OUR SERVICES
What we build best
Projects typically run $20,000 to $200,000. Larger custom transformations are our specialty. Click any service for the full details.
Custom Patios
Paver and bluestone patios sized for real entertaining. The foundation under every transformation we build.
Water Features
Waterfalls, fountains and pondless features you hear from inside the house. The element that turns a backyard into a destination.
Fire Features
Boulder fire pits, gas fire bowls, full outdoor fireplaces. The reason your backyard works into October and November.
Retaining and Boulder Walls
Engineered wall systems that solve grade problems and create usable backyard space where there wasn’t any. Boulder walls that look like they grew there.
Walkways and Paths
Stone walkways, garden paths, entry features. The first thing a guest sees when they arrive, and the difference between a tired front yard and a welcoming one.
Drainage Solutions
French drains, channel drains, dry wells, regrading. The unglamorous work that makes every patio, wall and water feature last. Done first, done right, done permanently.
Full-Property Transformations
When you want all of it
Most of our clients eventually want the full backyard transformation: patio plus water feature plus wall plus lighting plus drainage plus planting. We design and build all of it together so every piece works with every other piece.
A complete backyard transformation typically runs $50,000 to $200,000 depending on the size of your lot and the scope of the build. It’s the work we’re known for.
How services come together on a
real project
Most homeowners don’t call asking for a “retaining wall.” They call asking how to make their backyard usable. Or how to entertain without looking at the neighbor’s pool equipment. Or how to fix the swampy corner that nothing grows in. The actual service list comes out of the conversation, not from a menu.
Here’s what a typical full-property transformation looks like in West Hartford or Avon. Not because every project is the same (none of them are) but to give you a sense of how the services connect.
It starts with what isn’t working
Almost every backyard has at least one thing dragging it down. A grade that won’t hold mulch. A patio that pools water in one corner after every storm. A view of the neighbor’s shed you wish you could screen. A slope that’s been “we’ll get to it someday” since you bought the house.
We fix that first. Drainage solutions or grading work go in before anything else. There’s no point laying a $40,000 patio on top of a drainage problem that’s going to undermine it in three years.
Then the structure
Once the ground is right, the structure goes in. Retaining walls or boulder walls if the grade calls for it. The main patio takes shape. Walkways connect the patio to the house, to the driveway, to the garden, wherever they need to go.
This phase is where most of the labor lives. It’s also where craftsmanship shows. A patio that’s set perfectly flat will still look flat in ten years. A patio that was rushed will telegraph every shortcut by the second winter.
Then the features that make it feel like yours
Water features and fire features go in once the hardscape is set. A waterfall that drops from the top of a boulder wall. A fire pit at the corner of the patio. A built-in fireplace anchored to the wall behind the seating area. These are the elements that take a project from “nice yard” to “I never want to leave.”
Then the layer that completes it
Low-voltage lighting comes last, integrated into the patio, the steps, the water feature, the plantings. Plantings get installed last too, sized for what your space actually needs and selected for what survives Connecticut winters.
This is also when the small details get finished. The granite cap on the wall. The custom seating bench. The hidden electrical outlet for the speaker system. The pavers that get re-cleaned and the joints that get re-stabilized before we walk you through the final reveal.
What this looks like as a real number
A full backyard transformation including drainage, a retaining wall, a 600-square-foot patio, a small water feature, a fire pit, walkways, low-voltage lighting and planting typically runs $75,000 to $150,000 depending on the property. A simpler patio plus a fire pit might be $25,000 to $40,000. A blueprint up front will give you a real, itemized number before you commit to anything.
How services come together on a real project
Low-voltage lighting comes last, integrated into the patio, the steps, the water feature, the plantings. Plantings get installed last too, sized for what your space actually needs and selected for what survives Connecticut winters.
Ready to talk about your backyard?
Ten-minute call with John. No pressure, no obligation, no sales pitch. He’ll tell you straight whether your project is the right fit.