Landscaping, Concrete & Snow Removal in St. Albert

In the established neighbourhoods most of what we do is renewal. A yard laid out fifty years ago has usually been added to rather than redesigned — a bed here, a shrub there, edging that has sunk and disappeared. We pull it back to a plan that works now: beds that are the right size for what is in them, lawn that gets enough light to survive, and edging and rock work that stays where it was put.

On the newer lots up north we start from the rough grade. Topsoil, final grading, sod, beds, trees and rock or mulch, sequenced so the ground is right before anything is planted in it. The sod season in this region is short — the frost-free window averages barely over a hundred days — so booking the install for the cool, damp stretch in spring or early fall gives the roots a far better chance than a July heat wave does.

Sloped river-valley lots get their own attention. Water moving downhill toward the Sturgeon will find the path of least resistance, and if that path runs along a foundation it becomes an expensive problem. Terracing, retaining and a properly cut swale solve it before it starts.

The concrete in Grandin, Braeside, Forest Lawn and the rest of the older core has been through a lot of winters. Frost heave lifts a slab a little every year and it never settles back exactly where it was, so what starts as an uneven joint ends as a cracked, tilted walkway that pools water against the steps.

We replace driveways, front walks, steps and landings, and we fix the base and the slope underneath rather than just pouring a new surface over an old problem. On lots with mature trees we plan the route around the root structure so the new walk lasts longer than the last one did.

We also pour the smaller things that finish a yard properly — garden steps, poured curb edging between lawn and bed, pads for a shed or a hot tub, and patios sized for what people actually put on them.

An irrigation system is the difference between a lawn that holds through August and one that goes brown and stays there. We design and install systems for lawns and beds, zone them so the shady side of the house is not being watered like the sunny side, and service what is already in the ground.

Two dates carry the season. Spring start-up, when the system is charged and every head checked and adjusted before the first real dry stretch, and the fall blowout, which has to happen before the first hard frost. A line left full of water over an Alberta winter is a repair waiting to be found in May.

Through the summer we also handle ongoing grounds care — mowing and edging, weeding, mulch top-ups, spring and fall clean-ups and seasonal flower rotations for properties that want the beds changed over rather than left.

Our winter work covers residential driveways and walkways and commercial lots, using our own skid steers, plows and blowers. In St. Albert the residential frontages are often long, and the corner lots in the older neighbourhoods carry a lot of public sidewalk that the owner is responsible for clearing.

Commercial sites along St. Albert Trail and Ray Gibbon Drive need the lot open before the business is, which means the route is planned before the season and not improvised during a storm. We handle ice control on the same visits.