residue and black sooty coating appear on the leaves under a tree. What is the likely sequence?

• a.Hard irrigation water is leaving mineral residue on the foliage
• b.Sap-feeding insects excrete honeydew, and mold grows on the honeydew✓
• c.Air pollution is depositing particulates that stick to leaf surfaces
• d.A soil-borne fungus is moving up the trunk into the canopy

Aphids, scale, and whitefly excrete sugary honeydew, and sooty mold colonizes that film, so controlling the insect resolves both. A soil-borne fungus does not produce a sticky surface deposit. Mineral residue from hard water is white and chalky rather than black and sticky. Particulate deposition does not create a sticky sugar film.

Fine stippling and light webbing appear on shrubs beside a dusty driveway during a hot dry spell. Which pest is most likely?

• a.Spider mites, which increase in hot dry dusty conditions✓
• b.Thrips, which distort new growth as it expands
• c.Root weevils, which notch leaf margins at night
• d.Leafminers, which tunnel between the leaf surfaces

Spider mites build up in heat and dust and produce a stippled, faded leaf with fine webbing. Leafminers leave visible tunnels inside the leaf rather than surface stippling. Root weevils leave notched margins. Thrips cause silvering and distortion of expanding tissue, and neither weevils nor thrips spin webbing.

A pre-emergent herbicide is specified for a shrub bed. When must it be applied to work?

• a.At any point in the season, since it kills weeds on contact
• b.Before weed seeds germinate, then watered in to form a barrier✓
• c.Only after the bed has been cultivated to expose the seed bank
• d.After the weeds have emerged but before they set seed

A pre-emergent works on germinating seedlings, so it must be in place and activated by water before germination begins. Applying after emergence is too late because the product does not kill established weeds. It is not a contact material. Cultivating after application breaks the treated layer and undoes the barrier.

Bermudagrass is invading a shrub bed from the adjoining lawn. Which control approach is most durable?

• a.A pre-emergent applied twice a season along the edge of the bed
• b.A contact herbicide applied to the foliage on a warm day
• c.Hand pulling the visible runners each maintenance visit
• d.A physical edge barrier plus systemic control of the rhizomes✓

Bermudagrass spreads by rhizomes and stolons, so lasting control needs a barrier that stops lateral spread plus a systemic material that moves into the underground parts. Pre-emergents stop seed but not rhizome growth. Hand pulling breaks runners and leaves the rhizomes. A contact herbicide burns the top and the plant regrows.

A plant list is being reviewed for water efficiency on a Sacramento site. Which approach is most defensible?

• a.Select only plants native to the immediate watershed of the site
• b.Select species that stay under three feet so less canopy is watered
• c.Select species by regional water use ratings and group them by need✓
• d.Select evergreen species, since deciduous plants use more water

Published regional water use ratings let a designer choose plants that fit the climate zone and then group them into hydrozones that can actually be scheduled. Restricting to a single watershed is narrower than water efficiency requires. Mature size does not determine water use, and evergreen versus deciduous habit is not a reliable predictor either.

Groundcover is specified at 18 inches on center in a 200 square foot bed using triangular spacing. Compared with square spacing at the same interval, triangular spacing does what?

• a.Uses more plants and closes the bed more evenly✓
• b.Uses fewer plants but requires a wider border row
• c.Uses fewer plants and closes the bed more slowly
• d.Uses the same count but arranges plants in offset rows

Offsetting each row places plants closer to their diagonal neighbors, so a triangular layout fits more plants into the same area and fills in with fewer gaps. It does not reduce the count, and the count is not the same as square spacing at the same interval. Border treatment is a detail that does not change the underlying density.

What should determine the spacing between shrubs in a new foundation planting?

• a.The reach of the irrigation heads serving the bed
• b.The mature spread of the species being planted✓
• c.The width of the bed as drawn on the plan
• d.The size of the container the plants arrive in

Plants grow into their mature spread, so spacing set from that dimension avoids the crowded, sheared hedge that a tight installation becomes. Container size reflects nursery production rather than mature form. Bed width sets how many rows fit, not the interval. Irrigation layout should follow the planting design, not drive it.

