Los Altos · Landscape design-build
Landscape Design & Build in Los Altos, CA
Sequoia Outdoor designs and builds landscapes for Los Altos homeowners who want their outdoor spaces to work better together. We plan patios, pathways, planting, irrigation, lighting and gathering areas around your home, existing features and everyday routines.
Whether you are refreshing the front yard or rebuilding the landscape around a pool, start with a coordinated plan and a clearly defined construction scope.
Free consultation and design presentation. Construction project minimum: $25,000. Design services quoted separately.
Los Altos snapshot
Service area
Los Altos, Peninsula & South Bay
Documented Los Altos work
1 published case study, plus 3 photographed builds
Construction project minimum
$25,000
Verified reviews
80 review listings and recommendations across six platforms as of 2026-08-30
A Los Altos Backyard Rebuilt Around an Existing Pool
One Los Altos project is published as a full case study with its scope, photography and cost breakdown. Three further Los Altos builds are shown below as photographs only, because they have no written breakdown to link to. Projects in neighboring towns are in their own section further down.
After
Poolside Pavers, Turf & Planting
This Los Altos renovation connected the pool, patio, planting beds and gathering areas into a more cohesive backyard. Sequoia replaced aging surrounding surfaces with Belgard pavers and added a defined turf area, drainage, irrigation, planting, privacy screening and landscape lighting.
The owners had separately hired a pool contractor. Sequoia coordinated its surrounding landscape work with that contractor’s replastering and coping installation.
- Completed
- October 2024
- Published investment range
- $95,540–$105,300
- Paver installation
- 1,679 square feet
- Artificial turf
- 384 square feet
- Lighting
- 19 low-voltage fixtures
- Planting
- 65 new plants
- Scope distinction
- Sequoia built the surrounding landscape. The pool itself was re-plastered and re-coped by a separate contractor under a separate agreement
About the figures. The published range is rounded from the signed proposal for Sequoia’s work. The pool renovation was a separate contract and is not included in it. Confirm whether later changes are included before describing any figure as a final project cost.
Selected Los Altos Projects
Photographed on site at handover. These three have no published scope or cost, so none is quoted here. Browse every documented Sequoia project.
Published projects in neighboring towns
Two case studies from towns next to Los Altos, named on each card so they are not read as Los Altos work. Los Altos Hills is a separate jurisdiction with its own requirements; it has its own page.
Los Altos HillsPaver Terrace, Pet Turf Dog Run and DG Courtyard
740 sq ft of Belgard paving with step treads, a fenced pet-turf dog run, stabilized decomposed granite, planting, drip irrigation and 15 low-voltage fixtures.
Palo AltoPavers, Lighting and Planting
About 3,800 sq ft of Belgard paving with drainage, irrigation, fencing, planting beds and low-voltage lighting.
Designing Your Los Altos Landscape Around How You Live
A useful plan settles more than how the finished yard looks. Before materials are chosen, work out the routes you actually walk, the trees and features you are keeping, how planting and irrigation go in together, and which approvals your scope triggers.
Connect the house and the backyard
Start with the routes you use every day: kitchen to outdoor dining, house to pool, driveway to front door. Patio dimensions, furniture space, planting edges and pathways should support those movements rather than fight them. A coordinated layout can also preserve the features you still enjoy while replacing the parts that no longer work, which is usually cheaper than starting from a blank yard.
Coordinate poolside work before demolition
When landscaping and a pool renovation overlap, establish who is responsible for coping, paving transitions, drainage, utilities and site access before anything is demolished. The sequence matters: each contractor’s work has to connect to the next stage, and a coping height set without the surrounding paving in mind is expensive to correct afterwards. The documented Los Altos project above was built this way, around a separate pool contractor’s schedule.
Plan around the trees you are keeping
Identify the trees to retain before locating patios, utility trenches and access routes. Los Altos requires a Tree Removal Permit before a protected tree can be removed, and the City’s handout defines protected as any tree 12 inches or more in diameter measured 48 inches above the ground, any native species 10 inches or more, any Heritage Tree, any tree required to be saved or planted under a development approval, and any tree in the public right-of-way. Not every tree is protected, and a protected tree that is merely inconvenient for a layout is not normally approved for removal: the criteria turn on health, risk, species, interference with infrastructure, damage to a structure, or the absence of a feasible alternative. Approved removals are replaced 1:1 with a minimum 24-inch box tree of similar mature canopy. Trees being kept are fenced at the dripline under LAMC 11.08.140, at least five feet high in a sturdy open material, with no storage inside the fence and existing grade maintained to the dripline until construction is complete, which is why the fence line has to be drawn before the patio is. A private arborist assessment belongs in the scope with a named responsible party; we do not employ a certified arborist. City of Los Altos tree removal and protection.
