Landscaping in Cleveland is a short growing season pinched by lake snow, salt, and clay. Walks heave. Stoops crack. Parkway grass burns where the plow pile sat. Mature trees reach over steep roofs and drop limbs when a spring wind hits wood that winter loaded with ice. Grade that pitches at the basement takes the whole melt at once. The lot is often narrow, and there is nowhere to hide a bad slope.
A heavy limb over an eave opens shingles and packs a gutter that is already destined to ice. Pruning, removal, and stump grinding are different jobs. Debris in the alley becomes cover for rats. Say if the wood threatens the roof, a line, or the foundation bed. Ice-broken branches should come down before the next blow, not after a tidy weekend appears. Stay off wet branches over a porch. Close houses mean a falling limb is shared trouble.
Irrigation is uncommon on the oldest blocks and still has to be blown out where it exists, or the heads split in a cold that lasts. Spring startup is when you find the breaks under the last dirty snow. A new zone is not a repair. Locate lines before digging near old supply pipe. If a backflow device applies, test it with the heads. Many yards have no system, and the real work is drainage of melt, not a spray pattern.
The mowing season is shorter than inland Ohio and much shorter than a river city farther south. Leaf cleanup under street trees is still its own heavy visit. Mulch against brick or siding holds water at the wall through a long wet thaw. If a new plant dies, say who waters after the crew leaves. The salted tree lawn and the shady north side are different repairs. Clay stays soft late and then bakes, but the snow calendar rules the year.
Say mowing, trees, drainage, or the rare sprinkler system, and say how the melt left the grade. A heaved walk at the steps is not cosmetic. Water against the basement after the pile goes is the call to make before the next rain on frozen ground. Call the number on this page.