Orem, Utah
Your dream yard. Done right. Done on time.
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Grading, drainage and retaining walls for Orem yards, from flat Provo Bench lots that hold water to sloped lots up toward the Timpanogos foothills.
“In 2 days they graded and spread all of the topsoil, and had it raked and ready for sod delivery the next day.”
“they will definitely be my go to landscaper for many years!”
Grading and Retaining Walls in Orem
Orem is mostly flat. The city sits on the old Provo Bench, and a lot of yards have barely any fall from the back fence to the house. That sounds easy until you remember the soil is heavy Lake Bonneville clay. Flat ground plus clay means water does not move. It sits in the low corner of the lawn, soaks in along the foundation, and freezes there all winter.
Up on the east side, toward the Timpanogos foothills and the Provo Canyon edge, it is a different job. Lots slope, and flat usable space takes walls or terraces. In Orem a retaining wall 4 feet or taller, measured from grade, needs a building permit. That is measured from the ground up, not from the bottom of the footing like some neighboring cities, so the height you can see is the height that counts.
Either way, we start with the water. We look at where it comes onto your lot, where it settles now, and where it can leave without landing on a neighbor. Once the grading plan is solid, walls go where they are needed and no taller than they have to be. Jackson will walk your lot, point out where water is sitting today, and tell you straight if you even need a wall.
Orem is the one town around here with no secondary water, so the sprinkler design shows up on your culinary bill in a way it does not for the neighbors.
Know your Orem ground
The Orem challenges
Many Orem yards were graded decades ago and have settled flat, or even back toward the house. On slow clay, a half inch of wrong slope is enough to pond water. In spring that water ends up in window wells and along basement walls, and on culinary water you paid for some of it.
Short garden walls and raised beds are everywhere in older Orem yards, and most were built with no drainage behind them. Wet clay is heavy. After enough freeze-thaw cycles those walls lean, crack at the joints, and start spilling soil onto the patio.
Lots up toward Canyon View and the Timp foothills can drop several feet across the yard. Cutting flat space there means cut, fill and walls. Fill that is not compacted in lifts settles, and a wall sitting on loose fill tips forward over time.
Orem draws its 4-foot permit line from grade. A shorter wall can still need review if it holds back a driveway or a slope above it. People get caught when a wall that started short grows a course or two during the build. We confirm with Orem City Building Safety on every wall.
The J&H approach
On flat lots we shape gentle swales, set the yard to fall away from the house, and add drain lines or catch basins where slope alone will not move the water. Every foot of new grade has somewhere for the water to go.
Each wall gets a compacted gravel base, clean drain rock behind it, filter fabric and a perforated pipe out to daylight. Taller walls get geogrid tied back into the hill. Wet clay never sits right against the block.
If a wall reaches 4 feet from grade or carries a load above it, we bring in engineering when it is needed and work with Orem City Building Safety on the permit. Rebuilding a wall because the paperwork got skipped is money nobody gets back.
From our job sites
Short videos from real J&H job sites. Tap one to play it with sound.
What homeowners say
"We had a really big project (full lot project) and a crazy timeline, and Jackson and his team were awesome. They are very efficient, work hard to get things done quick, and the quality of their work is top-notch. Great company. Great guys. I would highly recommend them for any landscaping needs."
"Jackson and his crew did a phenomenal job on our back yard. I had a vision and they brought it to life. We had them do a retaining wall, grading, underground trampoline, sprinkler system, and sod. They met deadlines, communication was on point, and the whole crew was friendly.…"
"…The job was completed quickly without sacrificing quality, and the results exceeded our expectations. We would absolutely hire this team again and recommend them to anyone looking for landscaping help."
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Your dream yard. Done right. Done on time.
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