Landscape renovation in St. Clair Shores, MI and across Metro Detroit: Old yard out. New yard in.

Yes. HD Landscape is based in St. Clair Shores, MI, and renovates front yards and full backyards here. Much of the city is poorly drained ground on nearly flat land, so a renovation here usually starts with the grade. We also renovate yards across Metro Detroit, including Grosse Pointe, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills and Rochester Hills.

A landscape renovation covers whatever the yard needs to start over: tear out of old plants and beds, grading, new beds and stone, new plants, sod and mulch. HD Landscape plans it with you first and lists each part on an itemized estimate. You can redo the whole property or one section.

Some are done in a day, especially a single section. One customer had his yard gutted and leveled, with new sod, pea gravel and new plants, and wrote that what would have taken him a week was done in one day. Bigger yards, walls and heavy grading take longer, and that gets talked through on the walk.

Three things drive it: the size of the yard, how much has to come out and how much grading the ground needs. A yard that needs a new grade costs more than one the same size that only needs new beds. Jake prices it once he has seen it, and the estimate is itemized and free.

If the layout still works and the plants are healthy, a cleanup and fresh mulch may be all you need. If shrubs have outgrown their spots, water sits near the house or the beds never had a plan, a renovation is usually the better call. Jake can tell you which one it is on the walk, with no pressure either way.

Yes, if they are healthy and in the right spot. That is one of the first things to settle on the walk, before anything comes out. Soil around a tree should stay at its old level, because burying the trunk flare hurts the tree.

How the debris leaves goes on your estimate, along with the rest of the tear out. The job site gets cleaned before we leave, and reviewers have noticed. One wrote that he was impressed with how clean they left the job.

It can. Michigan generally requires a permit for earth changes that disturb an acre or more or sit within 500 feet of a lake or stream, so a yard near the water may need one. St. Clair Shores handles that permit itself, so the question goes to the city, not Macomb County. Rules change, so ask before work starts.

Any time from spring through fall that the ground is workable. New trees can go in during either spring or fall, as the Michigan DNR says, but Michigan State University Extension favors spring because new root growth stalls as the soil cools. Sod is easiest in spring and early fall, when cooler weather means less watering.

No. Sprinkler systems are not part of our work. If you want one, a renovation is a good moment to have it put in, as long as it goes in before the planting and sod. We can do the watering while everything roots.

We do smaller tree removal and stump grinding ourselves. The big ones get handed to a tree company, and we can tell you when a tree is past what our crew should take on.

Yes. HD Landscape takes on commercial properties as well as homes. Entries, beds along the building and hedges get the same walk and the same itemized estimate.