Questions Homeowners Ask Before Starting an Outdoor Project
A backyard renovation represents one of the larger investments a homeowner makes in their property, and most people start the process without a clear picture of how the work actually unfolds. Teddy's Lawn & Landscape has designed, built, and maintained landscapes across Southeast Michigan for more than three decades, and the questions below reflect what homeowners in Livonia, Plymouth, Canton, and Garden City ask most often before signing a proposal.
The answers here cover fit, process, construction standards, communication, and pricing. Read them before your consultation so the conversation starts with the details specific to your property.
Projects and Services
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Teddy's builds full-scope residential outdoor living projects, including paver patios, outdoor kitchens, fire features, retaining and seating walls, pergolas and pavilions, decks, paver driveways, and complete backyard redesigns. Single-feature projects such as a patio replacement or a retaining wall repair fall within scope as well. The design and build team handles both the plan and the construction, so one company carries the project from concept through the final walkthrough. Larger multi-feature builds move through a phased design process before any excavation begins.
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Beyond construction, Teddy's maintains the landscapes it builds through lawn care and fertilization programs, residential maintenance, mowing, mulching, pruning and bed care, seasonal color, pest and mosquito control, hydroseeding, sodding, fencing, and irrigation installation and service. Commercial snow and ice management runs through the winter for business properties. Homeowners who want a single point of contact for both the build and the ongoing care bundle those services under one account.
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Teddy's is not the right fit for homeowners looking strictly for the lowest bid on a small standalone job, or for anyone who wants to buy a design and then hire a separate crew to build it. The design work is structured around Teddy's own construction standards and crews, so splitting the two undermines the result and the warranty. Interior remodeling, roofing, and pool construction also fall outside the scope. Homeowners who value a documented plan, a set schedule, and a single accountable contractor get the most from working with Teddy's.
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Teddy's works out of Livonia and serves homeowners throughout Wayne, Oakland, Washtenaw, and Livingston counties. The core service area covers Livonia, Plymouth, Canton, Garden City, Northville, Novi, Farmington Hills, Westland, Redford, and Northville Township, with design-build projects extending into Bloomfield, Milford, South Lyon, and Ann Arbor. Properties on the edge of that range get confirmed during the initial call before a site visit is scheduled.
What Each Service Involves
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A full design-build project with Teddy's starts with a site assessment covering grade, drainage, sun exposure, and how the family plans to use the space, then moves into a scaled plan and 3D renderings before construction. The build itself follows a set order: excavation and grading, base preparation, structural walls, hardscape surfaces, then kitchen and fire feature installation, and finally lighting, irrigation, and planting. Landscape construction and softscape planting are planned together rather than sequenced as separate jobs, which is why conduit and irrigation lines go in before the pavers rather than after. Homeowners see the complete layout before the first shovel breaks ground.
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A paver patio installation with Teddy's begins with excavation to a depth suited to Michigan's frost line, followed by aggregate base compacted in layers, edge restraint, paver setting, and joint sand. Grading directs runoff away from the foundation, and drain systems go in wherever the site's natural grade fails to move water on its own. Material selection sticks to pavers and natural stone rated for repeated freeze-thaw exposure. The full design-build service menu covers the walkways, seating walls, and driveway work that frequently accompany a patio build.
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Teddy's residential fertilization program applies scheduled treatments across the growing season, timed to Michigan's spring green-up, summer stress period, and fall root development, with weed control integrated into the same visits. Soil conditions vary widely between properties in the Livonia area, so treatment plans account for the actual soil on site rather than a blanket application rate. Fertilization works best paired with properly calibrated irrigation, since nutrients need water to reach the root zone. Aeration and overseeding are added where turf density calls for it.
How Projects Move Forward
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Teddy's is a design-build company, which means the same firm produces the plan and constructs the project. Certified landscape architects, designers, and horticulturists on staff develop the design, and Teddy's own crews perform the installation. That structure removes the handoff gap where a designer's intent gets lost in translation to an outside contractor. Specialty trades such as electrical and gas connections are brought in under Teddy's coordination when a project calls for them.
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After a homeowner submits a request, the office pre-qualifies the project against scope and service area, then routes it to a sales representative who schedules a site visit. During that visit the representative measures the space, reviews drainage and grade conditions, and walks through how the family wants to use the area. A proposal follows, and for larger projects the design phase begins once the direction is agreed on. Reaching out through the contact page starts that sequence.
