03 · Landscaping & Hardscapes
A backyard you actually want to be in.
Patios, retaining walls, fire pits, walkways, plant beds, full re-designs. Built on real base prep, not pretty stone laid over bad ground. We design around your actual yard, your actual sun, and the actual way you live in it.
The problem
You can build a beautiful patio over four inches of compacted gravel, for about three winters. Then it heaves, the joints crack, and the pavers tilt. The fix costs more than the original install. We've torn out enough of these jobs that we know exactly where they fail.
Hardscapes in the foothills have to handle freeze-thaw cycles, clay that swells, and 50+ inches of annual rainfall. That means deeper base prep, properly compacted in lifts, with drainage built in before the stone goes down. We do that part right, even though you'll never see it.
And on the soft side: most "landscape installs" are just a load of mulch, three boxwoods and a hosta. We design beds around how plants actually grow in clay, what your sun exposure really is, and how the bed will look in year five, not just the day it's installed.
02 · What we build
We don't sub out the hard work to one company and the planting to another. The same person who designs your patio picks the plants going around it.
Flagstone, paver, stamped concrete, dry-laid bluestone. 6"+ compacted base in lifts, polymeric joint sand, edge restraint. Pitched to drain. Built to last 20 years, not three.
Swap tired railroad ties or a leaning old wall for stone that matches your beds and actually holds its line. Boulder and natural-stone for character, with drainage and proper footing built in behind every one so it stays put.
Wood-burning or gas, stone or modular block. Built on a proper non-combustible base with the right code clearances. Full outdoor kitchen builds aren't our service.
Designed for our foothills clay and your actual sun exposure. Native and adapted plants that survive year three. Real bed prep: amended soil, edging that holds up, mulch sized to the bed.
River-rock beds and rock gardens with clean cobble borders. Low-maintenance and tidy, and they carry runoff away instead of washing mulch into the lawn. One of the things we install most.
Concept sketch, plant list, hardscape plan, phasing if you want to spread cost over two seasons. We design it, we build it. No middleman, no "the designer said one thing and the crew did another."
New lawn from scratch on graded soil; sod or seed depending on slope, sun, and budget. Tied into irrigation if you've got it. Warrantied for the season.
03 · How it works
The same way every job runs, whether it's a quick fix or a full build. No surprises between the steps.
We come look at the actual job and give you a real number.
We confirm exactly what we're doing before anyone picks up a shovel.
We get it done, the way we said we would.
We don't leave until you're happy with it. Questions later? We're a call away.
04 · Pricing
A 200 sq ft patio over flat compacted soil and a 200 sq ft patio with three feet of fall, a regrade, and stone steps are not the same job. Anyone quoting hardscape by the square foot online is either lying or about to underbid the base prep.
We quote your project after we've walked it. The quote is fixed. If we hit a surprise underground (rock, buried trash, an old septic line), we tell you the cost before we touch it, not after.
What affects your quote
05 · Recent work
Photo · finished
Photo · after
Photo · after
Photo · after On the border or not on the list? Send your address — we'd rather decline a job than make a neighbor count themselves out. See service areas →
From the blog
More on this from our crew:
Free site walk · No pressure
We don't need a Pinterest board. Just tell us how you want to use the space, what you don't like about it now, and we'll come look. The site walk and the first sketch round are both free.
Two ways in
Path B · Project
Start a project
Path A · Maintenance
get on the schedule
Or email contact@lawngevitytn.com
Big projects rarely happen in isolation. Once the crew is on site, here's what's worth doing while we're here.