Landscape Construction in Sunset Cliffs, San Diego

Last updated: 2026-10-22

Landscape Construction Above Sunset Cliffs

Landscape construction in Sunset Cliffs starts with grade and drainage, not plants. Samuel Fortes walks the slope, plans retaining walls and drain lines first, then builds hardscape, irrigation and planting around that grade. We are CSLB #1152146, bonded and insured, and work out of Coronado.

Last updated: October 2026

The lots below Sunset Cliffs run downhill toward the water. Rain that hits the street has to go somewhere, and if the yard has not been built to carry it, it goes through your beds.

Drainage and retaining walls come first

We stake the grade before we draw a single bed. Walls and drain lines get placed where the slope demands them, and the planting plan follows. A bed installed above an unsolved drainage problem tends to wash out in the first real winter storm.

Retaining walls on these lots need planning for what sits behind them. We set 4-inch perforated pipe at the base of the wall, surround it with at least 12 inches of 3/4-inch drain rock, and wrap it in filter fabric before any backfill goes in. Once a wall gets past about 3 feet and needs engineering, we tell you before you pay us anything. That is a different scope than a planting job.

Hardscape and irrigation built for salt wind

Salt air reaches these slopes the same way it reaches the Coronado bayfront. Plated irrigation hardware pits out in a season, so we use brass and stainless heads on pressure-rated PVC and test the mainline at 80 PSI before anything gets covered. We set the system in before pavers or walkways go down. Trenching through a finished patio to reach a corroded valve is the redo nobody budgets for.

Patios, pavers, walkways, fire pits and walls all get built on 4 to 6 inches of compacted base with proper edge restraint, and patios are pitched about 1/4 inch per foot away from the house. Access on the tighter lots decides the sequence, because material that cannot reach the back by machine has to be staged and moved by hand.

What it costs and what a job looks like

Last spring we rebuilt a sloped backyard of roughly 1,800 sq ft near Sunset Cliffs Boulevard. It took a 45-foot block retaining wall, a French drain tied to the street, a 400 sq ft paver patio and a new drip system. Plan on about $18 to $30 per sq ft for pavers and $45 to $90 per sq ft of face for retaining walls, depending on height and access. Full construction projects on these lots usually land between $35,000 and $120,000, and we give you a written scope with line items so you can see where it goes.

Who builds it

Samuel grew up on a farm in Brazil and spent his first decade of US work on Coronado and Point Loma yards. He walks every property, draws the plan, plants it and comes back to prune. Our small team does the construction. Nothing gets handed to a sub with a sketch.

Many homeowners here also deal with HOA or design review expectations on plant palette and wall height. We ask for those rules up front and draw inside them.

Related reading

See why drainage comes before plants on Point Loma slopes, what landscape construction costs above Sunset Cliffs, or how we approach grade, wind and wall height on a design. Our hardscape page and drought-tolerant landscaping page cover the rest of the scope, and finished work is on the portfolio.

If we built your yard in Sunset Cliffs or Point Loma, mention the neighborhood and the work in your Google review. It helps the neighbors who are still deciding. Call 619.243.9495 or email info@ecosystemlands.com to set up a walk of your lot.