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Builders who think like designers

We started Rivers Landscape because too many beautiful yards were failing underground — and too many sound ones were ugly. We do both: the engineering that lasts and the design that makes you want to be out there.

Our Story

It started with one bad slope

In 2012, our founder watched a neighbor pay twice — once for a gorgeous patio, and again a year later when it sank because nobody fixed the drainage underneath. The lesson stuck: a backyard is only as good as the work you can't see.

So we built a firm around doing the whole thing right. We grade the lot, solve the water, build the wall, lay the surface, roll the sod, and aim the lights — all in-house, all on one plan. No subcontractor relay race, no one trade blaming the next. Just one crew that owns the result from the first cut to the night reveal.

Fourteen years and 300-plus backyards later, that's still the whole idea. We're a design-build firm for homeowners in Charlotte and Lake Norman who are done patching problems and ready to fix the yard for good.

— The Rivers Landscape crew

2012

Year founded

312

Backyards completed

4.9★

Average review

5yr

Workmanship warranty

What We Stand On

Four values, poured into every job

01 — Substrate first

The unseen work wins

Compaction, drainage, and base depth decide whether a yard lasts five years or fifty. We never cut the parts you can't see to make the parts you can a little cheaper.

02 — One crew, one owner

Accountability, not hand-offs

The same team handles structure, surface, and lighting. When one number is responsible for the whole yard, the seams between trades stop being where things fail.

03 — Honest numbers

Clear quotes, held schedules

You get an itemized estimate and a real timeline up front. We'd rather tell you the true cost once than surprise you with three change orders later.

04 — Built for dusk

Design that earns the night

A yard should be as good at 9pm as it is at noon. We design the lighting alongside the hardscape so the space has a second life after dark.

The People

The crew behind the work

Designers, masons, and crew leads who've spent careers learning how Carolina clay behaves — and how to make it behave.

Elena Marsh

Founder & Lead Designer

Trained in landscape architecture, obsessed with the line where a wall meets a step. Draws every plan herself.

Theo Okafor

Build Director

Twenty years setting block and pavers. If a base isn't compacted to spec, it isn't getting buried on his watch.

Sofia Reyes

Drainage & Grading Lead

Reads how water moves across a lot like a map. Has yet to meet a wet basement she couldn't dry out.

Caleb Whitford

Lighting Designer

Aims every fixture by hand after dark. Believes a backyard isn't finished until you've seen it at night.

Work with us

Let's build something you'll use every night

Tell us about your yard and we'll bring the plan, the crew, and the lights.

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