A designer places a 40-foot shade tree eight feet from a two-story wall on the south side. What is the main problem?

• a.The mature canopy and roots will conflict with the structure✓
• b.The tree will need staking permanently because of wind eddies
• c.The tree will shade the wall and encourage mildew on the siding
• d.The wall will reflect heat and dry the root zone excessively

A tree with a wide mature canopy set eight feet from a wall will grow into the building and send structural roots under the footing area, which is a spacing failure that no maintenance can fix. Reflected heat, shading, and wind eddies are real site factors but are secondary to placing a large tree far too close to a structure.

During grading, fill soil is proposed to a depth of one foot over the root zone of a protected oak. What is the concern?

• a.Fill raises the pH of the root zone beyond what oaks tolerate
• b.Fill increases the weight the trunk must support during wind
• c.Fill reduces the amount of rainfall reaching the drip line
• d.Fill smothers roots by cutting off oxygen exchange at the surface✓

Tree roots respire, and a foot of fill blocks the gas exchange the surface roots depend on, which is why fill over root zones kills mature oaks slowly. Fill does not reliably change pH. Soil weight is carried by the ground, not the trunk. Rain still reaches the area, and moisture is not the mechanism of decline.

Where should the protective fencing be placed when a tree must be preserved through construction?

• a.At or beyond the drip line of the tree canopy✓
• b.Along the property line nearest the tree
• c.Three feet out from the trunk on every side of the tree
• d.At the edge of the proposed hardscape only

Most absorbing roots lie in the upper soil out to and past the canopy edge, so fencing at or beyond the drip line is what actually keeps equipment off them. A three-foot ring protects the trunk and almost none of the roots. Property lines and hardscape edges are unrelated to where the root system lies.

A bare-root rose arrives in January. What handling is correct before planting?

• a.Wrap the roots in plastic and hold it at room temperature
• b.Store it in full sun so the canes begin to break dormancy
• c.Keep the roots moist and shaded, and plant while still dormant✓
• d.Prune the roots back by half so they fit the planting hole

Bare-root stock has no soil to buffer it, so the roots must stay moist and cool and go in the ground while the plant is still dormant. Sun exposure breaks dormancy and dries the roots. Sealed plastic at room temperature encourages mold and heating. Cutting roots to fit removes the plant's stored resources; the hole is enlarged instead.

A hydroseed mix for a slope includes seed, fertilizer, wood fiber mulch, and a tackifier. What does the tackifier contribute?

• a.It dyes the slurry so the operator can see the coverage
• b.It supplies the nitrogen the seedlings use during germination
• c.It binds the slurry to the slope so it resists rain and wind✓
• d.It holds moisture at the seed until the first true leaves appear

A tackifier is a binder that glues the fiber and seed to the surface so a storm does not wash the application off. Nitrogen comes from the fertilizer in the mix. The green dye is a separate tracer component. Moisture retention is largely a function of the wood fiber mulch rather than the binder.

A landscape is being converted from lawn to a low water use planting. What preparation step most affects long-term success?

• a.Adding sand across the area to improve drainage before planting
• b.Applying a high-nitrogen fertilizer to the whole area at conversion
• c.Leaving the old sprinkler heads in place as backup irrigation
• d.Killing or removing the existing turf and its rhizomes completely✓

Surviving turf rhizomes will grow through a new planting for years, so full removal or kill is the step that determines whether the conversion holds. Sand over an existing soil creates a texture interface rather than drainage. High nitrogen pushes weed growth. Abandoned spray heads left in a drip conversion become leaks and confusion.

A soil report gives an infiltration rate of 0.15 inches per hour. What does that number govern in the design?

• a.The application rate the irrigation system may use without runoff✓
• b.The number of plants that can be supported per hundred square feet
• c.The total depth of water the root zone can store
• d.The depth to which compost should be incorporated

Infiltration rate is how fast soil accepts water, so it sets the ceiling on precipitation rate before runoff begins and drives the choice of low-rate nozzles or cycle-and-soak. Storage capacity is a different property tied to texture and depth. Plant density comes from mature size. Amendment depth is a specification, not a function of intake rate.

