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The homeowner in the Brow of the Hill neighborhood had a backyard that hadn't been touched in over a decade. Mossy, cracked pavers covered most of the ground. The old fence was leaning and rotting at the base. There was no usable outdoor space — just a rectangle of neglect behind an otherwise well-kept home. They wanted a space for evening dinners, somewhere their kids could play on clean ground, and a property that looked finished from every angle. The brief was straightforward: tear everything out and build it right.
The existing pavers had settled unevenly over years of BC rain saturating the sub-base. Removing them revealed compacted clay soil with almost zero drainage. The slope from the house to the back fence dropped nearly 18 inches over 30 feet, which meant water pooled against the foundation during heavy rain. The old fence posts were set in dirt — no concrete footings — so every panel wobbled. We needed to regrade the entire yard, install drainage, and build from a clean slate.
We stripped the yard to bare soil, regraded for positive drainage away from the foundation, and installed a perforated drain tile along the back fence line connected to the storm system. The new patio is set on 6 inches of compacted road crush with a geotextile membrane underneath. We built a western red cedar fence with concrete footings at every post, added a cedar pergola over the dining area, laid fresh sod across the remaining yard, and installed low-voltage LED landscape lighting along the fence line and under the pergola.
Timeline: 8 days
The backyard went from an eyesore to the best room in the house. The pergola gives shade for summer dinners, the lighting extends usability into the evening, and the drainage system keeps the yard dry through the wettest months. The homeowner said their kids were playing outside the same evening we finished — that's the reaction we work for.
