An outdoor room, built to be lived in
Picture a Sunday in October. The marine layer burned off two hours ago, the light through the avocado tree is the color of weak tea, and your family is outside — the kids on a lawn that actually drains, the grandparents under a pergola that does not creak, your oldest friend leaning against a kitchen island that holds its line in a way you cannot quite explain until you touch it. Nobody is performing. Nobody is posting. They are simply there, for hours, because the space invites staying.
That is what a full backyard remodel actually buys. Not pavers. Not a fire feature. A long afternoon you did not know you were capable of hosting.
San Diego Landscape Remodeling was built for the homeowner who already has the house and now wants the life around it to match. You do not need another trade phone number in your contacts. You need one coordinated plan for the entire outdoor footprint — grading, hardscape, structure, kitchen, lighting, planting — drawn by people who have done it at the high end for twenty-five years and built by a single crew who will finish what they started.
We plan our projects months ahead. We schedule a short list each year. We are not the firm to call if you want someone on your property by Thursday. We are the firm to call when you want the work to hold up the first time a grandchild puts their hand on the wall — and the last time, decades from now, when it is still plumb.
The right yard is a subtle wealth statement that makes a big statement when people come over. Quiet in photographs. Unmissable in person.
What a full backyard remodel actually includes
A full remodel is one plan and one crew for the whole outdoor footprint. It is not five specialists showing up in sequence and handing your house off to each other like a relay baton.
Under one scope of work we coordinate:
- Grading and drainage. Where the water actually goes when it rains in February — addressed once, correctly. See our dedicated drainage and grading work.
- Hardscape. Patios, walkways, pool decks, steps and landings. Paver, poured concrete, stone, or tile — all detailed in our patios and hardscape scope.
- Structures. Pergolas, cabanas, louvered roofs, shade sails, and fire features — engineered and permitted where code demands it. See pergolas and shade structures.
- Outdoor kitchens. From a single built-in grill to a full outdoor kitchen with counter runs, storage, appliance packages, and gas and water lines.
- Lighting. Path, step, wash, and canopy lighting wired and zoned as part of the build, not bolted on after — handled under our landscape lighting scope.
- Planting and irrigation. Tree placement, soft-scape, and drip irrigation designed alongside the hardscape, not after it.
- Water features. Spas, fountains, and pool-deck integrations where the property and program support it.
The difference shows up at the joints. A patio the mason poured without talking to the lighting installer is a patio you will learn to live around. A yard planned once, by one team, is a yard that behaves.
Our process
We run every full remodel through the same sequence. It is deliberate, and it is the reason our projects land.
The first conversation. Thirty minutes by phone or on your property. We ask what you want the space to feel like, what you have already tried, and what has to be true at the end. We tell you, honestly, whether we are the right firm. If we are not, we point you to who is.
Site visit and program brief. Both founders walk the property. We take measurements, photograph the constraints, and ask the questions that make a real design possible — how you entertain, who lives there, what the mornings are for, what the evenings are for. By the end, we know the program and you know how we work.
Design-to-reality visualization. Our design process starts with hand sketches on the property and ends with photorealistic 2D and 3D renderings of your actual yard — not a stock library, not someone else’s backyard. You see the finished space before a single paver is cut. Revisions happen on paper, where they belong, rather than on a jobsite where they cost real money.
Proposal and contract. A line-item proposal with the scope, schedule, material selections, allowances, and payment milestones stated plainly. No surprises inside the fine print. We review it with you in person.
Permitting and procurement. We handle San Diego County permits and the municipal and HOA processes your address requires. Material is ordered to the project — not pulled from whatever the yard happens to have in stock that week.
Build. A single crew, from first cut to final clean. Our Field Lead runs the day-to-day, and either Gio or Mike is personally on every project — not an account manager, not a coordinator. You have both cell phones from the first call.
