Complete Landscaping Services for Boulder-Area Homes
Stone & Leaf Landscaping is a Boulder landscaping company serving the Front Range since 2008.
Over close to 2 decades, we’ve built patios, installed irrigation, planted water-wise gardens, and fixed drainage problems on properties across the region. One contract covers everything including hardscaping, xeriscaping, irrigation, sod, drainage, design, fencing, and lighting across Boulder, Louisville, Lafayette, Erie, Broomfield, and Longmont. You call one number, talk to the same team, and never get passed between a designer and a separate contractor. No subcontractor juggling, no gaps in accountability, and no surprises when the invoice arrives.
Schedule your personalized consultation or request a quote today.
Walk‑through & Idea Session
We visit the property with a tape measure and a notepad and walk the yard together. We talk about how you want to use the space, what's working, what isn't, and where the budget realistically needs to land. Before any design work starts, you'll have a ballpark on cost and timeline so nothing about the next step feels like a guess.
Design & Final Estimate
From that first walk-through, we move into sketches, material selections, and a written proposal. Our estimates are time-and-materials with a 15% do-not-exceed cap, so the final bill will never come in more than 15% above the number on the proposal. That single line removes most of the budget anxiety homeowners bring to a landscaping project. Design support ranges from concept sketches to full CAD plans for HOA submittals when your community needs them.
Build
Once the plan is approved, a dedicated crew starts the build, and the Stone & Leaf owner is on-site every day it's running. Questions get answered in real time, changes get discussed face to face, and the crew is held to the same standard from the first shovel to the last stone. Every trade in your scope, hardscape, irrigation, planting, drainage, fencing, and lighting, is handled under our contract, so you're never chasing subcontractors.
Enjoy & Refer
The final walk-through is owner-led personally. Every item on the punch list gets closed out before the project is called complete, not after. The whole point of the work is a yard your family actually uses, whether that's Sunday morning coffee on the patio or a birthday party out back, and most of our next projects come from neighbors who saw the last one.
Design-Build Landscaping Services
Design-build means one firm carries a project from first sketch through final planting, with no hand-off from a designer to a separate contractor. That’s how we’ve worked with Front Range homeowners for more than 17 years as a Boulder landscape contractor. Whether it’s a backyard refresh or a full landscape installation in Boulder on a new-build lot, you have a single point of contact from the walk-through to the final punch list. See recent Boulder design-build projects in our Project Gallery.
Hardscaping & Fencing
What Our Hardscape Work Covers
Our hardscape work covers custom stone and paver patios, walkways, retaining walls, fire pits, natural stone accents, and fencing. We work with flagstone, concrete pavers, boulders, and dry-stacked or mortared wall systems depending on what the site calls for. Retaining walls get engineered for the slope and soil load, not just the look. Fire pits and outdoor fireplaces are built to code with proper setbacks and gas line coordination handled under our contract. Fencing runs from cedar privacy panels to ornamental iron and steel, matched to the style of the rest of the yard.
Climate and Soil Factors
Boulder soil, grade changes, and freeze-thaw cycles are unforgiving on hardscape that hasn’t been prepped correctly. The clay-heavy soils common across the Front Range expand when wet and contract when dry, which puts constant pressure on base material and joints. Grade changes on Boulder lots are rarely gentle, so water needs a designed path off the surface or it finds its own route under a patio edge or along a wall footing. Freeze-thaw cycles through the winter can heave a poorly set base several inches in a single season. Grading and drainage planning are built into the design from the start, not added as a fix after something shifts.
Weather Challenges
A patio that ponds or a wall that shifts in the second winter usually comes down to what happened under the surface. Base depth, compaction, aggregate type, and joint sand selection all vary with the site conditions, and getting those calls right takes familiarity with Front Range soil and climate, not a generic spec sheet. That’s where local experience earns its keep. Hardscape installation in Boulder isn’t a template job, and we don’t treat it like one.
For patio, walkway, retaining wall, outdoor kitchen, fire pit details, and more, visit our Boulder hardscaping and fencing services page, or read our guide on hardscaping for small yards if you’re working with a tight footprint.
Xeriscape & Planting
A well-designed xeriscape cuts outdoor water use, reduces weekly maintenance, and still reads as a real garden rather than a patch of rock. As an established Boulder xeriscape company, we design water-wise landscapes with Colorado-smart plant palettes tuned to Front Range light, wind, and soil. When your neighborhood has a defined palette or coverage requirements, we tailor the design to meet HOA rules without losing the look you actually want. For the full range of water-wise options, visit our xeriscape and planting services page. Our Boulder xeriscape guide details more on mastering the 7 water-wise principles of Boulder xeriscaping and is a good starting point if you’re still in research mode. Our xeriscape planting and maintenance guide covers timing for Front Range species in more detail.