Design planting and irrigation together
Choose plants for the actual conditions in each part of the yard, including sunlight, shade, available rooting space and water needs, then group compatible plants and plan their irrigation zones with them. Los Altos has adopted water-efficient landscape requirements that apply to qualifying projects: new landscape areas of 500 square feet or more, and rehabilitated landscape areas of 2,500 square feet or more, where the work requires a building or landscape permit, plan check or design review. Projects at or under 2,500 square feet of landscape area may follow the ordinance’s prescriptive appendix instead of the full performance calculation. Confirm whether a Landscape Documentation Package applies to your scope before installation plans are finalized. A lawn is not automatically impractical here, native plants do not all want the same water, and drought-tolerant planting still needs irrigation to establish. Los Altos water-efficient landscape ordinance (PDF).
Plan lighting with the neighbors in mind
Lighting should support pathways, entrances and gathering areas without spilling onto neighboring properties. Fixture placement, aiming, brightness and shielding belong in the design conversation, not in a catalogue picked after the paving is down. Los Altos publishes residential lighting performance standards under LAMC 14.91, and its handout is explicit that the regulations do not apply to indoor lighting or to low-intensity landscape lighting directed downward at under 150 lumens per fixture. A lighting plan is required for a new single-family dwelling, a new development of two or more units, or an addition that adds or replaces 50 percent or more of the existing habitable square footage within five years. Where a plan is required, the City asks for fully shielded fixtures at 3,000 Kelvin or less and a photometric plan by an electrical engineer or other qualified professional showing 0.0 footcandles at the property lines, with no fixture within five feet of a perimeter property line. Confirm which of those applies to your project. Los Altos residential lighting plan handout (PDF).
Requirements depend on the property and the proposed work. Confirm what applies to your address with the City before construction. City guidance reviewed 4 September 2026. Los Altos planning forms and handouts.
Considering a Lawn-Conversion Rebate?
Check Valley Water’s current program requirements before you start a qualifying conversion. Three things decide most Los Altos projects.
- A written Notice to Proceed comes first. Valley Water’s portal states that projects should not be started until a written Notice to Proceed is issued, so the rebate step has to sit ahead of demolition in the schedule, not alongside it.
- Artificial turf is not rebated through this program. Valley Water says so on the portal itself. Synthetic turf can still be the right surface for a dog run, a play area or a small shaded lawn; it is just not a rebate route. The 384 square feet of turf in the Los Altos project above did not qualify for one.
- Eligibility and funding are confirmed per property. The published residential cap is up to $3,000, with higher amounts for commercial and multi-family sites and in some cost-sharing areas. Approved improvements and available funding change, so confirm the current terms for your address rather than budgeting from a number you read here.
Rebate eligibility is a separate question from whether a material is permitted locally. Valley Water Landscape Rebate Program. Program terms reviewed 4 September 2026. Sequoia is not a program administrator and cannot approve or guarantee a rebate.
Landscape Design and Construction Services in Los Altos
Grouped by what a homeowner is actually trying to do. Each linked page carries the scope it covers, its pricing floor and the completed projects behind it. Routine cleaning and garden maintenance are not services we sell.
Front yards and entrances
Plan planting, entry paths, driveway transitions and lighting as one connected arrival rather than three separate jobs that meet at an awkward joint.
Backyards and poolside spaces
Coordinate patios, circulation, pool surrounds, planting and the features you want to keep. We surface and rebuild around pools; we do not build or re-plaster them.
Planting, irrigation and lawn alternatives
Planting beds and irrigation designed alongside the surrounding hardscape, with valves and lines placed before the surfaces close over them. Where a lawn is not doing the job it is asked to do, we compare planted ground cover, gravel and synthetic turf against the actual use of that area.
Outdoor gathering and evening use
Cooking, shade, fire features and lighting integrated into the landscape rather than parked on it, with utilities routed during base work instead of chased in afterwards.
Design fees and construction budgets
What Does Landscape Design and Construction Cost in Los Altos?
Design fees and construction costs pay for different parts of the project, so they are quoted separately and shown separately here.
Design services
Consultation and presentation
An hour on the property: existing conditions, grade, access, irrigation, the features you are keeping and how you want to use the space. No drawings, engineering or renderings are produced at this visit. The presentation that follows, where we walk you through your options and their pricing live, is free as well. Design work itself begins after a design agreement.
Concept plan
A scaled plan of the finished property, dimensioned and called out, with the exact fee quoted before the work begins.