The 10-Month Walk-Through. Ten months after completion — through a wet winter, a hot September, and the first real wear the space will see — we come back. We walk every square foot of our work with you. We inspect the joints, the grading, the finishes, the structures. Anything that needs attention gets attention. No invoice. Almost nobody in this industry does this. That is exactly why we do.
Materials and the brands we install
Material choice matters. Material choice without design discipline is expensive wallpaper.
We install Belgard and Techo-Bloc paver systems when the project calls for the depth of color and edge detail those lines are known for, and Eldorado Stone veneer where a structure needs to read as built rather than applied. We use Uni-Group paver systems for the larger-format, wet-cast work. For shade structures and overhead details we work in clear vertical-grain cedar and, where the client wants a thirty-year piece, Accoya — a modified wood that holds its geometry better than any untreated hardwood in the San Diego climate.
We favor COR-TEN steel for retaining edges and raised planters where the property allows a quieter, more architectural line than masonry. A specialty materials background Mike also operates on the stone and tile side gives us direct supplier access, pricing we pass through honestly, and installation detail most outdoor-remodel firms simply do not see.
The brands matter. The hand that places the material matters more. The joint either looks intended or it looks tolerated.
Investment and what drives the number
A full backyard remodel with San Diego Landscape Remodeling runs between $50,000 and $300,000 for the large majority of our work. A modest refresh of an existing footprint — new hardscape, a structure, lighting, finish planting — can land near the floor. A coordinated remodel of a half-acre property with kitchen, structure, pool-deck integration, and planting program typically falls between $150,000 and $300,000. We also build to the $500,000-plus tier where the property and program support it.
We do not take on small-scope work. We do not price-match, and we do not run “budget” tiers. We give an honest price and deliver the work behind it.
Cost drivers you should understand before the first conversation:
- Site access. A yard we can reach with a skid-steer is a different proposition than one that requires everything to move by wheelbarrow down a side yard.
- Grading and drainage complexity. Flat lots cost less to get right than sloped ones; sloped ones cost less than sloped-ones-with-an-existing-drainage-problem. Addressed in our drainage and grading detail.
- Structural scope. Retaining walls, pool-deck integrations, and any pergola or cabana that needs engineering.
- Finish level. A standard paver patio and a hand-set stone patio are different jobs with different labor hours.
- Kitchen appliance package. The delta between a basic built-in grill and a full appliance program with hood, side burners, and refrigeration is material.
- Lighting scope. Path-only is one number. Designed, zoned, and smart-controlled is another.
- Planting program maturity. Boxed specimen trees and a mature planting plan cost what mature plants cost.
- Permitting jurisdiction. Coastal, hillside-overlay, and certain HOAs add process time and review fees.
Premium fair value, delivered with full founder access. That is the product.
Where we work
We work across San Diego County — by appointment, by plan, and by design, not by dispatch. That includes East and South County (Bonita, La Mesa, Rancho San Diego, Mount Helix, El Cajon, Eastlake, Otay Ranch, Rolling Hills Ranch, San Miguel Ranch, Millenia, Sunbow, Coronado), the central and urban corridor (Point Loma, Mission Hills, Tierrasanta, La Jolla), the North County Coast (Del Mar, Solana Beach, Encinitas, Olivenhain, Carlsbad), and North County Inland (Rancho Santa Fe, Fairbanks Ranch, Santaluz, 4S Ranch, Rancho Bernardo, Poway, Del Sur).
Each city carries its own soil, permit, and HOA reality. If your project is in Rancho Santa Fe, La Jolla, or Del Mar, start with the city page below — we write each one from what we see on the ground.
Frequently asked
How much does a full backyard remodel cost in San Diego?
A full backyard remodel in San Diego typically ranges from $80,000 to $300,000+ depending on scope, materials, and site conditions. Projects including a patio, outdoor kitchen, fire feature, and shade structure fall in the $100,000–$200,000 range. We provide a detailed line-item scope after a site walk.
Do I need a permit for a backyard remodel in San Diego?
It depends on scope. Structural work — pergolas over a certain size, outdoor kitchens with gas, retaining walls over 4 feet, electrical — requires permits in most San Diego jurisdictions. We handle all permitting as part of the project.
