Landscape and Garden Design Plans, Backed by Engineered Grading and Drainage

Online landscape design services will sell you a beautiful rendering. Very few can give you a plan the building department will accept, because the moment a yard project involves grading, drainage, a retaining wall or added impervious surface, it stops being decoration and becomes engineering. We prepare both halves — the design intent and the engineered site documents — sealed by a professional engineer licensed in your state.

States Covered

Typical Quote Turnaround

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Acre Triggers Federal Stormwater Rules

Engineered Sheets Sealed by a PE

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Most People Are Told to “Submit a Plan” Without Being Told Which One

These are four different documents with four different purposes, and ordering the wrong one is the most expensive mistake in this category. Tell us what the reviewer or HOA asked for and we will identify it precisely — at no cost, even if the answer is that you need less than you thought.

Landscape Design Plan

Layout, planting, hardscape and lighting intent. What the yard will become. Communicates the vision to you and to your installer — but on its own it rarely satisfies a permit.

Site Plan

The property drawn to scale: structures, setbacks, easements, driveways and hardscape footprints. What most HOA committees and simple yard permits actually want.

Grading and Drainage Plan

Existing and proposed elevations, slopes, swales, inlets and discharge points, with the calculations behind them. Required once you are moving earth or changing where water goes.

Stormwater Management Plan

Runoff calculations, detention or retention sizing and erosion control, prepared where the project crosses a regulatory threshold for disturbed area or impervious surface.

What We Prepare

Design sheets communicate the outcome. Engineered sheets get it approved and keep it standing. You can order either layer, or both as one coordinated set.

Planting and Layout Plans

Bed layout, plant schedule with species and sizes selected for your hardiness zone, spacing at mature growth, and lawn or meadow areas.

Hardscape and Circulation

Patios, walkways, driveways, steps and seating areas dimensioned and detailed, with materials, jointing and edge restraint called out.

Grading and Drainage Design

Spot elevations, contours, slope arrows, swales, area drains, pipe sizing and discharge points — designed so water leaves the building and the property correctly.

Retaining Wall Design

Structural design and calculations for walls, including surcharge from slopes, driveways or structures above, plus drainage behind the wall and the footing beneath it.

Stormwater and Erosion Control

Runoff calculations, detention or infiltration sizing, and erosion and sediment control measures where the disturbed area or impervious coverage triggers review.

Lighting and Irrigation Layout

Fixture layout, circuiting and control zones for landscape lighting, and irrigation zoning with head layout and backflow protection noted.

The Rules That Govern Site and Landscape Work

Yard projects feel informal until one of these thresholds is crossed. Knowing where the lines sit is the difference between a weekend project and a stop-work order — and we confirm how each applies at your specific address before design begins.

Drainage Away From the Building

The IRC requires the ground to fall away from the foundation, with a minimum of 6 inches within the first 10 feet. Impervious surfaces within 10 feet must slope at least 2 percent away. Where a lot line or slope makes that impossible, engineered swales or drains take over.

Federal Stormwater — One Acre

Construction disturbing one acre or more requires NPDES permit coverage and a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan. Smaller sites are pulled in when they form part of a larger common plan of development. Most states run their own programme and many are stricter.

Retaining Walls — the Four-Foot Line

The IRC exempts retaining walls not over 4 feet, measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall — unless the wall supports a surcharge. A slope, driveway or structure above the wall is a surcharge, which is why many shorter walls still need engineering.

Impervious Coverage

Patios, driveways and slabs add hard surface. Once coverage crosses the local threshold, the project moves from a simple permit to stormwater review with detention or infiltration sizing. This limit is set locally and we confirm it for your parcel.

ADA Accessible Routes

On commercial and multifamily sites, an accessible route steeper than 5 percent running slope becomes a ramp, with a maximum of 1:12 running and 1:48 cross slope. Site grading has to hold those tolerances across the whole route.

Frost Depth and Footings

Walls, pergolas, pavilions and heavy hardscape need footings below the local frost line. Frost depth is set by your jurisdiction, and getting it wrong is what heaves a wall out of line in the second winter.

