From first call to final walkthrough

We come out and look at the actual site. That means walking the grade, finding out where water currently goes and where it will go once we change the surface, checking access for equipment, and noting anything buried that will complicate excavation.

You talk to the person who will run the job, not a commissioned salesperson. If what you want is not a good fit — wrong season, wrong scope for the budget, or a job better suited to a different trade — we will say so on the visit rather than after the deposit.

We draw the design ourselves and price it ourselves. You get a written scope that names the actual materials, sets out the phases, gives a realistic schedule, and states a cost range rather than a number pulled tight enough to need walking back later.

There is no separate design fee, because design is not a separate company. If you want to see options before committing, the yard visualizer on this site will generate them instantly from the same material catalog we build from.

Retaining walls over 4 feet of exposed height need engineering and a permit in essentially every Western Washington jurisdiction, and several cities trigger lower for tiered walls or walls carrying a surcharge. Larger impervious-surface additions can trigger drainage review.

We confirm the requirement with your city before anyone digs, and we handle the submission. It adds time — usually two to four weeks — and we build that into the schedule rather than discovering it halfway through.

Hardscape construction is self-performed. Excavation, base preparation, compaction in lifts, drainage, and the finish work are all done by our own people. We coordinate specialty trades only where the law requires it, such as a licensed electrician for anything beyond low-voltage.

The unglamorous parts get the most attention, because they are what determines the outcome. A patio is only as flat in year ten as its base was compacted in week one.

We walk the finished job with you, fix anything that is not right before we leave, and show you what maintenance it actually needs — which for most hardscape is very little, and for irrigation is one fall blowout a year.

You get the paperwork: the scope as built, any permit sign-offs, and on irrigation work the backflow assembly test certificate your city will ask for annually.