Acreage grading, engineered retaining walls, concrete slab patios and pads, drainage, irrigation and windbreak planting. One contractor, one mobilization, one plan for the whole property.
A backyard renovation in Elizabeth is usually an acreage project: leveling a usable yard out of a sloping lot, holding it with engineered retaining walls, pouring concrete slab patios and pads for hot tubs, shops and fire areas, and managing water, wind and well limits at the same time. HLE Landscaping & Concrete builds all of it under one contract, typically $35,000 to $150,000+, with Elbert County permits and engineering handled.
Wind, water, wells and distance decide the design. Here is how we work with them.
Most of the yards we renovate in Elizabeth sit on two to thirty-five acres in Elbert County: a newer home in Independence, Gold Creek Valley or Spring Valley Ranch delivered as rough-graded dirt with the builder’s drainage plan, or an established property in Ponderosa Park, Elizabeth Forest or Sun Country Meadows where the yard has never been more than a slope, a slab and a lot of prairie grass. The wind comes across it most afternoons. There is no storm sewer; water sheet-flows wherever the grade sends it. The house is on a well and a septic system, and both limit what can be built and watered where.
None of that is a problem. It is a design brief. The approach that works on acreage is a tight, level, finished core around the house, usually 1,500 to 3,000 square feet of usable yard held by walls where the grade drops, with concrete slab patios and pads where the family actually lives outside, and the rest of the property left as managed native grassland with a mown path through it. The core is where the money goes. The prairie is where the wind goes.
Because the work is dirt, walls and concrete before it is plants, and because Elizabeth is a drive from anyone’s yard, the economics favor one contractor and one mobilization. We grade it, wall it, pour it, drain it, irrigate what the well allows and plant the windbreak in one continuous schedule, and the machines leave once.
The grade change is the project. The wall is what makes the rest of the yard exist.
With machine access from every side, we can move real dirt. We cut the high side, fill the low side and compact it in lifts to make a level core, keeping positive slope away from the foundation and honoring the county-approved drainage plan for the lot. On most Elizabeth lots the cut and the fill balance on site, which is cheaper than importing or hauling.
Acreage walls are long and often two-tiered. Segmental block with geogrid, clean drainage stone and perforated pipe is the workhorse; boulder walls from on-site or local stone are the feature. Over four feet, or under a patio, driveway or hot tub, the wall is engineered, permitted through Elbert County and inspected. Under four feet it is still built like it were.
Everything drains to somewhere on your own land, so we design where. Swales that carry runoff around the core, French drains behind every wall, downspouts extended underground, culverts under the drive and a rock-lined outfall that daylights where the water was already going. A wall without drainage on acreage is a wall with a countdown.
Mulch blows. Fresh fill blows. Small plants dry out. So beds get 1.5-inch and larger rock or stabilized crusher fines, disturbed ground gets a native hydroseed with tackifier the week it is finished, trees are staked and set in the lee of the house or a berm, and a shelterbelt of ponderosa, juniper and native shrubs goes in on the windward side as the first line of defense for everything else.
Septic and well come first. We locate the tank, the leach field and the well from county records and the as-built before a line is drawn. No walls, patios, pads or heavy equipment over the field, and the well permit sets how much can be irrigated. The design works around both.
On acreage, concrete is the floor of the yard and the foundation of everything that sits on it. It is specified, not just poured.
| Element | Spec for Elizabeth | Finish | Typical installed range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patio slab | 4 in, air-entrained 4,000 psi, rebar, thickened edge, control joints spaced for freeze-thaw, on 6–8 in compacted base | Broom, exposed aggregate or sandblast; stamped under a roof | $12–$22 / sq ft |
| Hot tub pad | 6 in reinforced, sized to the tub plus service access, power conduit, drain path | Broom or exposed aggregate | $2,000–$4,500 |
| Shop, barn or garage apron | 6 in with rebar and thickened edges for vehicle loads; sloped away from the door | Broom or exposed aggregate | $12–$22 / sq ft, thicker sections higher |
| Fire pit pad and seat wall footing | 4 in pad with a thickened ring under the seat wall; gas sleeve where a gas feature is planned | Exposed aggregate or broom; stone veneer on the wall | $2,500–$6,000 pad and footing; feature separate |
| Walks and steps | 4 in walks with control joints; poured steps on a footing; conduit for path lighting | Broom or exposed aggregate | $20–$35 / sq ft; steps $150–$400 each |
| Gravel drive with paved apron | Compacted road-base structure, crusher-fines surface, steel edging, culverts and crowning; concrete or paver apron at the garage | Exposed aggregate or paver band | By length; apron $12–$40 / sq ft by material |
Typical 2026 installed ranges in the south Denver metro; acreage projects carry one mobilization charge, which is on the proposal rather than hidden in the unit prices.