When Water Is the Real Problem

A large share of landscape projects are not really about planting. They are about a wet basement, a patio that ponds, a lawn that will not drain, or water arriving from — or leaving toward — a neighbour. Planting over a drainage problem hides it for one season.

What an engineered drainage design resolves:

A Note on Titles

We are a professional engineering practice, not a landscape architecture firm, and we are careful about the difference because it is a licensed distinction in most states.

What that means for you: we prepare landscape and garden design plans, site plans, and engineered grading, drainage, stormwater and retaining wall documents sealed by a licensed professional engineer. Where a project genuinely requires a registered landscape architect’s seal, we will tell you rather than take the work.

What We Need From You

A survey makes everything faster and more precise, but you do not need one to get a quote. Send what you have and we will tell you what is genuinely missing.

The Property Address

It sets the jurisdiction, the governing code edition, the frost depth, the hardiness zone and which licence the sealing engineer must hold.

Survey, Plat or Deed

A topographic or boundary survey is ideal for grading work. A plat or deed sketch is a workable starting point for design and site plans.

Photos and Problem Areas

Wide shots from each side of the house, plus close-ups of anywhere water ponds, soil erodes or a wall is leaning.

Requirements You Have Been Given

The HOA submittal checklist, a municipal correction letter, or the reviewer’s exact wording about what is missing.

How We Protect Landscape and Site Clients Before You Spend a Dollar

Engineering is bought on trust long before it is bought on price. These are the commitments every Residential PE engagement carries, in writing, from the first message.

Free Quote, One Fixed Fee

Consultations and quotes cost nothing. You receive one written fixed fee against a written sheet list — no hourly billing, no surprise add-ons.

A Named Engineer of Record

Every drawing is sealed by a professional engineer holding an active licence in your project’s state, and we confirm who that engineer is before you commit.

Revisions Until Approval

If the plan reviewer returns comments, we revise the sealed drawings and respond as part of the original fee — never as a change order.

Your Documents Stay Private

Drawings, surveys and site information are used only to engineer your project. They are never resold, published or used as portfolio material without consent.

48–72 Hour Turnaround

Most standard packages are sealed and returned within two to three business days, so engineering is never the reason a permit slips.

A Real Engineer Answers

Questions reach an engineer, not a call centre. Open the live chat and you are talking to someone who can actually scope and price the job.

From Your Yard to an Approved Set

Send the Property

Share the address, any survey or plat, photos of the site and problem areas, and whatever the HOA or building department has asked for.

Free Fixed-Fee Quote

We identify which plan you actually need, confirm the thresholds that apply to your parcel, and return a written fixed fee at no cost.

Design and Engineering

We prepare the design sheets and, where required, the engineered grading, drainage, stormwater and wall design with supporting calculations.

Sealed and Submitted

You receive sealed, signed PDFs formatted for your jurisdiction or HOA — and we stay with you through review comments.

What Derails Landscape and Site Approvals

None of these are unusual. All of them are cheaper to handle at design stage than at inspection.

No Survey, Hard Boundaries

Setbacks and easements cannot be guessed. Where no survey exists we will tell you whether one is genuinely required or whether a plat-based plan will satisfy the reviewer.

The Neighbour Downhill

Redirecting runoff onto adjoining property is the most common source of post-construction disputes. We design the discharge to be defensible, not just convenient.

The Wall That Needed Engineering

A wall under 4 feet still needs design once something surcharges it. Discovering that after it is built usually means taking it down.

HOA and City Disagree

Architectural committees and municipal reviewers want different things. We prepare the set so one submittal satisfies both wherever that is possible.

Landscape and Site Design Questions We Are Asked Most

Do I need a permit for landscaping work?

Planting, mulching and replacing like-for-like surfaces are usually exempt. Permits generally start once you move earth, build a retaining wall, add impervious surface, change drainage patterns, or build a structure such as a pergola or pavilion. Tree removal and work in an easement or floodplain have their own rules. Adoption is local, so we confirm the triggers for your address before quoting.

What is the difference between a grading plan and a drainage plan?

