Tsawwassen Landscape Project: A Shelter from the Chaos

THE PROJECT

Our clients were downsizing from a larger, older Tsawwassen home to a brand-new build closer to the water, and they wanted their outdoor space to work as hard as the smaller footprint did. They were heading into retirement and looking forward to more travel, so low-maintenance mattered to them as much as style. Their wish list was long for the size of the lot: a built-in BBQ, a fire pit, a hot tub, real privacy from the neighbours, a water feature, and planting that wouldn’t demand hours of upkeep every weekend.

We started, as we always do, with a detailed design and budget the clients approved before we began the work, so there were no surprises partway through the build. From there, our design and construction teams worked through the lot in layers rather than trying to fit each request into its own separate zone. We sunk the hot tub slightly into the grade so it read as part of the landscape rather than a large fixture sitting on top of the patio. Alongside it, we built a discreet rock bubbler for the sound of moving water, without the footprint or upkeep a full pond would need.

The BBQ area is covered and built directly into the layout, so it functions as an outdoor kitchen rather than a grill parked on the patio. A stone fire pit anchors the seating area on the opposite side of the yard, giving the space two distinct gathering points instead of one crowded one. To close the yard off from the homes on either side, we planted a new hedge line and installed a lattice trellis with climbing plants worked in, which does double duty as a privacy screen and as a design feature in its own right. Raised stone garden walls tie the planting beds together and give the whole yard a finished, tiered look instead of one flat plane of lawn.

Every material and plant we chose had to earn its place twice over: once for how it looks and once for how it holds up on a coastal Tsawwassen lot. The planting plan leans on species that tolerate Tsawwassen’s dry summers without constant watering, since our clients didn’t want an irrigation schedule to manage in their retirement. We also worked with the property’s naturally well-draining, sandy loam soil rather than fighting it, building the raised beds to take advantage of the drainage instead of trapping water against the new hardscaping.

The finished yard now gives our clients a hot tub, a covered BBQ area, a stone fire pit, a rock bubbler, a lattice trellis, raised stone garden walls, new hedge and climbing plant screening, and a planting plan built for low upkeep, all inside a backyard that never feels crowded. What used to be an open, exposed lot now feels like its own private retreat, screened from the street and from the neighbours on both sides, without losing a single item from the client’s wish list.