Plateau soils hold water and sit over shale, so cut slopes need holding and hardscape needs drainage detailed for saturated conditions rather than average ones.
Where we work from: our shop is at 7980 OH-249, Hicksville, OH. McDonald sits outside our home counties — call and we will confirm scheduling before you commit to anything.
Soil and drainage in McDonald
Retaining structures here do real structural work, and the drainage behind them is not optional. Drain tile at the base with an outlet to daylight, twelve inches of clean angular stone against the block, geotextile keeping soil out of that stone, and geogrid into compacted fill on anything with height. Walls that lean in this county were backfilled with soil.
Terracing is usually the better answer than one tall wall. Two shorter tiers can avoid the engineering threshold, look better, and turn the ground between them into a genuinely useful planting bed — provided they are spaced far enough apart that the upper wall is not loading the lower one.
What McDonald properties need most
On a village lot the four things that change how a property reads from the road are a defined spade-cut bed edge, mulch at two to three inches rather than the five or six that accumulates when it is added annually and never removed, shrubs hand-pruned to a scale that suits the house instead of sheared into shells, and clean edging along the walks and drive. Together they cost less than a single mature tree.
Phasing does not save money in total — mobilising a crew three times costs more than once — but it spreads the spend across seasons, which for most households is the difference between doing the work properly and doing a compromised version now. The plan does not change, only the calendar does.
Winter in McDonald
Lake-effect events are heavy, wet and repetitive, which is hard on both pavement and plantings. Over-application of salt damages concrete, kills the turf edge along drives and runs into storm drains, so calibrated rates and pre-treatment ahead of forecast events do more good than volume. Pre-treating prevents ice bonding, which makes clearing faster and uses substantially less material overall.
Booking happens in the fall because routes are built geographically. A property added in January is either not going to be reached promptly or is going to displace somebody who booked in October, and we would rather tell you that now.
What McDonald properties call us for
These are the services this ground actually needs, ordered by what the soil and terrain in Trumbull County demand rather than by what is easiest to sell.
- Retaining Walls & TerracingEngineered walls with real drainage behind them — turning slopes you cannot mow into space you can use.
- Drainage Solutions & Yard GradingFrench drains, swales and regrading that move water away from your foundation before it costs you a basement.
- Lawn Mowing & Property MaintenanceWeekly mowing, trimming and edging on a schedule you can set your watch by — residential and commercial.
- Tree & Shrub TrimmingPruned at the right time of year, to the right cut — so plants stay in scale instead of getting sheared into boxes.
- Snow Removal & Ice ManagementPlowing, shoveling and salting on a trigger you set — residential drives and commercial lots, all winter.
- Landscape Design & InstallationA drawn plan before a shovel moves — so the beds, grades and plant choices still make sense in year ten.
Why McDonald property owners choose us
We know Trumbull County ground
Trumbull County sits in the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, where heavy, poorly drained clay across most of the county, which is why standing water is the most common call here. We plan around that rather than applying a template written for another part of the state.
We fix the water before anything else
Every dollar spent on plants or hardscape sitting on ground that stays wet gets spent twice. On Trumbull County soil we diagnose drainage first — and often the honest answer is two downspouts rather than a system.
46 Google reviews, licensed and insured
Verbatim reviews from neighbours across the region, full coverage on every crew and machine, and financing available so a full plan can be built in one season.
One contractor for all four seasons
Landscaping April through November and snow and ice through the winter, from the same crews. The people who stake a drive in November are the people who mowed it in July.
Nearby places we also serve
McDonald sits in Trumbull County. We cover these neighbouring communities too:
