Landscaping in Austin is thin soil, live oaks, a long drought, and a gully-washer that undoes a careless grade. East-side clay still needs even moisture so it does not pull away from the foundation. West over limestone, the same watering schedule drowns plants and runs off rock. A freeze burns tender growth and splits hose bibs and above-ground irrigation that the heat-season yard never thinks about. The plan has to name which side of that map you are on.
Grade and oaks come before ornaments. Water that sheets toward the house will find the crawl space or the slab edge in the first hard rain. Water aimed at a creek bank will cut a gully through new beds. Live oaks shade the west wall, which the cooling equipment appreciates, and they also drop limbs onto roofs. Oak wilt is a local threat when oaks are pruned in the heat while beetles are flying. Ask before you cut.
Irrigation should be drip where the soil is thin and a restrained spray where a lawn is actually wanted. Heads that miss the foundation on clay and soak it on rock are both wrong. The backflow and any pipe above ground need a plan for the freeze night, or the landscape job becomes a plumbing leak at dawn. Hard water crusts heads. Say if pressure and mineral already ruin fixtures inside, because the yard gear will see the same water.
After a creek jump, silt and debris are not a cue to scrape the lot down to dirt. After hail or a freeze, defoliated shrubs may leaf again. Do not rip them out in a panic. Ask what to pull off the roof line, what to keep for shade, and what does not belong in a caliche bed. Choose plants that can take the heat and the occasional burn of cold.
Describe the lot: rock or clay, oak shade or full sun, and whether the trouble is grade, irrigation, a freeze-split line, or limbs. Say if water cuts through the yard after a storm. Ask for a plan that respects oak care, drainage, and the cold night the rest of the year forgets. Call the number on this page.