Grading and Landscaping 2019

Bobs Grading Inc 

Mukwonago WI 

414 750-3002

The perfect grade for your home. 

Beautiful lawns 

Rejuvenating gravel driveways 

Allan Block retaining walls add strength and beauty to your hillside property

Bobs Grading removed a worn RR tie wall and replace it with a beautiful Allan Block AB classic wall in the hickory color.  Remember tall walls require geo-grid   

Call us at 414-750-3002 for your next wall project  

Bob's Grading Inc Photo slide show

Here are photos of past projects completed by Bob's Grading Inc. of Mukwonago WI

For a consultation please call 414-750-3002

Call early to schedule your grading and landscaping projects

With new home construction on the rise early planning can help make your next grading or landscaping project sail smoothly.  Calling a qualified grading and landscaping company a few months before your desired completion date is recommended. The ideal planting season in SE Wisconsin is rather short with fall and spring being the best seeding times. Calling early will allow you to pick the best time to start your project.

Screened topsoil allows Bob's Grading to grade our projects extra smooth

This Bobs Grading project was timed around the concrete driveway installation with the backyard graded and seeded first. The front yard was seeded after the concrete went in. 

Bobs Grading installs smooth lawns call or text at 414-750-3002

Retaining Walls Holding back slopes

Retaining wall provide both function and beautification to a site.

This is the old wall in need of removal                                         

Old slabs of concrete

Geogrid used in the new wall

Alan Block AB Classic wall under construction

Completion of the Alan Block retaining wall in Milwaukee WI
Bob's Grading Inc installed wall with Jendusa Engineering plans

Belgard Cambridge Pavers

Multi-piece pavers add an attractive look to your backyard living space.

 Cambridge pavers with Weston wall fire pit

Want a smooth lawn hire a grading professional

When building a new home or renovating your backyard homeowners want smooth yards. We all want to be able to use our lawn for outdoor activities without tripping or stumbling. 
A quality lawn starts with a proper grade from a grading contractor.  Landscapers are artisans with plants and design but many do not have the equipment or expertise to create the perfect grade. Grading contractors have bulldozers, track loaders and tractors to level and prepare your yard. 

 

The video below shows a harley power rake in action. This machine creates the perfect seedbed for starting your new lawn.  Harley rakes remove rocks and pulverize the soil.

 

Screened topsoil allows for a smoother finished lawn. 

 

                                           Grading is key to a smooth yard

Fire Pits add backyard enjoyment

Fire Pits bring family and friends together.



We all know how busy our lives have become and how difficult it is to get everyone together for some quiet family time.  Fire pits add the perfect setting for a Saturday night. Many memories are fostered around a crackling fire and some great company. 

With the many types of paving stones, and retaining wall block available choosing a style that fits your backyard has never been easier.  Local dealers like Champion Brick, Halquist Stone, and the Brick Yard make product selection an enjoyable process.

The hard non- living elements of landscaping is called Hardscaping and it complements your planted spaces.

The Fire Pit on the right is a Lannon stone pit with a natural Lannon flagstone sitting area. 

This homeowner installed fire pit has a crushed stone sitting area with a nice seat wall.

Mega Arbel Paver Project Pewaukee Wisconsin

Mega Arbel II is out!!! Now you can have the look of flagstone with the durability of a concrete paver product. Check out Champion Brick for the full line of Belgard pavers.  This paver project in the Waukesha area blends well with the natural landscaping and wooded lot. 

Have Bob's Grading build your dream patio today.

   
Additional Pictures of this Arbel Paver project.

After this first compaction polymeric joint sand is added.

Be Green with Gravel Driveways

Is your gravel driveway looking warn? Are potholes the size of Volkswagens making the trip to your home an off road adventure? If you can relate to these statements you are not alone. For some asphalt or concrete is the solution to an old gravel driveway but why not take the more green approach and have the driveway resurfaced with a new layer of stone. 

We are very lucky to live in the state of Wisconsin with abundant stone resources.  Limestone more scientifically Dolomite (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolomite) is plentiful in the Milwaukee area. Take a drive though Waukesha, Elm Grove and Wauwatosa and one sees lannon stone retaining walls as common place.

