Challenging Hillside Landscape? No Problem.

 

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When I got out of my truck and saw the site for the first time, I said to myself, “You have got to be kidding me!”  After the initial shock wore off, I started thinking . . .

 

 “OK, how are we going to make this job happen?”

Meet Tim. He is one of our landscape construction foremen.  Tim is not easily rattled by difficult project sites, however he could have understandably packed up his equipment and drove away from this one…….but he didn’t.

Project Overview

The project site is located along the western bank of the Rocky River.  The home is part of a larger row of townhouses that overlook the river.  Access to the project area is limited to a set of stairs 100 yards away and a narrow, steep side yard.

The homeowner wanted to turn their weedy spot of ground between the house and the river into a nice garden.  Don Hoffman, the landscape designer/salesmen charged with this task, looked at the difficult site with a similar “glass half-full” mentality as our foreman Tim did.

“Challenging sites are not roadblocks,” Hoffman said.  “They are opportunities.  If you can come up with the right solutions that work in concert with a site’s existing features, you’ve got a home run. Regardless of the conditions out on the job site, we still need to deliver a quality project that achieves the client’s vision for the property.”

Tim and crew got to work implementing the design solution that Don had developed.  The back of the house that faces the river was to become the primary garden area because it can be so readily from the home’s expansive decks.  Easier said than done.

Solutions not Roadblocks

The crew developed an ingenious  pulley system that gently lowered materials down to the project area.  One man served as a counterweight, and as the load came down the hill, he walked up the hill.  This series of shots show how they lowered some of the bigger, heavier material.

The crew continued pushing through the difficult site conditions, navigating impossibly small and steep areas to situate all of the plants.  Below,  Steve and Alex use the new sandstone path as a way to move a containerized tree into position.  Thankfully,  they did not inadvertently go for a swim.

The first installation phase of this project concluded with quite an impact.  Tim’s crew was able to stay positive and armed with a “can-do” attitude, they accomplished a seemingly impossible job.  Here are a few shots after the job was finished:

Need assistance with your challenging site?   By all means give us a call.

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