How long does a full backyard remodel take?
Once construction begins, a typical full remodel runs two to four months on site. Smaller, scoped remodels in the $50,000 range finish in four to six weeks. The schedule we publish in your proposal is the schedule we build to; weather, permit review, and change orders are the only things that move it, and we communicate any movement the day we see it coming.
Do you handle permits?
Yes. Permitting is inside our scope on every full remodel. We prepare the drawings, submit to the relevant municipal or county office, respond to plan-check comments, and schedule inspections. In San Diego County that means coordinating with the Planning & Development Services department or your city’s equivalent. You sign. We do the walking.
Do you work with our architect or designer?
Often, yes. If you already have an architect or interior designer you trust, we collaborate directly with them — we bring the build discipline and material knowledge, they bring the design direction, and we coordinate one set of drawings rather than two. If you do not have a designer, our in-house design process handles the program from sketch to photorealistic rendering.
Why we don’t take on small-scope work
It is an honest filter. Below the scope that warrants a dedicated crew, we cannot deliver the coordination, the material quality, the crew continuity, and the post-project accountability that define the work we are willing to put our name on. A smaller project built to our standard would lose money — and a smaller project built cheaply would hurt the brand. A good maintenance company is a better fit for small scopes, and we are glad to refer one.
Can we live at home during the build?
Almost always, yes. Our crews work a defined zone, protect the rest of the property, and clean at the end of every day. We coordinate access with you weekly. For households with young children or pets, we walk the containment and safety plan before the first delivery truck arrives.
How do you handle change orders?
In writing, with a line-item price and a schedule impact, before any work proceeds. Change orders are normal on larger projects — something opens up in the demo, a material selection evolves, a scope addition makes sense once you see the space coming together. What is not normal is discovering them on the invoice. Nothing gets built under a change-order number you have not signed.
What does “by design, not by dispatch” actually mean for my timeline?
It means we do not roll trucks to ideas. Between a first conversation and the day the crew breaks ground is a deliberate sequence — design, revisions, proposal, contract, permitting, procurement — and the length of that window varies with scope, jurisdiction, material lead times, and where your project falls in our calendar. We would rather be honest about that at the start than promise a date we cannot keep. Clients who need a patio by this weekend are better served by a different kind of contractor, and we will say so honestly.
Do you guarantee the work?
Yes. We warranty our workmanship for a minimum of one year, with material warranties extending longer per manufacturer. More importantly, we built the 10-Month Walk-Through into every project: ten months after completion, we return to your property, walk every square foot with you, and handle anything the seasons have exposed — on our dime. You can verify Mike’s active Class B general contractor standing any time through the CSLB license lookup.
Who do we actually talk to during the project?
Gio or Mike. Every project is personally run by one of the founders — no account managers, no handoffs, no “I’ll check with the team and get back to you.” You have both cell phones from the first call. Our Field Lead runs the day-to-day on the ground. This is the point. The relationship is not something we sell; it is part of the product.
Can we see completed work?
References available on request. During discovery, we are glad to take you past completed projects in person so you can see the work as it lives, not as it photographs. At launch we are not publishing client testimonials or quotes — that is a deliberate editorial choice, and we will revisit it once our first San Diego Landscape Remodeling projects are ready to be spoken about with the people who live in them.
References available on request
We do not publish testimonials. When a project is complete, we invite future clients to speak directly with the homeowners who have lived in the finished work — a real conversation, not a cropped quote. During discovery, we will also walk you past completed projects in the neighborhoods where they sit. It is the old-fashioned way to vet a builder, and on this kind of work, it is still the best.
When you are ready
If the timeline is right and the scope is serious, we would like to hear about the property. A first conversation is thirty minutes — by phone, or on your yard — and there is no cost to begin. We will listen, we will tell you what we see, and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right firm for the work.
Licensed and insured general contractor, operating under Mike’s Class B license — CSLB #1139785.