A grading plan describes the shape of the ground: existing and proposed elevations, contours, slopes and how earth is cut and filled. A drainage plan describes where water goes across that shape: swales, inlets, pipe sizes, discharge points and the runoff calculations behind them. They are usually issued together because neither is much use alone, and most reviewers expect to see both.

Does my retaining wall need to be engineered?

The IRC exempts retaining walls not over 4 feet measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall — but that exemption disappears if the wall supports a surcharge. A slope above the wall, a driveway, a patio or a structure behind it all count as surcharge, which is why plenty of 3-foot walls still require design. Local ordinances sometimes set a lower threshold. Send a photo and the height and we will tell you which side of the line you are on.

When does my project trigger stormwater rules?

At federal level, construction disturbing one acre or more requires NPDES permit coverage and a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan, and smaller sites are included when they are part of a larger common plan of development. Most states administer their own programme and many set stricter or lower thresholds, and local impervious-coverage limits often bite well before the federal one does. We check all three levels for your parcel.

Can you work without a topographic survey?

For design plans, site plans and most HOA submittals, yes — we can work from a plat, a deed sketch and good photographs. For engineered grading and drainage, a topographic survey is strongly preferred because the design depends on real elevations; without one, the design has to carry assumptions that a reviewer may reject. We will tell you honestly at quote stage which situation you are in.

Will this satisfy my HOA architectural committee?

Usually, yes — most committees want a scaled site plan showing what is proposed, where it sits relative to property lines, and what materials are used. Send us the committee’s own submittal checklist and we will prepare the set against it. Where the HOA and the municipality want different things, we aim to produce one set that satisfies both.

My yard floods, or water runs onto my neighbour. What do I need?

An engineered grading and drainage plan. The work is to establish where the water is coming from, how much of it there is, and where it can legally and practically be discharged — then to design swales, drains and pipe sizes that achieve it. Redirecting runoff onto adjoining property is a common source of disputes, so the discharge point matters as much as the collection.

How much does a landscape or grading plan cost?

Every project is quoted as a written fixed fee before any work begins — no hourly billing and no change orders. A design or site plan for a straightforward residential lot sits at the low end; engineered grading, drainage and stormwater for a complex or sloping site sits higher. Send the address and what you have been asked for, and we will return a firm number at no cost.

Are your plans stamped by a professional engineer?

Engineered sheets — grading, drainage, stormwater and retaining wall design — are sealed by a professional engineer licensed in the state where the project sits, and we confirm who that engineer is before you pay anything. Pure design sheets such as planting layouts do not require a seal and are not represented as sealed engineering.

Are you landscape architects?

No. We are a professional engineering practice. In most states “landscape architect” is a protected title held by separately licensed professionals, and we do not use it. We prepare landscape and garden design plans, site plans and engineered site documents sealed by a licensed PE. If your jurisdiction specifically requires a registered landscape architect’s seal for your project, we will tell you rather than take the work.

How fast can you deliver?

Quotes normally come back the same business day. Design plans and site plans are typically three to five business days. Engineered grading, drainage and stormwater packages depend on site complexity and whether a survey is in hand; your fixed-fee quote states the delivery date before you commit.

What if the reviewer or HOA comes back with comments?

We respond to review comments on work we produced as part of the original fee. That is the point of establishing the governing thresholds before design rather than after — but reviewers ask questions on good sets too, and answering them is not billed as an extra.

One Engineering Team for the Whole Submittal

Most permit packages need more than one discipline. Keeping them with one firm removes the coordination gaps between sheets that cause the majority of plan-review rejections.

Civil Engineer Services

Site plans, grading and earthwork, drainage and stormwater, utilities and paving — sealed for permit.

Structural Engineer Services

Framing, foundations and retaining walls with live, dead, wind, seismic and snow load calculations.

MEP Engineer Services

HVAC, electrical and plumbing design with load calculations, panel schedules and NEC-compliant layouts.

Review & Stamp Services

Already have drawings? We review an existing set against local code and apply a licensed PE seal.

Get a Fixed-Fee Quote for Your Site or Garden Project

Send the property address, whatever survey or plat you have, and what the reviewer or HOA asked for. We will identify the exact plan you need and give you a firm price — usually the same business day, at no cost.