Landscaping & Garden Design

Landscaping costs in Pickering, Ajax and Scarborough usually range from around $1,500 for a smaller bed redesign or planting refresh up to $15,000 or more for a full patio, walkway and planting project. The range is wide because landscaping covers so many different kinds of work under one name. A property that just needs new perennials and edging around an existing bed costs far less than one that needs grading, a new patio, retaining walls and a full planting plan on top. Size of the property matters too. A small front bed in a townhome in Duffin Heights takes a fraction of the time and material that a large backyard redesign on a bigger lot does. Plant choice affects price as well. Mature shrubs cost more than young perennials, and larger hardscaping materials like natural stone cost more than poured concrete or interlock. Access to the property plays a role too, since a backyard that needs materials carried in by hand takes longer than one a truck can reach directly. Rather than guess at a number that might not fit your property, we walk the site, listen to what you want and give a free, no-obligation quote that reflects exactly what's involved. There's nothing added later that wasn't in that quote. If you're not sure what your project would fall into, call or email us and describe roughly what you're picturing. We can usually tell you a rough range before we've even seen the property, then confirm it with a proper walkthrough.

Landscaping changes what your garden is. Garden maintenance keeps it that way once it's there. Landscaping covers new planting beds, patios, walkways, grading, retaining walls and any project that changes the layout or structure of the property. It's usually a one-time project, though a larger property might be landscaped in phases over more than one season. Garden maintenance is the ongoing work that keeps an established garden looking the way it should: pruning, weeding, edging, seasonal cleanup and general upkeep of beds and lawn. Most homeowners need both at different points. You landscape a property once to get the layout and planting right, then move into regular maintenance visits to keep it that way as plants grow and the seasons change. Some homeowners come to us already knowing which one they need. Others aren't sure, and that's a completely reasonable place to start from. If your existing beds in Birchcliff or a similar established neighbourhood are overgrown, patchy or just tired-looking but the layout still works for you, that's usually a maintenance job with some replanting mixed in, not a full landscaping project. If you want to change how the space is used, add hardscaping, or the beds have never really worked for the property, that's landscaping. On a free visit, we'll tell you honestly which one fits what you're describing, and we won't push a bigger project than the property actually needs.

We do both. Every landscaping project starts with a design conversation on the property itself, not a template pulled from a catalogue. We walk the space with you, talk through how you actually use the garden, and work out a planting and layout plan based on sun exposure, the shape of the property and what you want it to look like through the year. From there, we do the installation ourselves: the grading, planting, patio or walkway work, and the cleanup at the end. Nothing gets handed off between a design team and an installation team, because there isn't a separate team. The same people who work out the plan with you are the ones putting plants in the ground and laying stone. That matters because a design that looks good on paper doesn't always account for how a specific yard drains, where the sun actually falls by midafternoon, or how a family uses the space day to day. Seeing the property in person and doing the work ourselves means the plan gets adjusted on-site if something doesn't quite work the way it looked in the initial conversation. If you already have a rough idea of what you want, we'll build on it. If you're starting from nothing but a sense that the current garden isn't working, we'll help shape that into a plan during the free quote visit.

A landscaping project typically takes anywhere from a single day for a smaller bed refresh to two or three weeks for a full backyard redesign with hardscaping and planting. The timeline depends mainly on scope and weather. A planting-only project with no hardscaping moves quickly, often in a day or two, since it's mostly digging, amending beds and getting plants in the ground. Add a patio, walkway or retaining wall and the timeline stretches out, because grading, base preparation and stonework each need to be done properly and in the right order. Weather affects scheduling too. Heavy rain can delay grading and stonework by a day or more, and we'd rather push a start date than rush hardscaping work that needs to be done right the first time. Larger properties in areas like Harwood, where lots tend to run bigger and often include mature trees to work around, sometimes take longer simply because there's more ground to cover and more existing planting to plan around carefully. We give a realistic timeline as part of the quote, based on what we see on-site, not a generic estimate. If timing matters to you, whether you're working around an event or just want the disruption over with, tell us that upfront and we'll factor it into the schedule we propose.

Spring and fall are both strong times for landscaping here, and the right one depends on what the project involves. Spring gives new plants a full growing season ahead of them, so they have time to root in before the next winter arrives. It's also a popular time for hardscaping, since homeowners often want the patio or walkway finished before they start using the yard for the year. Fall has its own advantage: the air is cooler, the ground still holds warmth from summer, and new plantings tend to need less watering and settle in with less stress than a plant put in during peak summer heat. Summer isn't off the table either. Hardscaping work like patios, walkways and retaining walls can go ahead through summer without issue, since that work doesn't depend on a growing season the way planting does. What we'd avoid is planting late in fall right before the ground freezes, since new roots won't have time to establish before winter sets in. Rather than lock into one season, we plan around what your project actually needs. A patio and planting project might get the hardscaping done in summer and the planting held for early fall. Tell us your rough timeline on the quote call and we'll tell you honestly whether it lines up well or whether shifting it would give better results.