The patio, the fire pit pad, the hot tub pad, the shop apron and the walks are formed together and poured in one or two visits from the pump truck. Separate pours on separate days cost more, match worse and put the finished yard at risk.
Broom is the workhorse and the cheapest. Exposed aggregate with local river rock is the refined monolithic finish and hides wind-driven dust. Stamped concrete is fine on a pad under a roof; in full sun on acreage its color coats wear and cannot be patched invisibly. We tell you which fits.
We also build paver and dry-laid Colorado sandstone patios out here, and they can be lifted and reset if the ground moves. Slab concrete wins on acreage when the surface is large, sees vehicles or a hot tub, or sits under a future structure.
Acreage-adjusted numbers, so the proposal lands where you expect it to.
A new home on a mostly flat acreage lot, or an established property finishing the yard around the house for the first time.
The typical Elizabeth lot with a walkout or a yard that drops three to eight feet from the house.
Larger acreage and estate lots, often phase one of a master plan for the whole property.
Phases cost more in Elizabeth than anywhere else we work, because every return trip pays the mobilization again. If phasing is unavoidable, the grading, walls, drainage, sleeves, pour schedule and irrigation mains go in first, and the finished core is protected while the rest waits.
Where acreage owners waste money: pouring a patio before the grade and drainage are fixed, building a wall without drainage, mulching in the wind, planting small trees on the windward side, and irrigating turf the well permit does not cover.
One schedule from dirt to planting. Here is the whole one.
Brandon walks the whole property, shoots the grade, locates septic and well setbacks, reads the drainage and the wind, and listens to how you want to use the yard.
Week 0 · 60–90 minWhole-property plan, concrete finishes and stone samples on site, itemized proposal with mobilization shown once. Wall engineering starts here.
Weeks 1–3Stamped wall drawings, building permits for walls and any structure, utility locates, HOA review where a community has one.
Weeks 3–8Grading and walls, then drainage and sleeves, then the pour schedule, then irrigation, rock, hydroseed and planting, then lighting. Site tidied every night.
3–14 weeks on sitePunch list, irrigation programmed to the permit, first-season notes for the windbreak and hydroseed, written warranty on file.
Final weekWeather: spring mud and wind season shape the concrete schedule in Elbert County. Design in winter, permit in February, and the grading starts as soon as the ground firms up in April.
The rules are different out here. We carry them so you do not have to.
Retaining walls over four feet from the bottom of the footing, or carrying a surcharge, need a building permit with engineer-stamped drawings. Covered structures, pergolas with footings, gas lines and electrical for lighting and appliances are permitted and inspected. We prepare and submit everything and meet the inspector.
The terms of your well permit decide how much outdoor watering is allowed, from a limited lawn-and-garden area to none at all. We design the planting and irrigation to the permit: drip everywhere it is allowed, native seed and rock where it is not, and a smart controller so the system never runs beyond the allowance.
Nothing is built over a leach field, and setbacks from the tank and the well are respected in the layout. Some Elizabeth communities such as Spring Valley Ranch and Ponderosa Park have covenants and design review for structures and visible hardscape; much of the unincorporated county does not. We check before the design is finalized.
Elbert County and the Elizabeth Fire Protection District issue seasonal burn restrictions, so a propane or natural gas fire feature is the reliable choice and a wood-burning ring is designed with clearances and a spark screen where allowed. The concrete and rock core around the house doubles as the non-combustible zone that defensible-space guidance recommends.
An Elizabeth renovation moves a lot of dirt and pours a lot of concrete. The contractor should be built for that.
HLE Landscaping & Concrete is a locally owned design-build company in Aurora, about forty-five minutes from Elizabeth, and the owner, Brandon, walks every property before it is priced. We are a concrete company and a landscape company under one roof, which is exactly what an acreage renovation needs: the grading crew, the wall crew and the concrete crew work from one plan and one pour schedule, and the irrigation and planting follow on the same mobilization.
Walls over four feet are engineered and permitted through Elbert County. Concrete is specified for freeze-thaw, wind-driven drying and vehicle loads where it needs to be. Septic fields and well setbacks are located before the design starts. And the proposal is itemized so you can see what the leveling, the walls and each pour actually cost.
“Fast and very reasonable prices! I could not believe how quickly Brandon’s team whipped my yard into shape after foundation repairs left large areas of dirt around my house. I have gotten many compliments on the work, and I am very satisfied with the overall experience.”