3D rendering
Viewpoints of the finished landscape when a plan drawing is not enough to picture it. An option, not an automatic inclusion.
Additional design services
Fuller documentation and any specialist input the property needs, quoted against the actual scope.
Each design package includes two rounds of small revisions, the adjustments that come up on any design: rounding a corner, nudging a scope. Revisions beyond those, and changes to the design layout or planting plan, are billed hourly at the rate stated in your design agreement, agreed in writing before any extra work starts. Design is contracted and quoted separately from construction, and the fee scales with the deliverables: a concept plan starts at $1,000, a full master plan is commonly in the low thousands, and a complete documentation set for a large or complex property runs into the tens of thousands. If you enter into a construction contract with us within 30 days of your final design being delivered, an amount equal to the design fee is deducted from that contract. These figures match the main landscape design page.
Construction
Sequoia’s construction project minimum is $25,000. That is an entry threshold, not a typical price for a complete Los Altos backyard renovation. Your total depends on demolition, access, materials, drainage, planting, utilities and the features you select.
One documented Los Altos project$95,540–$105,300The poolside pavers, turf, drainage, lighting and planting above, rounded from the signed proposal for Sequoia’s scope. Use it as a scope example, not a Los Altos average, then ask for a proposal based on your property.
Per-square-foot rates live on the service page for each scope, where their inclusions and exclusions are stated. A paving rate covers paving; walls, steps, drainage and features are itemized separately on a proposal. What 16 signed proposals cost shows the full spread across the Peninsula and South Bay.
Pricing reviewed 4 September 2026.
From consultation to handover
- 01
Consultation
We walk the property and discuss goals, existing conditions and budget.
- 02
Design
Deliverables, layout, materials, design fees and the revision allowance are agreed before design work begins.
- 03
Preparation
Applicable approvals, specialist responsibilities and contractor coordination are resolved before mobilization.
- 04
Construction and handover
The agreed scope is built and reviewed with you at a final walkthrough.
Your scheduled completion date is confirmed after the pre-construction walkthrough, not at the first consultation. Eligible delays within Sequoia’s control are addressed through schedule credits under the published terms and signed addendum. Read the schedule-credit terms.
Los Altos landscape design and build FAQs
Do you design and build landscapes in Los Altos?
Yes. Sequoia Outdoor serves Los Altos homeowners with landscape design and construction, including planting, hardscape and outdoor living improvements.
Can you renovate the landscaping around an existing pool?
Yes. Our published Los Altos project shows surrounding landscape work coordinated with a separate pool contractor. Responsibilities for coping, paving, drainage, utilities and access should be defined before construction starts.
Is the initial consultation free?
Yes, and so is the presentation that follows it. The on-site visit and the live walkthrough of your options and pricing are both free. Design work begins after a design agreement, so the scope and the fee are agreed before any drawing starts.
How much should I budget?
Sequoia’s construction project minimum is $25,000. Your proposal depends on the site and the scope, and a complete renovation may cost substantially more. The Los Altos case study on this page is a documented example, not a city-wide average.
Can you design around existing trees?
Existing trees can shape the layout. Their condition, the construction planned near them and the applicable protection requirements should be assessed before the design is finalized. In Los Altos a protected tree needs a Tree Removal Permit before removal, so the trees you are keeping should be settled early in the plan.
Could my lawn-conversion project qualify for a rebate?
Potentially, subject to the program’s requirements and approval. Check Valley Water before starting work: its Landscape Rebate Program requires a written Notice to Proceed before a project begins and does not rebate artificial turf. Confirm eligibility and funding for your property at valleywater.dropletportal.com.
Will my project need permits or design review?
That depends on the property and the proposed work. Structures, tree removal, utilities, qualifying landscape installations and lighting can each carry their own requirements. Confirm what applies during planning using the City of Los Altos planning forms and handouts.
Do you also serve Los Altos Hills?
Yes. Los Altos Hills is a separate town with its own requirements and its own project considerations. Our Los Altos Hills page covers that location specifically.
Los Altos Hills landscape design · Los Altos planning forms and guidance · Valley Water Landscape Rebate Program
Serving Los Altos and the surrounding South Bay
Sequoia Outdoor serves Los Altos from its Peninsula and South Bay operation. There is no Los Altos office. Each neighboring town below is its own jurisdiction with its own requirements, which is why they have their own pages rather than being folded into this one.
Let’s Plan Your Los Altos Outdoor Space
Tell us what you want to change, what you want to keep, and how you want to use the finished yard. We will discuss your priorities and explain the next steps for design and construction.
Free consultation and design presentation. Construction project minimum: $25,000.