Backyard landscaping, Peninsula & South Bay

Yes, $25,000, though most backyard builds run well above it.

Published Sequoia backyards on this site have run from about $50,000 to $431,000, against a $25,000 construction minimum. There is no useful average because the spread is driven by access, demolition, grade and how many utility-fed features are in the scope rather than by square footage. The map on this page shows rounded ranges from completed builds near you, and every proposal is itemized rather than quoted as a single number.

Access, almost every time. A front yard opens onto the street, so base rock, spoil and pavers move by machine. If the only route to the back is a side return too narrow for a Bobcat, the same tonnage moves by wheelbarrow through the gate, and the labor line on an otherwise identical patio can double. Backyards also tend to carry the features that need utilities underneath them, which front yards usually do not.

One company holds the plan and the build instead of handing drawings to a stranger to bid. Depending on scope that covers demolition, grading, drainage, retaining, patios and walkways, planting, irrigation, artificial turf, outdoor kitchens and bars, fire and water features, pergolas and lighting. It also means the completion date is in one contract rather than being renegotiated between trades.

Yes, and it is often the right answer on a large property. The phases have to be planned together rather than decided one at a time: the groundwork, the drainage and every conduit and sleeve for a future kitchen, fire feature or lighting run go in during the first phase, because retrofitting any of them means lifting finished paving. Phase one is nearly always groundwork and hardscape.

On a sloped or poorly draining lot it is routinely a quarter to a third of it. Cut and fill, compaction, drain lines, dry wells and retaining all happen before a single finish material arrives, and retaining alone is priced by its height, its length and what it holds back. A bid that comes in dramatically under the others has usually removed this, not found a cheaper paver.

From about $36 per square foot for a patio or terrace, banded by area, and from about $36 per square foot plus coping for a pool deck. Where you land above that depends on the paver, the pattern and how many cuts the shape demands. The part worth knowing: a square-foot number covers the paved area and not what has to happen before it. Demolition and haul-off, grading, drainage and any retaining are itemized separately on your proposal, which is why two quotes using the same rate can still total very differently.

It depends on what is in the scope, not on the size of the budget. Covered structures, retaining walls above a certain height, grading, drainage changes and new gas or electrical runs are the usual triggers, and an HOA architectural packet commonly takes two to six weeks on its own. We identify which apply to your address during design and sequence them against the completion date rather than discovering them afterwards.

It starts with where the water goes now: the existing grade, the roof discharge, the neighboring properties and whether there is a legal outfall. From there the plan can include regrading, catch basins, drain lines, a dry well, permeable paving or a connection to an approved existing route. It is designed before the hardscape layout is finalized, because the falls decide where the paving can go.

Often yes, and it usually makes the yard better. Our San Bruno hillside project was built around an existing weeping willow rather than removing it. What has to be checked first is the tree’s health, its root plate against where you want hardscape, and whether it is protected under the town’s tree ordinance, which several Peninsula cities enforce at a specific trunk circumference.