What does the term field capacity describe?

• a.The total pore volume of a soil sample when fully saturated
• b.The soil moisture level at which plants can no longer extract water
• c.The moisture a soil holds after free drainage has stopped✓
• d.The moisture content at which a soil can be safely compacted

Field capacity is the water remaining after gravity has drained the large pores, and it is the upper end of the plant-available range. The point where plants can no longer extract water is the permanent wilting point. Total pore volume at saturation is a different measure. Optimum moisture for compaction is a construction property, not a plant-water term.

Why does deep, infrequent irrigation generally produce healthier established plants than daily light watering?

• a.It lowers salt concentration in the upper few inches of soil
• b.It wets the full root zone and encourages roots to grow deeper✓
• c.It reduces the total volume of water the landscape consumes
• d.It keeps soil temperature more stable through the growing season

Water only reaches the depth it is applied to, so deep cycles draw roots downward into a larger reservoir while daily sprinkles keep roots shallow and dependent. Total volume depends on the schedule, not the pattern. Soil temperature is affected mainly by mulch and season. Deep watering can move salts down but that is a side effect rather than the main mechanism.

A newly planted landscape is on the same schedule as the mature planting next door and the new plants are struggling. What is the likely reason?

• a.New plants require more fertilizer than the mature planting receives
• b.New root balls dry faster and need their own establishment schedule✓
• c.New plants need a lower mowing and pruning frequency than mature ones
• d.New plants are more sensitive to the mineral content of the water

A fresh root ball holds a small volume of nursery mix that dries far faster than surrounding soil, so new plantings need a separate, more frequent establishment schedule until roots move outward. Fertilizer, water mineral content, and maintenance frequency all matter less than the mismatch between a small root ball and a mature-planting schedule.

A shrub was planted three inches too deep two years ago and is now declining. What is the appropriate correction?

• a.Cut the top back by half to balance the buried root system
• b.Increase fertilizer and irrigation to push new growth
• c.Install a drainage sump beside the plant to draw water away
• d.Excavate the excess soil back to expose the root crown✓

A buried crown stays wet and rots, so removing the excess soil to expose the crown is the direct fix. More fertilizer and water push growth onto a failing root system. Cutting the top back removes food production without addressing the burial. A sump drains soil water but does not uncover the crown that is decaying.

An arborist reports Armillaria root disease in a bed where oaks are declining. What management step is most relevant to the C-27 contractor?

• a.Apply a broad-spectrum fungicide drench across the entire bed
• b.Reduce summer irrigation near the trunks and improve drainage✓
• c.Replant the same species and treat the backfill before installation
• d.Increase irrigation frequency to reduce stress on the remaining trees

Armillaria advances in wet soil around the root crown, so cutting summer water near trunks and improving drainage is the practical control available on site. Soil fungicide drenches do not reliably reach the fungus. Adding water encourages it. Replanting susceptible species into infested soil repeats the failure.

Which condition best describes when a bed is ready for finish raking and planting?

• a.The soil has been rolled to remove all surface texture
• b.The soil is moist but crumbles rather than smearing when squeezed✓
• c.The soil is wet enough that it ribbons between the fingers
• d.The soil is dry enough that it powders under the rake

Soil worked at the crumbly moist stage keeps its structure, while soil worked wet smears into clods and soil worked bone dry turns to dust and blows away. A soil that ribbons is too wet to work. Rolling out all surface texture seals the soil and reduces the infiltration a new planting depends on.

A specification calls for six inches of imported topsoil over a native clay subgrade. What must be done at the interface?

• a.Place two inches of gravel between the layers to promote drainage
• b.Place a filter fabric between the layers to keep them separate
• c.Scarify the subgrade and blend the two soils at the boundary✓
• d.Compact the subgrade to a smooth sealed surface before placing topsoil

A sharp change in texture stalls water movement, so scarifying and blending at the boundary lets water and roots cross it. A sealed compacted subgrade guarantees a perched water table. Fabric between soil layers is a root and water barrier. A gravel layer between two soils makes the perching worse rather than better.

Turf is specified under the canopy of dense mature trees on the north side of a building. What should the contractor raise with the designer?

• a.That the turf will require a separate backflow assembly
• b.That the trees should be staked before the turf is installed
• c.That the trees will need to be fertilized more heavily
• d.That the shade and root competition make turf a poor fit✓

Deep shade plus tree root competition for water and nutrients keeps most turf thin no matter how it is managed, so a shade-tolerant groundcover or mulch is the better recommendation. Fertilizing the trees does not create light. A backflow assembly serves the whole system rather than one area. Mature trees do not need staking.

A landscape uses ammonium sulfate as its nitrogen source year after year. What effect should be anticipated on soil chemistry?

• a.Soil organic matter increases steadily over time
• b.Soil pH drifts upward toward the alkaline range
• c.Soil pH drifts downward as the material acidifies the soil✓
• d.Soil salinity falls because sulfate leaches other salts

Ammonium sulfate is an acidifying nitrogen source, so repeated use pushes pH down, which can be useful on alkaline soil and harmful where pH is already low. It does not raise pH. It contributes no organic matter. It is a salt itself, so it adds to salinity rather than reducing it.

Older leaves on a hedge are uniformly pale while new growth stays green. Which nutrient is most likely short?

• a.Calcium, which moves only in the transpiration stream
• b.Zinc, which is required in very small amounts
• c.Iron, which is immobile within the plant
• d.Nitrogen, which the plant moves from old leaves to new✓

Nitrogen is mobile, so a deficient plant pulls it out of old leaves to supply new growth, which yellows the oldest foliage first and uniformly. Iron and calcium are immobile and show their symptoms on new growth instead. Zinc shortage produces small distorted new leaves rather than uniform pale older foliage.

A homeowner reports the new lawn is yellowing and says it is watered for 30 minutes every evening. What should the contractor check first?

• a.Whether the mowing height has been lowered too far
• b.Whether the seed variety matches the exposure of the site
• c.Whether the fertilizer applied at installation has been exhausted
• d.Whether the soil is staying saturated and starving roots of air✓

Nightly watering on most soils keeps the profile saturated, and roots without oxygen yellow in a way that looks exactly like a nutrient shortage, so the schedule is the first thing to test with a probe. Mowing height, variety selection, and fertilizer timing are all worth reviewing, but none explains yellowing under a clearly excessive watering pattern.

What is the practical purpose of a soil probe or auger in routine landscape maintenance?

• a.To collect samples for the required soil management report
• b.To measure the pH of the root zone in the field
• c.To determine the compaction percentage of the subgrade
• d.To check how deep applied water actually penetrated✓

Pulling a core after a cycle shows whether water reached the root zone or stopped a few inches down, which is the fastest way to correct a schedule. Field pH requires a test kit or meter. Compaction percentage requires a density test, not a hand probe. Samples for a formal report are collected to a laboratory protocol rather than casually.

A C-27 licensee is asked to build a wood-framed pool house with a bathroom as part of a backyard landscape package. How should the licensee proceed?

• a.Subcontract it to contractors holding the appropriate classifications✓
• b.Build the structure and subcontract only the finish carpentry
• c.Build it if the total value stays under the landscape contract amount
• d.Build it, since it sits within the landscape area being developed

The landscaping classification covers landscape systems and features and the grading that supports them, not habitable structures with plumbing and electrical work, so those trades must be subcontracted to properly licensed contractors. Being inside the landscape area, keeping the framing in house, or comparing dollar values does not extend the classification.16 CCR §832.27

Which of the following is most clearly within the C-27 landscaping classification?

• a.Reroofing a detached garage that faces the new patio
• b.Installing a new subpanel to power landscape lighting
• c.Installing a residential swimming pool and its equipment
• d.Grading and preparing a yard for decorative treatment✓

Preparing and grading plots for horticultural and decorative treatment is expressly part of the landscaping classification. A new subpanel is electrical work, roofing is a separate specialty, and swimming pool construction has its own classification, so each of those must be held or subcontracted separately.16 CCR §832.27

A landscape contract includes low-voltage path lighting fed from an existing exterior receptacle. What is the correct division of work?