— Google review, grading and yard rebuild
| What you should ask any contractor | Our answer |
|---|---|
| Have you worked on acreage, not only suburban lots? | Yes. Ask about Elizabeth, Kiowa and Elbert County projects on the site walk, and read the reviews for how the job was run. |
| Do you own the equipment for real grading? | Skid steers, mini-excavators and compaction equipment come with the crew; larger cut-and-fill is scheduled with our earthwork partner. |
| Do you locate septic and well before you design? | Every time, from county records and the as-built. Nothing is built over a leach field or inside a setback. |
| Are long walls engineered? | Every wall over 4 ft or carrying a surcharge gets stamped drawings, an Elbert County permit and inspections. |
| Are you insured for heavy equipment on my property? | General liability and workers’ compensation; certificates are provided with the proposal. |
| What if you hit rock, water or a buried line? | Written change order before work continues; no surprise invoices. |
Ask to see an acreage project in Elbert County during your site walk. Full gallery · client reviews.
A core renovation that levels a 1,500–2,500 sq ft yard around the house, holds it with a seat wall, pours a 500–700 sq ft concrete patio with a fire pit pad and adds rock, drip beds and windbreak trees typically runs $35,000–$60,000. A sloped acreage lot that needs engineered retaining walls, terraces, 800–1,200 sq ft of hardscape, a hot tub pad, a gas fire feature and irrigation runs $60,000–$120,000. A full-property build with a motor court, long walls, a covered structure and shelterbelt planting starts around $150,000. Wall length and concrete volume move the number most.
We start from the county-approved drainage plan for the lot and the way water actually sheet-flows across it, then cut and fill to create a level core around the house while keeping positive slope away from the foundation and routing runoff to swales that daylight. On acreage the cut and the fill usually balance on site, which is cheaper than hauling. Anything over about two feet of drop gets a retaining wall or a terrace rather than a long slope that erodes in the first spring wind.
Yes for walls over four feet, measured from the bottom of the footing, and for any wall carrying a surcharge such as a patio, driveway, hot tub or slope above it. Elbert County requires a building permit with engineer-stamped drawings for those walls. We coordinate the engineering, pull the permit and schedule the inspections. Shorter walls still get geogrid, drainage stone and perforated pipe behind them.
No hardscape, walls, pads or heavy equipment go over a leach field, and setbacks apply to the tank and the well. We locate the septic system and the well from the county records and the as-built before designing, and the layout works around them. Turf and shallow-rooted planting can go over a field; patios, walls and driveways cannot.
The terms of your well permit decide how much outdoor watering is allowed. Some Elbert County permits allow a limited area of lawn and garden irrigation; household-use-only permits allow none. We design the irrigation and the planting to the permit: drip to every bed and tree, a small turf panel or a native grass mix where irrigation is allowed, and rock, crusher fines and unirrigated native seeding where it is not.
A hot tub pad is a reinforced 6-inch slab on compacted base, sized to the tub plus service access, with conduit for power. A shop or barn apron and any surface that sees vehicles is 6 inches with rebar and a thickened edge. Patios and walks are 4 inches, air-entrained 4,000 psi, with control joints spaced for Colorado freeze-thaw. All of it is poured on the same schedule so the pump truck comes once.
We do not use bark mulch on open ground here. Beds get 1.5-inch and larger rock or stabilized crusher fines, disturbed ground is hydroseeded with a native mix and tackifier, new trees are staked and placed in the lee of the house or a berm, and a windbreak of ponderosa, juniper and native shrubs is planted on the windward side as the first line of defense for everything else.
At once. Elizabeth projects carry a mobilization cost for equipment and crews traveling from the south metro, and every phase pays it again. If phases are unavoidable, the infrastructure goes first: grading, walls, drainage, sleeves, the concrete pour schedule and irrigation mains. Structures, the fire feature, the motor court and planting layers can follow on the stub-outs already in place.
Three to four weeks on site for a core renovation, five to eight weeks for a sloped lot with engineered walls, ten to fourteen weeks for a full-property build, plus three to eight weeks for design, engineering and Elbert County permits. Concrete is scheduled around spring mud and wind season. Design in winter to be on the ground in April or May.
Yes. HLE Landscaping & Concrete is based in Aurora, about forty-five minutes from Elizabeth, and we build across Elizabeth, Kiowa, Ponderosa Park, Spring Valley Ranch and the unincorporated county. Acreage lots are easy to mobilize on; the distance is priced into the proposal once, which is another reason to build the whole property in one visit.
Tell us about the lot, the grade, the well and what you want the yard to do. Brandon will walk the whole property and come back with a plan and an itemized number for one mobilization.
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