Tag keepers on a Pittsburgh hillside before the dumpster arrives.
Mature oaks, maples, and a wall that still holds a clay slope do jobs new plants cannot copy. Demo first on a hillside lot is expensive and often recreates drainage problems the old work had already solved. Tag keepers before the dumpster. Eichenlaub starts design with what already works.
Walk the lot and mark keep, edit, and remove
Keep healthy canopy that still cools the house and holds the bank. Edit shrubs that block a walk but have good structure. Remove plants that fail every summer on clay, and anything dead or hazardous. Photograph the same views from the street and from the patio. A tree that looks crowded from the kitchen may be the only screen from a neighbor on a tight South Hills lot.
See plants and stone together at the Outdoor Living Studio before you price a teardown. Catalog plans that assume a flat lot do not fit Pittsburgh clay hillsides.
Clay, utilities, and working stone change the teardown
Western Pennsylvania clay does not bounce back after a careless scrape. Protect grade that already sheds water. A pretty new bed that traps runoff against the foundation is a failed redo. Mark irrigation laterals and lighting cable. New patios should not sit on roots you meant to keep. Pair this with irrigation so laterals are not trenched through a keeper.
A dry-laid wall that still holds a slope is an asset. So is a path that already sheds water away from the house. Replacing those because they look dated can recreate perched water the old work had solved. Browse the portfolio and photo gallery for projects where existing stone stayed.
Price the redo around the keepers
Send a keep list, a problem list, and photos of views you will not give up. Note any hillside or association limits you already know. Eichenlaub can then price protection fencing, selective removal, and build work as separate lines. Maintenance should get a written handoff for what stayed.
Demo is a tool. It is not the default first line on a Pittsburgh lot that already has trees and stone doing real work. Call (412) 767-4769 or contact us. More notes live in our articles.