Crush this stone and what you have is one of the best road building materials around.  This crushed "Limestone" is call traffic bond  or TB and it does what the name implies. Three quarter TB makes for the perfect material to resurface your driveway with. Hire a grading contractor with a box scraper for a smooth level driveway.   

        

Pergola's Add Backyard Interest

Oconomowoc Pergola project

Pergolas
Here's a structure that won't provide shelter from wind or rain, and is only marginally better when it comes to the midday sun. So, why build it? Because in the absence of walls and a roof, it defines an outdoor space without constraining it. It's a unique architectural blend that places you both inside and out at the same time. The structure is called a pergola, and it's just the thing to bring backyard landscaping to life. Pergolas were common features of Italian Renaissance gardens, often covering walkways or serving as grape arbors. Today, the same design can be used to define a passageway or frame a focal point in your yard. Add a climbing plant such as wisteria or, yes, grapevines, and your pergola will provide color and shade as well.

Belgard Cambridge pavers and Cedar Pergola

New Berlin Pergola and Patio

Pergolas make a nice addition to a paver patio.  Cedar pergolas generally range in price from 2,800-5,800.  

When is the best time to seed in the Milwaukee area?

The optimal time for lawn seeding in Wisconsin is rather short.  April, through June and Mid August to Mid October is the prime seeding months.  Although Landscape contractors seed all summer mid summer seeding is not recommended for large areas as blue grass is a cool season plant. One important note to remember is if a crabgrass prevention product is applied reseeding that area will have to wait for about three months. 

60% Bluegrass blend

What type of seed will make my lawn look the best? 

For full sun choose a seed with at least 50% Bluegrass for the Milwaukee area.  This will give you a seed blend that repairs itself when damaged. 

Shade blends contain fescue which tolerate low light conditions and require less watering.  This type of grass does not spread so damaged areas will not fill in and will require reseeding.

For more information contact Bob at Bobs Grading Inc.

The solution to a worn concrete patio.

With Spring knocking on our door now is the time to start thinking about early grading and landscaping projects.

Bergerac 4 piece

This might be the year to replace that worn cracked concrete patio or walkway.   Paver Patios are gaining popularity and with a ever growing base of styles and colors sprucing up your backyard has never been easier.

A properly installed paver patio will likely outlast the concrete patio it replaced.  The key is in the construction details. For Wisconsin climate and soil type your paver patio realty should have a minimum  10 inch compacted base made up of 3/4 crushed limestone or traffic bond as it is often called.  This stone is applied over a separation fabric that isolates the subsoil from the stone.
Then a maximum of 1.5 inches of torpedo sand is screeded over the stone base forming the bed for the pavers to be installed. Once installed a polymeric sand is swept into the joints.   
Click for more paver ideas

Proper Grading in Milwaukee your ticket to a dry basement.

This is the grading solution to the picture below.  

When last years heavy rain swept through South Eastern Wisconsin, homeowners had a wake-up call as to the importance of proper grading. Once the ground becomes saturated rainfall starts to runoff. With proper grading  runoff is directed to an appropriate place like a swale, ditch, or municipal catch basin.  Improper grading directs the runoff to an undesirable location for example a window well, foundation wall or depression in the yard. The end result is a wet basement or an unusable section of your property.  Many times landscaping is to blame with planting beds and mulch creating a damming effect around the house. Plugged gutters and missing downspouts add to the problem. Oftentimes removing overgrown landscaping and creating a drainage swale is all that is needed to correct a residential drainage problem. A professional grading contractor with a Topcon Laser can check the soil elevations at key points throughout your property and determine the corrective measures needed to solve even the most complex water problems. 

The trees on this Greenfield lot prevented proper drainage during major storm events

 Some property's require a more complex solution.  Maybe even the addition of a catch basin to channel the water away from a low area.  In the picture below the pool prevented the creation of a proper swale. This comercial catch basin with a 6 inch PVc pipe discharge solved the homeowners wet backyard issues. 






       

Greendale Catch Basin

For more information on Drainage Solutions for lawn water problems contact
Bob Pfeil  from Bob's Grading Inc.
414-750-3002
http://bobsgradinginc.com/

Greendale Drainage Solution

Menomonee Falls Drainage Solution