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The whole backyard, one team.

Turnkey design-build across San Diego County since 1984 — concept, 3D modeling, engineering, and every trade run by one in-house crew, under one contract.

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A graded San Diego backyard built in sequence — retaining and drainage set before the pool, hardscape, and planting that followed

A backyard is built in order.

A whole-yard project is not a list of features you buy separately. It is one structure with a sequence. The engineering, grading, drainage, and retaining go in first. Then the pool, the hardscape, and the built structures. Then the planting and the lighting that finish it. Run that order wrong and you are tearing out a finished patio to reach a pipe you should have set in week two.

We sequence the entire yard ourselves because we build the entire yard ourselves. There is no coordinating six contractors who each show up on their own schedule and blame the one before them when a deck cracks or a drain backs up. The crew that grades the lot is the crew that pours the shell and sets the stone. One plan, one timeline, one party accountable for how each phase meets the next.

And one number. One contract covers the whole project, and one company carries the ten-year structural liability on all of it — the grading, the drainage, the retaining, the pool, the hardscape. We have built this way since 1984, and that record is still clean.

What’s included.

  • Site analysis and engineering — soil, grade, runoff, and slope read before a single line is drawn
  • 3D concept and modeling of the full yard so you walk it and change it before we move soil
  • Grading and drainage engineered to move water away from every structure on the lot
  • All hardscape, pools and spas, and built structures — shells, walls, decks, kitchens, shade
  • Planting and irrigation designed around the finished grade and the soil it sits in
  • Low-voltage landscape, path, and architectural lighting wired in-house
  • Permits and inspections pulled and run in-house across every jurisdiction in the county
  • One fixed-price proposal for the whole project, drawn from the model and the engineering

Our process.

01 · Discovery

Walk & assess

We walk the whole property, read the grade and the runoff, and assess the soil. We flag the engineering, retaining, and drainage the finished yard will depend on — before anything is priced.

02 · Design

3D & fixed price

You see the entire backyard in 3D before we dig. Layout, pool, hardscape, planting, and lighting get drawn over the engineering, then turned into one fixed-price proposal for the whole project.

03 · Build

Sequenced in-house

Engineering and grading, then drainage and retaining, then pools, hardscape, and structures, then planting and lighting. Every phase runs in-house, in order, with one crew accountable for the last.

04 · Handoff

Walkthrough & warranty

We start the equipment, walk you through running the yard, and hand off the documentation. Then the ten-year structural liability is ours — on the grading, drainage, retaining, and every structure.

Selected design-build projects.

Full backyard build in San Diego County with pool, hardscape, and planting sequenced by one team
Whole-yard build
Turnkey backyard, one contract
Pool, deck, and planting integrated into a graded San Diego lot as a single design-build project
Pool & grounds
Pool, deck, and grounds together
Hillside backyard built in sequence — retaining and drainage first, then hardscape, structures, and lighting
Hillside, full scope
Hillside yard, structure-first
See the full gallery →

Why bring us the whole yard.

Forty years, same owner

Darren Earl has been building whole backyards in San Diego County since 1984. He has watched what holds and what fails over four decades on this region’s soil and slopes. The owner prices the job and has carried the ten-year structural liability on it for four decades. His in-house crew, not a rotating cast of subs, builds it.

One team, no subcontractors

Most whole-yard projects are stitched from a chain of subs — a designer, a pool sub, a mason, a planter, an electrician — each on their own schedule, each blaming the last. We run every phase in-house. One contract, one number to call, no gap between trades for a problem to hide in.

Ten-year liability, clean record

California holds the builder structurally liable for ten years. On a whole-yard build that exposure spans the grading, drainage, retaining, and every structure on the lot. We carry it on all of it, and we have carried it clean for forty — zero structural complaints on record.

Design-build questions, answered straight.

Design-build means one company designs the project and then builds it, under a single contract. The usual model splits those jobs: a designer draws a yard, then hands it to whichever contractors bid lowest, and nobody owns the gap between the drawing and the dirt. We do both. The crew that engineers your grading is the crew that pours your shell and sets your stone. That means the design is drawn to what we can actually build and stand behind, and there is one company answering for the whole yard from concept through the ten-year structural liability.
Yes. You see the whole backyard in 3D before we move soil. We model the grade, the pool, the hardscape, the structures, the planting, and the lighting so you can walk the space, change finishes, and move elements while it costs nothing to move them. The model is not a sales picture. It is drawn over the engineering, so what you approve on screen is what the steel schedule, the drainage plan, and the fixed-price proposal are built around. By the time you sign, there are no surprises about what the finished yard will look like.
A whole-yard turnkey project typically runs three to six months of construction once permits are in hand, depending on scope, slope, and how much engineering the lot needs. Design and 3D modeling come first, then permitting, then the build. A flat lot with a pool, hardscape, and planting lands at the short end. A hillside with retaining, grading, and a pool runs longer, because the structure goes in before the finish. Because every phase is in-house, there is no dead time waiting on a subcontractor to show up between trades, and we give you a phased timeline in writing at design.
We give you a fixed-price proposal at design, drawn from the 3D model and the engineering rather than a rough guess. Because one team prices and builds the whole yard, we are not stacking subcontractor markups or padding for unknowns between trades. Change orders happen only when you change the scope, or when something genuinely hidden turns up underground. When that happens you get the number in writing before any work proceeds. You will not get the bait-and-switch where a low bid balloons once the dirt is open.
Yes, and we design for it from the start. If the budget or the timeline calls for it, we sequence the yard so the structural work goes in first — grading, drainage, retaining, and any underground runs for a future pool or kitchen — then phase the visible build over months or years. Because the full design exists up front, a later phase drops into work already built for it, instead of tearing up finished hardscape to reach a pipe. One plan, one team, built in the order that protects what comes next.

Tell us about the property.

Bring us the whole lot — flat, sloped, or the hillside nobody else would take on as one project. We come look at it, structure first, and give you a 3D concept and one fixed-price number. No charge for the visit.

Call
(858) 603-7842
Studio
20808 Thyme Way, Jamul, CA 91935
Hours
Mon–Fri · 8:00am – 5:00pm
Saturday · By appointment
Sunday · Closed
License
CSLB #523467 · Licensed & insured

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