Landscape Design & Lighting
Good landscape design does more than look good on paper. It accounts for how the space gets used, what an HOA requires if applicable, and how lighting shifts the yard after dark. Our Boulder landscapers handle both the design process and the installation, so the plan that gets drawn is the one that gets built.
Design Services
- Landscape design, HOA submittals, concept sketches and CAD plans, with enough detail to win HOA approval without endless meetings.
- Expert design and installation of low-voltage landscape lighting.
Our Boulder landscaping design work is done in partnership with an architect when a project calls for full CAD drawings, which keeps the process, and any HOA submittals when applicable, clean and structural details accurate. Learn more by visiting our landscape design and lighting page.
Sprinkler, Sod & Drainage
Under this heading we handle three things that make or break a finished yard: sprinkler and drip irrigation, sod installation, and drainage and grading. Drainage in particular is the invisible problem in a lot of Boulder yards, water that has nowhere to go finds its way to a basement wall, a patio edge, or the low spot in the lawn. We design efficient irrigation zones, install sod that has a real chance of taking, and use dry-creek beds and proper grading to route water where it belongs. These aren’t add-ons for us; they’re planned alongside the hardscaping and planting from day one. Visit our sprinkler, sod, and drainage services page for more details on systems and grading.
Why Boulder Homeowners Choose Stone & Leaf
Experience and Track Record
Stone & Leaf Landscaping has been a Boulder landscaping company since 2008, which is more than 17 years of installing patios, planting gardens, running irrigation, and correcting drainage on Front Range properties. That’s long enough to know how a specific block in North Boulder drains differently than a lot in Erie, and long enough to have a portfolio, a reputation, and neighbors who’ll vouch for the work.
Ratings and Credentials
On Thumbtack, we hold a 4.8 star rating across more than 90 reviews, have been hired 137 times, and have earned Top Pro designations in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020. We’re fully insured and locally owned. The company owner is on-site every day a crew is running, which is unusual for landscaping services in Boulder, CO at any size above a solo operator.
Pricing and Coverage
- Pricing is time-and-materials with a 15% do-not-exceed cap on every proposal.
- The final bill won’t exceed the estimate by more than 15%, and most projects come in at or under the estimate.
- That number is on paper before the first delivery.
- One contract covers design, hardscape, irrigation, sod, drainage, fencing, and lighting.
- We serve Boulder, Louisville, Lafayette, Erie, Broomfield, and Longmont.
For more background on how the company runs, visit our About Us page.
Ready to talk about your yard today? Call 720-338-3002 or request a quote online.
Frequently Asked Questions About Boulder Landscaping
How does your pricing work?
We bill time-and-materials with a 15% do-not-exceed cap on the written proposal. The number you sign is the ceiling; the final bill can come in under it, but it won't come in more than 15% above it. Free estimates, no budget surprises, and no vague invoicing.
Do you handle HOA landscape approvals?
Yes. We prepare everything from concept sketches to full CAD plans for HOA submittals, so your architectural committee gets a package they can approve without three rounds of back-and-forth. In neighborhoods with defined plant palettes or coverage rules, we design to those requirements from the first draft rather than reworking later.
How long does a typical Boulder landscaping project take?
Lead time before we start is usually three to four weeks once a proposal is signed. Build times vary with scope; a focused patio and planting refresh runs shorter than a full new-build install with hardscape, irrigation, sod, drainage, and lighting. We give you a realistic timeline during the design phase, not a hopeful one.
Does xeriscape actually look good, or is it just rocks and gravel?
Rocks and gravel is one version of xeriscape, and it isn't the version we design. Good water-wise landscaping is layered planting, seasonal color, texture, and structure, with turf reduced or removed where it doesn't earn its water. Done well, a xeriscape reads as a garden first and a water-saver second, and it usually looks better in August than a struggling lawn does.
What areas do you serve beyond Boulder?
Boulder is our home base, and we regularly work across the Front Range in Louisville, Lafayette, Erie, Broomfield, and Longmont. If you're in a neighboring community and not sure whether we cover it, call and ask.
Do I need a separate designer and contractor, or can Stone & Leaf handle both?
We handle both. Boulder landscape design and installation are one process for us, not two vendors passing a plan back and forth. You work with the same team from the walk-through through the final punch list, which is the whole point of the design-build model.
Ready For a Transformation? Let's Talk About Your Yard Today!
Your site visit is free, and the company owner is the one who shows up, not a salesperson. We walk the property with you, talk through what you want the space to do, and give you a realistic picture of scope and cost before any design work starts. No pitch, no pressure, just a straight conversation about your yard. We work with homeowners across Boulder, Louisville, Lafayette, Erie, Broomfield, and Longmont, and most projects start with a single phone call.
Schedule a free site visit. We’ll bring the tape measure and fresh ideas!