Ferndale · Metro Detroit
We dig it,
we hold it back,
we pour it.
Excavation, drainage, retaining walls and flatwork. Twenty years of the jobs other landscapers subcontract out — and a number in writing before a machine leaves the yard.
Metro Detroit
completed
platforms
our own lot
About Ironleaf
We own the machines.
That is the whole difference.
Most landscaping companies that quote you a retaining wall are calling somebody else to build it. We are the somebody else. Six machines on our own lot, eleven people on our own payroll, and no markup on a middleman.
Ironleaf started in 2006 with one mini excavator and a dump trailer. Everything since has been bought with work, not borrowed.
- Michigan Residential Builders licence, bonded
- $2M liability and workers’ comp on every crew
- MISS DIG filed on every excavation, no exceptions
- Written fixed price before a machine leaves the yard
Scope
Five things. All of them heavy.
We do not mow, we do not do seasonal colour, and we will tell you straight if your job is somebody else’s. What is below is what we are set up to do properly.
Excavation & grading
Site prep, cut and fill, pool and pond excavation, stump and slab removal. Laser-graded so water goes where the plan says it goes.
- MISS DIG filed
- Spoil hauled
- Laser grade
Drainage
French drains, catch basins, dry wells, downspout tie-ins and regrading away from foundations. The unglamorous work that stops a basement flooding.
- Camera survey
- Sock pipe
- Tied to daylight
Retaining walls
Segmental block, boulder and poured walls to six feet. Engineered drawings above four, geogrid where it belongs, and drainage behind every one.
- Engineered 4ft+
- Geogrid
- Drain stone
Concrete & flatwork
Drives, walks, slabs, steps and footings. Fibre mesh, proper base depth and control joints cut the same day, not the next week.
- 4in / 6in base
- Fibre mesh
- Same-day joints
Pavers & hardscape
Patios, drives and steps on a compacted base built for Michigan frost, which is the part that decides whether it is still flat in year five.
- 10in base
- Polymeric sand
- Edge restraint
Projects
Recent jobs, photographed on the last day.
Job 2,614
Berkley hillside, nine days.
The problem
A 1950s timber wall that had rotted through, taking about four feet of the back yard with it every spring. The neighbour’s fence was eleven inches out of plumb and moving.
What we did
Cut the bank back, drove 42 inches of base, built a 5’6” segmental wall with geogrid on three courses and a full drain stone chimney behind it, then terraced and topsoiled above.
What it cost
$34,800, fixed, signed before we started. The two cheaper quotes had no engineering and no geogrid, which is exactly why the original failed.
Why we show this one
Because the expensive part is underground and you will never see it. The only way to judge a wall contractor is to make them tell you what is behind it — so we put it in writing on every job.
Why Ironleaf
Four reasons people pick us over a cheaper number.
The price is fixed
We quote off a measured site visit, not a phone call. If we hit rock or a buried line we stop and tell you before we touch it, with a photo.
Our machines, our crew
Nothing is subcontracted. The people who quoted the job are the people who build it, which is why the schedule holds.
We show you the base
Photographs of the base, the drainage and the geogrid before anything covers them. Every job, in the file, whether you ask or not.
Built for frost
Michigan moves nine inches a year. Base depths here are built for that, which is the single reason our flatwork is still flat in year ten.
Process
Four steps. No surprises.
We measure the site
Free, about an hour. Levels, access, where the water goes and what is buried. Nothing is quoted off a photograph.
You get a written number
Within 24 hours. Broken out by part, with the base depths and materials named, so you can compare it against anybody else properly.
We file and dig
MISS DIG goes in, the start date is in the contract, and you get photographs at the end of every day including the parts about to be buried.
We walk it with you
You pay the balance when it is done and signed off. Two-year workmanship warranty, in writing, on everything we build.
4.9 across 310 reviews
What Metro Detroit says.
They sent photographs of the drain stone before they backfilled. Nobody else who quoted us even mentioned drainage, and ours failed because of it.
Hit a gas line nobody had marked. They stopped, called it in, called me, and the price did not move. That is the entire review.
Third winter on the driveway and not one crack. The company that did my neighbour’s the same summer has been back twice.
Credentials
Coverage
Thirty minutes of the yard.
Machines cost money to move, so we keep the radius tight and pass the saving on. If you are outside it we will say so and give you two names.
- Ferndale
- Royal Oak
- Berkley
- Huntington Woods
- Birmingham
- Pleasant Ridge
- Oak Park
- Clawson
- Madison Heights
- Troy
- Southfield
- Beverly Hills
Questions
What people ask before they call.
What does a retaining wall cost?
Segmental block runs $55 to $95 a face foot installed, depending on height, access and whether it needs engineering. A typical 40-foot, four-foot wall lands between $12,000 and $19,000. You get a fixed number in writing.
Do you charge for the estimate?
No. The site visit, the measurements and the written number are free, and the number holds for 60 days.
How long until you can start?
Usually three to six weeks in season, less in early spring and late fall. Both dates go in the contract.
What happens if you hit something?
We file MISS DIG on every excavation. If something unmarked turns up we stop, photograph it, call it in, and call you before anything else happens. Marked utilities are on us; genuinely unmarked ones we discuss before we proceed.
Will the concrete crack?
Concrete cracks — that is what control joints are for, and ours are cut the same day. What should not happen is heaving or settlement, and that is a base problem. Our base depths are built for Michigan frost and warranted two years.
Do you do lawns or planting?
No. We regrade and topsoil so somebody else can, and we will happily give you two names. Doing one thing is why we are good at it.
Estimate
Tell us what needs moving.
A written number within 24 hours of the site visit, broken out by part, with the base depths and materials named. Free, and it holds for 60 days.
- Phone(248) 555-0172
- Emailoffice@ironleafoutdoor.example
- Yard1140 Hilton Rd, Ferndale MI 48220
- LicenceMI Builders 0000000000 · $2M liability