• a.An electrical contractor must install every part of a lighting system
• b.The landscape crew adds a new receptacle first, then the transformer
• c.The landscape crew may run 120-volt cable if it stays under 50 feet
• d.The landscape crew sets the transformer and low-voltage runs at that receptacle✓

Plugging a transformer into an existing code-compliant exterior receptacle and running the low-voltage cable is landscape work. Adding a new receptacle or running any new 120-volt cable is electrical work regardless of length. It is also not the case that an electrical contractor must perform the low-voltage portion once the supply already exists.

Finish grade at a house is being set. What is the standard target for surface drainage away from the foundation?

• a.A slight fall toward the wall, drained by a perimeter french drain
• b.A crown at the wall with equal falls in both directions
• c.A fall away from the wall over the first several feet of ground✓
• d.A level pad with a swale at the property line to collect water

Positive fall away from the wall in the first several feet is what keeps water out of the foundation, and every other detail is downstream of it. A level pad ponds against the wall. Sloping toward the wall and relying on a drain fails the moment that drain clogs. Crowning at the wall would require the wall to be the high point of the pad, which it is not.

A patio must drain across its surface to a lawn edge. What cross slope is normally specified?

• a.Zero, with drainage handled by joints between the pavers
• b.About five percent, to move water quickly off the surface
• c.About one quarter percent, so furniture sits level
• d.About one to two percent, roughly an eighth inch per foot✓

Roughly an eighth of an inch per foot moves water reliably without being noticeable underfoot or under furniture. A dead level surface ponds even on permeable paving. A quarter percent is inside construction tolerance and will pond in low spots. Five percent is steep enough to feel and would be uncomfortable for seating.

A grading plan describes a slope as 3:1. Which statement is correct?

• a.The slope rises three feet for each foot of horizontal run
• b.The slope is expressed as a three percent grade
• c.The slope runs three feet horizontally for each foot of fall✓
• d.The slope drops three inches per foot of run

Slope ratios are written horizontal to vertical, so 3:1 means three feet of run for every foot of rise or fall, which is about a 33 percent grade. Reversing the ratio would describe a very steep bank. It is not a three percent grade, and three inches per foot would be a 25 percent grade written differently.

Contour lines on a grading plan are drawn close together across one part of the site. What does that spacing indicate?

• a.The area is proposed for fill rather than cut
• b.The area drains toward the nearest catch basin
• c.The ground is nearly level in that area
• d.The ground is steep in that area✓

Contours mark equal elevations, so a short horizontal distance between them means elevation changes quickly and the ground is steep. Widely spaced contours indicate flat ground. Cut and fill are shown by comparing existing and proposed contours rather than by spacing alone, and drainage direction is read from the shape of the contours, not their closeness.

A designer wants to move surface runoff across a yard without a piped system. Which feature does that?

• a.A shallow vegetated swale graded toward the outlet✓
• b.A dry well set at the low corner of the yard
• c.A french drain laid level along the fence line
• d.A catch basin with a solid lid at the midpoint

A swale is a graded surface channel that carries and slows runoff on its way to an outlet, which is exactly the described need. A dry well stores and infiltrates at one point rather than conveying. A catch basin collects into a pipe. A level french drain has no fall and only intercepts subsurface water where it sits.

A new grading plan would send additional runoff onto the neighboring downhill lot. What is the contractor's obligation?

• a.Install a berm on the neighbor's side to contain the added flow
• b.Design the drainage to an approved outlet off the property✓
• c.Proceed if the neighbor gives verbal permission on site
• d.Proceed, since water naturally flows downhill between properties

Concentrating or increasing runoff onto adjacent property creates liability and usually violates local grading rules, so the work must be designed to an approved point of discharge. Natural flow does not license added flow. Verbal permission is not a substitute for a compliant design, and building anything on the neighbor's land is not the contractor's to do.