Tag Archives: interlocking pavers

Welcome to TRU Landscape Services

The solution for all of your Orange County Landscape needs.

We are a licensed and certified landscape company that installs everything from sprinklers to sod, and patios to pool decks. We are known for professional concrete and hardscape installations, custom patio areas, and excellent landscape maintenance. If you need a trusted company to transform your outdoor area, call us today for a free estimate at

1-866-487-1359

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Orange County Hardscape

Orange county Hardscape
Modern Fire pit

TRU Landscape Services provides all of your Orange County Hardscape. Hardscapes provide beauty and contrast to a Landscape. One aspect of a Orange county Hardscape is a fire feature. Fire features can range from fire bowls to outdoor fire places. We are happy to build all of these fire features in your outdoor living area. Fire features provide heat and beauty to a landscape. One of the most common fire feature we build are Fire Pits. Fire pits can be built in almost all landscapes. Please contact us today and our designers will walk you through building an outdoor living area.

Orange county Hardscape
Retaining wall with steps

Retaining Walls

Retaining walls are used for several different aspects of a Orange County Hardscape. Retaining walls can be installed to help gain more usable space. The right design will create planter beds. Building a retaining wall isn’t something we would recommend for a DIY project. If not built properly retaining walls can fail which may lead to a larger problem. Installing steps on a retaining wall will help provide easy access to another prat of the yard. Interlocking pavers help tie the retaining wall together with the rest of the outdoor living. We are a Belgard preferred contractor and we install thousands of pavers a year! TRU Landscape designs and builds all of these hardscapes.

Orange County Hardscape
Retaining walls

Orange County Landscape

TRU Landscape Services will design and build all of your Landscape needs. We are a locally owned Landscape contractor. We carry a license with the state of California 894221 We have a been in business in Orange County for over 35 years. We will start in the beginning with our customer an implement the best design for your space. After the design is complete we will build all elements of the project. TRU Landscape Services is one of the highest rated Landscape Contractors in Orange County California. Call us today 1-866-487-1359

Modern Backyard Remodel

Modern Backyard Remodel

A modern backyard for the modern home.  Perhaps you have a small backyard and are bored with the space.  Chances are, you have more options for landscape renovation than you realize!  In this small backyard, our company was able to reclaim the entire backyard landscape for barbecues, playtime, picnics, and fireside stories!  All it took was a little planning, some elbow grease, and one Orange County landscape company.

Modern Backyard Remodel Fire PitAre you lost in a Suburban sea?  Are you tired of your backyard looking exactly like your neighbors?  Tract homes may begin devoid of personality, but there’s plenty of room to personalize your outdoor space, however small.

In this case, the homeowners were already thinking big when they contacted us about installing a fire pit and outdoor living area.  It turned out they were ready to take charge of the rest of their yard too!  Cheap synthetic turf had been installed throughout.  This low quality Chinese turf only looked good for a short period.  It was time for that scraggly fake grass to go!  Time to start over.

TRU Landscape Services renovated three areas of this Costa Mesa Landscaping project.  Stay tuned to see before and after pictures of the side yard, backyard, and outdoor living area.

Interlocking Pavers Walkway

If you own a home with a small yard, you’re probably familiar with this problem area: the walkway “side yard.”  The “side yard” is actually just wide enough for a walk way.  The space can easily become cluttered or muddy if you don’t have the proper walkway installed.

Before Interlocking Pavers InstallationTo replace the unattractive concrete blocks that were in place, our customer chose interlocking pavers.  We used a herringbone pattern with dark grey “blueish” paving stones.  As you can see, the interlocking pavers compliment the overall modern feel with cooler colors.

Interlocking Pavers Walkway in Orange CountyThe pavers walkway extends to the front yard and now eliminates the chance for tracking mud and dirt.  A much cleaner, more pleasant experience overall.

American Synthetic Turf Installation

Like we mentioned earlier, the back yard had aging Chinese synthetic turf installed.  We built the planter wall that you see in the background when the customer decided to have their synthetic turf replaced.  As you can see, it was worse for wear…

Artificial Turf removal and Synthetic grass replacement

Look at the difference! Whenever possible, TRU Landscape Services uses only products made in the USA.  Don’t let a fast talking company take advantage of you by convincing you to install cheap alternatives.  When it comes to installations like turf and paving stones that receive high traffic, you will want to use materials that last. Try us today for Synthetic Turf installations.

Synthtic-Turf-Backyard

Modern Outdoor Living Area

Here comes the main focal point of the modern backyard remodel: the fire pit and bench area.  As you can see, the space looks pretty small to begin with.  When we arrived there was a relatively unusable patch of gravel with some plants in the corners.  Our customer tasked us with building custom planters, benches, and a fire pit.  As you can see in this picture, we sprayed out the location of the installation with paint to help the customer visualize the finished Orange County landscape before beginning.  It’s cool to start with a blank canvas.

Before Paver Side Yard Renovation

Here’s the finished product!  Take it all in for a second.  Although we installed a lot of new hardscape into this area, it actually has the effect of opening the area up.  By making the space more useable, the homeowner actually “increased” their backyard space.  In effect, installing a new patio area extended their backyard!

