The challenge
What we walked into.
The lot sat two feet below its neighbors, and three downspouts emptied straight into the lawn. After a two-inch rain, standing water lingered for days. The previous contractor had quoted a paver patio on top of the problem — twice.
The owners' brief was blunt: make the backyard usable from March to November, and don't sell us anything that dies underwater.
The approach
What we did about it.
Week one was all water: regrading the rear third of the lot, burying and rerouting all three downspouts, and installing 90 feet of French drain feeding a dry creek bed along the fence line.
Only then did the visible work start — a 640 sq ft limestone-toned paver terrace on open-graded base, a seat wall doubling as flood-side retention, layered Zone 8a planting, and 14 low-voltage fixtures on a smart transformer.
The result
Where it landed.
The measurement that matters: after a two-inch rainfall test, the terrace and lawn were surface-dry within two hours. The terrace has hosted dinner more nights than not since completion, and the planting survived its first full summer without a single loss.
- Dry within 2 hours of a 2″ rain event
- 640 sq ft terrace, seat wall, and fire feature
- 14-fixture lighting system on smart control
- Zero plant losses in season one
“We stopped planning our lives around the weather. The drainage work is invisible — which is exactly the point.”
D. Whitfield — homeowner (fictional)