Lake Conroe waterfront, engineered to stay where you built it

From around $5,000 for basic installations to $300,000 and up for lakefront estates with extensive retaining walls and outdoor living. Most Montgomery homeowners invest $15,000 to $45,000 for comprehensive landscaping. Properties in Walden, Bentwater, La Torretta and the other Lake Conroe communities commonly run $50,000 to $125,000, because sloped lots need retaining wall engineering and waterfront considerations that inland lots do not.

Yes, it is our core work in Montgomery. Waterfront means shoreline erosion control, retaining walls engineered for sloped lakefront lots, dock-area landscaping, drainage designed for water moving downhill, and plant selection that changes as you move up the bank. It is a structural discipline before it is a horticultural one, and that is what separates it from inland landscaping.

By terracing, and by engineering the structures that hold the terraces. We survey contours first, design each retaining wall for its actual retained height and the soil behind it, and put drainage aggregate and a drain line behind every wall with geogrid reinforcement above roughly three feet. Cross-fall is built into each terrace so water sheds rather than saturating the fill behind the wall below it.

It changes as you move up the bank, which is why a single list fails. At the water line, moisture-tolerant species that handle periodic saturation. Mid-bank, tough adapted plants that cope with exposure and fast-draining slope. Above that, standard zone 9a planting — live oak, yaupon and dwarf yaupon holly, wax myrtle, Texas sage and ornamental grasses. The transition between the zones is designed as a sequence rather than left to chance.

Regularly — Walden, Bentwater, La Torretta, April Sound and the others. Each has its own architectural standards and drawing requirements, and retaining walls and shoreline work are reviewed particularly closely because they are structures. We read the community documents before designing, prepare the package in the format the committee expects, and build the review period into the schedule.

Yes, and it is most of what we do here. Walls are designed for the retained height and the soil behind them rather than to a standard detail, which means drainage aggregate and a drain line behind the full run, and geogrid reinforcement above roughly three feet. Both of those are cheap during construction and effectively impossible to retrofit — which is why so many failed walls have to be rebuilt rather than repaired.

Yes. Shoreline erosion is a water-velocity and grade problem before it is a planting problem, so the sequence matters: stabilisation and terracing to break the slope, interception drainage above the bank so runoff never reaches it at speed, then moisture-tolerant planting to hold what has been stabilised. Work at the water line may involve permitting depending on the structure and location, and we check that before designing.

On a slope, interception above the bank and drainage behind every retaining wall. On inland Montgomery lots, the usual approach applies — regrading to a defined fall, French drains where the soil stays saturated, catch basins at low points. The difference on a lakefront lot is that drainage is protecting structures as well as the house, so it is specified with the walls rather than after them.

Design takes four to eight weeks including survey, plus the HOA review period, which is outside our control and should be started early. Construction on a terraced lakefront scheme runs six to twelve weeks or longer depending on how much wall is involved. Wet weather stops slope work entirely — saturated ground cannot be compacted, and building a wall on unstable material is how walls fail.

Yes, and on a terraced lot they should be designed with the wall structure rather than placed on it afterwards. Gas, water, power and drainage runs go in while the terrace is being built, which costs a fraction of cutting them into finished paving later. Position is worth deciding early too — on a lakefront property the view line usually settles where the kitchen goes before anything else does.

We are a landscaping contractor rather than a lender, so we do not carry financing in-house. What we do instead is design in phases that stand alone: a master plan drawn once, then built in stages you can budget for year by year. On a large lakefront scheme that is often the sensible route anyway — walls and terraces in one phase, outdoor living and planting in the next.

We stand behind our workmanship — if our installation is the reason something failed, we fix it. Damage, weather and neglect are not covered, and we will price separate cover or a maintenance plan if you want that. Everything is written into the quote rather than agreed afterwards. Documentation is provided with the quote rather than on request. On waterfront work this matters more than usual: retaining walls and shoreline structures are engineered elements, and both the HOA review package and your own protection depend on knowing who stands behind them.