Back Area LandscapeNote how the reed plants, planter walls, and tree add vertical height to the space, also making it feel less cluttered.  Our customer was very happy with the benches that we built into the stucco planter walls.  Custom wood benches are definitely a great feature to consider in your home remodel.

If you’re ready to transform your backyard space of whatever size, call TRU Landscape Services, your trusted Orange County Landscaper.

Just call us today for a free estimate on any fixture from fire pits to synthetic turf, to pavers and so much more!

1-866-487-1359

Interlocking Pavers & Landscape Grades

Interlocking Pavers & Landscape Grades

There’s a lot that goes on before a landscape job.  To read the story behind this Irvine Landscaping project, check out our blog “Choosing the Right Licensed Landscape Contractor.”  In summary, TRU Landscape was hired  because our company is licensed and can complete an entire landscape job under one roof.

Pavers Entryway Before and After

Orange County Interlocking Pavers

The primary part of the Irvine Hardscape installation was a patio of interlocking pavers. The job itself entailed a lot of work although the yard itself was on the small side.  In preparation, we removed 8 inches of dirt from the whole yard to set the grade.  The dirt removed amounted to several tons!  While we were removing the dirt, our team dug out the patio cover footings.  We also installed drains to receive water coming off of the grade. Setting Landscape GradeDuring the inspection, the Orange County landscape inspector noticed that we had our grades set up so that all of the water would run away from the house into the drains.  He told us we were doing a professional job!  It’s always nice to get a complement from a city inspector.

What is a landscape grade?

A landscape grade is set up to keep the water flowing away from your house. In the case of installing interlocking pavers, we make sure that all of the pavers slope away from the house to the drains.  Over 25 years in the landscape industry, we have seen a lot of grades that drain into the house!  The city inspector has most likely seen many of these improperly graded landscapes as well.  Water sitting on pavers is a slipping hazard and may cause water damage over time. Also once the water is sitting against your house, it can cause moisture issues and even destroy the stucco.   Most of the time this happens because the contractor doesn’t want to haul away all of the dirt to get the grade of the dirt down low enough or they don’t use a transit.

Front Yard Landscape Grade

What is a transit?

It’s a spyglass-like tool that is used to measure grades.  For our projects we use a laser transit to ensure an accurate measurement.  This is crucial when pouring concrete patios, decks or interlocking pavers. If it’s possible, we always install a drain system and have all the water run to the drains.  Keeping water off of your backyard patio and away from your house will ensure the longevity of your landscape!  That’s exactly what TRU Landscape Services is all about.  We are confident that our experience and attention to detail will produce a long lasting and beautiful landscape for your home. Pavers InstallationTo learn more about other Irvine Landscaping Projects or to contact us for a free estimate, call us now at 1-866-487-1359 or send us an email info@trulandscape.com

If you’d like to read more blogs like this one, check out our Orange County Landscape Contractor news feed.

Irvine Landscaping Company

Choosing the Right Licensed Landscape Contractor

(part one of a two part post about an Irvine Landscaping project)

Sometimes you need to hire a professional landscape company.  For our latest project in Irvine, the customer needed a bonded and licensed landscape contractor to follow the plans authorized by their Home Owner’s Association. Irvine is a quickly growing, master-planned community, so many of our jobs in Irvine are for new home owners and require the consent of an HOA. We met our customer a few months back when they first moved into their home.  They already had a plan for the Irvine  landscaping submitted to the HOA and were waiting to get approval before starting the work.

Irvine Landscaping Company

One Irvine Landscaping Company for One Landscape

Once they were approved, we gave them an estimate and were hired for the job because we could complete the entire job under one roof.  The customer wanted a backyard patio area surfaced with interlocking pavers and a fresh landscape with a new sprinkler system.  They took estimates from a couple of companies, but most of these other landscape companies only did hardscape or just softscape.  This was a major problem for our customer because both were required for this project.  They have moved several times in the last 10 years and have  played the contractor game before.

Irvine Landscaping Company

One major problem with this “game” of hiring multiple contractors for one landscape is that projects take longer to complete and companies get in each others’ way.  Oftentimes a project will sit unfinished because one contractor has to wait on another to complete his or her portion of the work.  What a headache! This is why our customer wanted one landscaping company to install all of their outdoor elements. Do I need a Licensed Landscape Contractor? Another company that the customer really liked didn’t have a license or insurance.  We were told that many of the new home owners hired this contractor for their large projects.  In fact, this other company is a fairly popular Irvine landscaping contractor in that area. This raises some questions.

Pavers by a Licensed Landscape Contractor

Do you need a contractor’s  license to landscape someone’s house?

The answer is YES.  Any project over $600.00 requires a license in the State of California.  Most hardscape jobs are over this minimum limit. The next question is: What are the downsides to hiring an unlicensed contractor?  Without insurance or a bond, there is nothing to protect the customer from faulty work. An unlicensed landscape contractor can walk away with your money even if they install something like a gas line the wrong way and cause serious damage to your property!  Because of this, for all larger jobs it is best to hire a licensed landscape contractor like TRU Landscape Services (our license number is C-27 894221). To learn more about other Irvine Landscaping Projects or to contact us for a free estimate, call us now at 1-866-487-1359 or send us an email info@trulandscape.com

Click to read about the rest of this Irvine Landscaping project.