Hardscaping Professionals in Albany, CA

“Sue Miller of Miller Landscape Architecture took our weedy, uneven, unusable backyard and transformed it into a beautiful terraced garden perfect for relaxing and entertaining. She patiently listened to our thoughts and concerns, and designed and developed a plan that reflects our lifestyle. We now have expansive outdoor living space that fully suits our needs, including native plant gardens, lawn, horseshoe pit play area, deck/pergola, multiple flights of custom cut flagstone stairs, and a flagstone patio. We benefitted from Sue's design talent and construction experience, as well as her ease in working with contractors. She kept us updated throughout a multi-phased construction process, while providing suggestions and soliciting our input. We highly recommend working with Miller Landscape Architecture.”

“Rafat was a pleasure to work with and is not only very knowledgeable but has wonderful taste in design. We are delighted with our garden.”

“David was amazing to work with! He was easy going and very open to our ideas for our small yard. He never made us feel like our wants were too much and worked with us to include all of our wishlist. He was able to design the whole property, and was very knowledgeable with the plants he recommended. We got the final copies of the plans in a timely manner and he was overall a pleasure to work with. He really made us feel like our small space was important to him!”

“Kristen designed a beautiful makeover for our yard - front, back and sides. She asked lots of questions before designing anything - what we wanted (pavers, pretty flowers), what we didn't want (water feature, yellow flowers) and in general, how we wanted to use our yard. She came up with lovely, detailed plans for a traditional looking garden (with our traditional looking house) - that were revised slightly with discussion, then found a couple of contractors to bid on the work. She supervised the work of the one we chose, making sure they followed the plans. She recommended a new gardner - good choice. About a year later she replaced the few plants that hadn't made it (for no charge), and now almost two years later the place is absolutely beautiful! I can't tell you how many complements we have received ever since the job was originally completed - and they continue to this day!”

“My garden had good bones but the plants were all wrong. I wanted a garden that looked natural but well-kept, a tough aesthetic to pull off. I wanted lots of birds and butterflies. Mariposa Gardening has taken care of my garden for a few years now. The principal, Andrea Hurd, started by editing the original sorry collection of misplaced plants, replacing the losers with absolute winners. I now have a beautiful variety of textures, colors, shapes and sizes. Something is in bloom in all seasons. We are overrun with birds and, in season, with butterflies. Her maintenance crews have done a great job of keeping her work looking good. The trees are elegantly pruned; each one displays that gold standard "looks like it grew that way" look. Any special request that I make is quickly taken care of. Sometimes I get treats, in the form of new flowers or vegetable starts (I love foraging in my own back yard). In short I am completely happy with Mariposa Gardening and Design.”

“I just completed a remodel of my pool and landscaping with the Alder Group, and simply stated I could not be happier. From the first meeting until the project was completed, Don always looked for ways to improve the project and at the same time ways to minimize the cost of the project. His keen eye for design saw needed simple improvements that were relatively inexpensive but had a massive effect on the overall beauty of the project. Perhaps most importantly when the manufacturer delivered the wrong custom coping, and I worried that we would not be able to meet the deadline of a large party that was planned for my backyard; Don found a way to resolve the issue and keep the job on schedule. Don is truly one of the good guys.”

“Sarah Ray and her design build firm are nothing short of exceptional. Sarah and her crew restored our trust in the home service industry after experiencing a botched home interior addition & remodel seven years ago. Our experience with Sarah now sets the gold standard for any home service provider we hire in the future. We spent a month carefully interviewing 6 landscape designers, architects, and design-build firms. Sarah was always the front runner and knew the second we hired her that we initiated a great partnership and were embarking on an awesome ride! And it was, on every front. Sarah is not only a talented visionary, designer and expert in her field, but a great listener, collaborator and partner. We have a large flat backyard (about 5000 sq. ft.) that was overgrown and neglected. We had ideas of the style and design elements that we liked, but it was overwhelming to think of how to get there! Having Sarah shepherd us through the design to build process was a privilege and an experience I will always treasure. She is extremely approachable, upbeat, patient, and easy to work with. She was very open to listening to our ideas and iterating on design options together. We also hired Sarah to build/implement our master design plan. A full design-build firm appealed to us because of the seamless and efficient implementation of the design. Sarah is also very available throughout the build process and was onsite nearly every day, as was her foreman. Sarah also met us countless times at various suppliers so that we could carefully select our materials. Her build crew is talented and very hard working. They started at 7:30am and worked for 7-8 hours/day, sweltering hot conditions or not. We really appreciated the undivided attention and the integrity and all-around work ethic displayed by Sarah and her crew. You will also find Sarah to be very transparent. Her billing system is the most logical and straight forward approach I have experienced in the home service industry. The invoice is directly tied to our contracted line items whereby charges reflect only percentages completed on a weekly basis. All change orders were at my request, and were only represented in the invoice if we agreed to it prior. There were no hidden costs or surprises. So, aside from my change orders, the project cost aligned with the signed contracted budget. Sarah created a gorgeous garden space that is everything we ever dreamed of and much more. Our family is looking forward to enjoying this beautiful extension of our home, our new found sanctuary, for years to come. Sarah Ray Design comes highly recommended for any size project. Thanks a million, Sarah!”

“Bonnie designed my backyard landscaping and it turned out better than I could have imagined. She designed a beautiful paver patio surrounded with a lush garden of plants. She is committed to low water, low maintenance, and organic gardening.”

“Past the Gate did a beautiful job with a new patio I purchased as a gift for my daughter at her home. Greg and his staff were friendly and very professional and I would use them again in an instant (in fact, I have now used them two years in a row for improvements to my daughter's property in Berkeley!)”

“Audrey is great! Creative, knowledgeable and fun. She will work with you to create something unique and lasting. She has done two projects for us and continues to do the on-going maintenance to keep the garden fresh and lively. She cares about soil health, plant growth and is also knowledgable about water systems and the latest in drought irrigation technology.”