Questions before you dig

It depends on access, slope and the stone you choose. Interlocking concrete paver patios usually start at about $28 to $36 per square foot installed, and natural cleft or thermal bluestone terraces run from about $38 to $52 or more. Around 60% of a lasting patio's cost is underground: full clay excavation, geotextile fabric, 6 to 9 inches of compacted crushed-stone base and edge restraint. That is why bargain patios laid over shallow sand settle within two winters.

Yes, and phasing is one of the best reasons to start with the $395 scaled master plan. Drawing the whole property first means phase one puts the buried downspout pipes, the conduit sleeves for future irrigation and lighting under walkways, and the heavy machine work in the back yard in place, so later planting or a front garden never means tearing up finished work.

Yes. The scaled plans show property-line dimensions, hardscape square-footage totals for lot-coverage and stormwater limits, retaining-wall heights and a full botanical plant schedule, ready to go straight to your homeowners association's architectural review committee or to the city's impervious-surface permit desk.

Often the cheapest fix starts at the gutters. A 2,000-square-foot roof sheds more than 1,200 gallons in a 1-inch storm, and short splash blocks drop all of it beside the foundation. At the consultation the grades are checked with a laser level to see whether burying solid downspout lines out to daylight solves most of the problem, or whether groundwater and flat clay swales also call for a perforated gravel French drain.

No. The form sends your message to the crew; it does not confirm an appointment, take a deposit or hold a date. The consultation date is agreed in the reply, and until that reply arrives nothing has been reserved. If plans change after a date is set, send another message and the crew confirms the new arrangement directly.

Patios, walls and drainage can be built from early spring to late autumn, whenever the frost is out of the ground. Trees, evergreens and perennials go in best in spring, April to June, and in autumn, September to November. Autumn is underrated: warm soil keeps roots growing deep while cool air spares new plants the summer heat.

Before any machine digging, drain trenching or tree pits, an 811 utility locate is requested so gas, electric, telecom and municipal water lines are marked across the property. Private lines that 811 does not mark, such as invisible dog fences, low-voltage lighting cable or existing sprinkler laterals, are traced with you on the pre-construction walk and dug by hand where they cross.

Patios, walkways, steps and retaining walls built by the crew are warranted for 5 years against structural settling, heaving or joint failure beyond the normal weathering of natural stone. Trees and shrubs the crew plants carry a one-time, 1-year replacement warranty, provided they are not left without water, and every handover includes week-by-week watering instructions for the plants used.

No. The crew concentrates on design-build work, meaning patios, walls, drainage, planting and irrigation, plus skilled seasonal bed care: hand-pruning, weeding, edging, mulching and tree care. If you also want your grass cut every week, the crew can introduce two trusted local mowing firms that work around the garden schedule.

The Privacy page sets it out in full: what the contact and subscribe forms collect, why each field is asked for, who else receives it, how long it is kept and how to have it removed. Nothing collects more than the forms show, and the season notes list holds one email address with nothing attached to it.