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Most full-scope design and build projects include 3D renderings alongside scaled construction plans, so homeowners see the finished layout from multiple angles before work begins. Renderings show material selections, elevation changes, and how features sit in relation to the house and existing trees. This is the stage where changes cost the least, since nothing has been built that would need undoing. Smaller single-feature jobs typically move forward on a scaled plan without full renderings.
Communication During Your Project
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Each Teddy's project is assigned an account manager who serves as the single point of contact from proposal through completion. That person coordinates the design team, the construction crews, and the schedule, so homeowners are not chasing separate people for answers about materials, timing, and site access. Crew leaders on site handle day-to-day execution and report back through the account manager. The team behind those roles includes certified architects, designers, and horticulturists.
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Teddy's account managers respond to homeowner questions during active construction within one business day, and same-day for anything affecting the crew's work on site. Weather delays, material deliveries, and schedule shifts get communicated as they happen rather than discovered by the homeowner. Questions submitted through the contact form outside of an active project route to the office for triage. Homeowners with maintenance accounts reach their assigned manager directly.
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Changes requested mid-project get documented in writing with the cost and schedule impact before any work shifts. Some changes, such as swapping a paver color before the material order goes out, carry no schedule impact at all, while others, such as expanding a patio footprint after excavation, affect both the price and the timeline. Teddy's account manager walks through those tradeoffs so the decision gets made with full information. Nothing changes on site until the revised scope is approved.
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Teddy's excavates to a base depth matched to Michigan's frost line rather than a shallower national minimum, and compacts aggregate in layers, because an inadequate base is what lets freeze-thaw cycles push pavers out of alignment. Every hardscape surface is graded away from the house toward a drainage point, with drain systems added where the natural grade falls short. Material selection favors products rated for repeated freezing and thawing over options that look appealing in a showroom and fail after two winters. Teddy's received the Michigan Green Industry Association Environmental Improvement Award for its hardscape work.
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Homeowners who want a finished landscape without weekend upkeep get plant selections matched to the site's actual sun and soil conditions, larger hardscape footprints in place of high-maintenance turf, and irrigation on automated scheduling. Native and adapted perennials reduce replacement cycles compared with annual-heavy beds. Teddy's also covers the ongoing work directly through maintenance and fertilization programs, which is the route most design-build clients take after their project wraps.
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Teddy's serves commercial property managers alongside its residential work, covering commercial landscape maintenance and snow and ice management for parking lots, walkways, entryways, and loading docks. Crews and equipment deploy at the first sign of accumulation to keep properties accessible through winter weather events. Teddy's has been named to Snow Magazine's Top 100 Snow Contractors in North America. Commercial accounts are structured on seasonal contracts rather than per-event calls.
Building for Michigan Conditions
Pricing and Next Steps
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Pricing on a Teddy's project is built from the actual scope: square footage, material selections, site access, excavation depth, grade correction, drainage requirements, and the number of features included. Two patios of identical size price differently when one sits on a flat lot with truck access and the other requires equipment to work around a mature tree on a slope. Material choice moves the number substantially, since imported natural stone and custom kitchen components carry both higher costs and longer lead times than standard pavers. Every proposal itemizes scope so homeowners see what drives the total.
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The most productive consultations start with a list of how the family plans to use the space, any photos or saved images of layouts they like, a working budget range, and a sense of the timeline they have in mind. Notes on existing problems help as well, including where water collects after rain, which areas get full afternoon sun, and any past work on the property. A property survey speeds up the design phase when one is available. Nothing is required to book the visit.
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Getting started takes one message through the contact page or a phone call to the Livonia office, after which the team confirms the property falls within the service area and schedules a site visit. Design-build projects booked in fall enter the design phase over winter and reach construction early in the following season, which is why homeowners planning a spring build start the conversation months ahead. Design and build consultations begin with the site visit rather than a phone quote.
What Homeowners Say About Working With Teddy's
“Brian and his team did an absolutely fantastic job installing new sod in our backyard. The team was friendly, fast, and exceptional in the work they did. The yard has never looked better - would recommend this team to anyone needing landscaping work.”
Hunter W. via Google
Landscape Design and Build in Livonia, MI
Teddy's Lawn & Landscape is a family-owned, award-winning landscape design, build, and maintenance company based in Livonia, Michigan, serving homeowners and commercial property managers across Southeast Michigan for more than three decades. Certified landscape architects, designers, and horticulturists on staff handle everything from paver patios and outdoor kitchens to fertilization programs and commercial snow management, all under one contact.