Planning a whole yard
Backyard Ideas on a Slope
A sloped backyard isn't a design problem. It's a sequence problem. Build the pieces in the wrong order and you pay for the first one twice.
Before you call anybody
Guides and ideas
Most of what a back yard project costs is decided before a contractor is ever called. These are the decisions that do the deciding.
A builder can only quote what you ask for. Ask for the wrong thing and you get an accurate price for the wrong thing. So these pages are about the fork in the road, not the finish line.
Wood or composite. Wall or regrade. Screened porch, or an open patio with shade over it.
They're also the only pages here where money appears, and that's deliberate. A number without the reasoning behind it is worth nothing to you.
Read these first
The guides
Decks
Deck Design Ideas
Design ideas for a deck fall into two piles: the ones that change how it looks and the ones that change how it has to be built. Knowing which is which before you call is worth money.
Decks
Deck Size and Board Calculator
Work out the size first. Once you know the square footage, the board count and how many joists sit under it, every quote you receive becomes readable.
Fire pits
Fire Pit Ideas and Designs
A fire pit is the cheapest thing you can add to a yard that changes how often people are in it. Getting it right is mostly about size, position and what you sit on.
Fencing
How to Read a Fence Quote
Fence quotes for the same yard routinely differ by a factor of two. Almost none of that gap is profit. It's gates, posts, terrain and what happens to the old fence.
Deck care
How to Stain a Deck in Georgia
Most deck finishes in north Georgia fail early for one of two reasons: the boards weren't dry, or they weren't clean. Neither has anything to do with which can you bought.
Patios, walkways and steps
Patio and Walkway Ideas
A patio is a surface that won't absorb rain, and a walkway is a line across a grade. Both of them change where water goes. Design them knowing that and they age well.
Pergolas and patio covers
Pergola Ideas and Designs
A pergola is the cheapest way to make a hot patio usable and the most misunderstood structure in the backyard. Here's what it does, what it won't do, and how to pick a design before you call anybody.
Fencing
Privacy Fence Ideas and Styles
Fence styles look like a taste decision and are mostly a structural one. Every pattern below changes what the wind does to the fence, and therefore what the posts have to be.
Retaining walls
Retaining Walls Compared
Most retaining wall failures are drainage failures wearing a different hat. Start with what goes behind the wall, then pick the material, then worry about how it looks.
Porches and enclosures
Screened Porch Ideas
The difference between a porch that gets used every evening and one that becomes storage is decided by four things, and three of them are settled before anybody picks a paint color.
Porches and enclosures
Screened Porch, Sunroom or Three-Season Room
Screened porch prices look wildly inconsistent online because three completely different jobs share the same name. Work out which one you're buying and the numbers stop being confusing.
Choosing
Types of Fences and Decking
Every outdoor project starts with the same four arguments: which fence, which decking, deck or patio, and porch or sunroom. Here they are, side by side, with the part people find out too late.
Patios, walkways and steps
What Sits Under a Patio Quote
Two quotes for the same patio, one noticeably cheaper. Nine times out of ten the difference isn't the pavers. It's how much of the ground came out before they went down.
Fencing
Wood Fence Maintenance
A wood fence has one clock on it, and it runs at the ground line. Everything below is either about slowing that clock down or about what to do once it has run out.
How to use them
Skim the one that matches what you think you want. Then read the one next to it. That's usually where people change their minds.
Somebody set on a deck finds out the ground is flat and a patio goes further. Somebody set on a patio finds out the slope has to be held first.
Then look at the work
The services pages explain how each job is built.
The gallery is what it looks like finished. The reviews are what the people who paid for it said afterward.
When you're ready, send the details or call us at (706) 879-8873.
Our work
Our finished jobs
Deck extended and enclosed as a screened porch under a new gable roof, with horizontal metal railings and stained stairs, Adairsville, Georgia
Poured concrete circular driveway curving around a planted island at a two story home, Atlanta, Georgia
Wide entry steps and landing in fresh timber, with cable railing, meeting the flagstone path at a cabin door, Blue Ridge, Georgia
New timber railing installed along a long stained deck overlooking open water, Cartersville, Georgia
Still not sure which one you want?
Describe the spot and what bothers you about it. That's usually enough to point you at the right one.