The most common thing we hear in May is “we want it done by the Fourth of July,” and the most honest answer in May is “next year, if we start now.” Minnesota gives us roughly six months of buildable ground, and the companies worth hiring are booked into them well before the snow melts. The homeowners who get the yard they want, when they want it, are the ones who treat winter as the planning season instead of the waiting season.
Here is how the year actually works for a Twin Cities backyard project, and how long each kind of project takes once it starts.
The year at a glance
| Month | What happens | What you should be doing |
|---|---|---|
| November to January | Design season. 3D design, material selection, engineering, HOA submissions. | Book the free consultation. Visit the showroom. Finalize the design. |
| February | Spring schedules fill. | Sign the quote to lock a start week. |
| March | Permits, pool and pergola orders, final selections. | Confirm access, fence and equipment locations. |
| Late April to May | Ground thaws; construction starts. | First projects break ground. Planting after the last frost, around mid-May. |
| June to August | Peak construction. | Pools open, patios finish, plantings go in with irrigation. |
| September to October | Second planting window; walls and hardscape continue. | Fall builds; early-fall planting about six weeks before freeze. |
| November | Season winds down as ground freezes. | Start design for next year. |
Why winter is the planning season
Three things make a winter start pay off.
Contractors book spring over the winter. Design-build companies have a fixed number of crew weeks between late April and October. Those weeks are assigned as quotes are signed, mostly from January through March. A homeowner who signs in February chooses from the full calendar; one who signs in June takes what is left, which is usually August or later.
Design takes real time, and it should. A complete backyard design is several conversations, a site measure, a 3D model, revisions and material selections. Done in winter, none of that time comes out of the building season. Our design process runs the same way whether it starts in December or May; the difference is what month the shovel goes in.
Permits, engineering and orders have lead times. A retaining wall over about 4 feet needs an engineer’s stamp. A pool needs a city permit with a survey, a fence plan and, on lakeshore lots, hard-surface calculations (our pool rules guide covers that). A fiberglass shell or a louvered pergola is ordered weeks ahead. All of it can be done while the ground is frozen.
Our Lake Elmo design showroom is open year-round by appointment, and January is the easiest month to get an hour with a designer and walk on real pavers before you choose them.
How long each project takes
These are typical construction durations once a crew is on site. Design, quoting and the wait for a start date come before them, and weather can stretch any of them.
| Project | Typical construction time | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Paver patio (focused project) | 1 to 3 weeks | Longer with walls, steps, a fire feature or lighting |
| Retaining walls and grading | 1 to 3 weeks | Engineered walls add design time up front, not build time |
| Outdoor living space: patio, kitchen, fire feature, pergola | 3 to 6 weeks | Gas and electrical trades are scheduled into the sequence |
| Complete backyard landscape | 4 to 8 weeks | Walls and drainage, then hardscape, then lighting, plantings and lawn |
| Pool plus complete backyard | 6 to 12 weeks | The pool shell is set in days; the backyard around it is the schedule |
| New-construction landscape | 2 to 6 weeks | Often phased with the builder’s final grade |
The order of work on site is not optional, and it is why the ranges are what they are: drainage and grading first, walls second, hardscape third, then structures and utilities, then lighting, irrigation, plantings and lawn last so nothing gets driven over.
Three real timelines
A patio and fire feature in Stillwater. Room to Gather, a patio and stoop renovation on an established lot, is the kind of project that designs over a few weeks and builds in two to three. Signed by February, it is finished before Memorial Day.
A backyard built in phases. One homeowner on our reviews page describes designing a complete pool backyard and building it over more than one season to fit the budget. That is a legitimate strategy: the full plan is drawn once, then the pool deck poured this year already allows for the pergola and kitchen next year.
A pool backyard swimming by summer. Poolside on the Hill in Woodbury is the model: the pool was set by our sister company Blaiser Pools, our crew was on site the day it went in, and the deck, walls, steps, plantings and lighting were finished the same season. The homeowner’s own review says they did not want to sit with dirt for a season, and they did not. That only works when the landscape is designed with the pool, not after it.
Planting dates that matter
Hardscape does not care about frost. Plants do.
- Last spring frost in the Twin Cities is typically late April to mid-May; most landscapers wait for mid-May before planting tender material.
- Spring window: mid-May through June, with irrigation or a watering plan, because new plantings need water through their first summer.
- Fall window: late August through September, roughly six weeks before the ground freezes, so roots establish. Evergreens are the exception; we prefer them in spring or early fall and burlap them their first winter.
- Sod goes in any time the ground is workable and can be watered, spring through fall.
Our one-year plant warranty applies when we install drip irrigation with the plantings, because water in the first season is what decides whether a plant makes it.
If you are reading this in spring
You have two good options. The first is a focused project this year, a patio, a wall or a fire feature, that fits a late-summer start, with the bigger plan designed for next spring. The second is to design the whole backyard now and build it in the fall, which is a fine season for hardscape and the best season for planting. What we try to steer people away from is a rushed design in May to chase a July date; the yard is going to be there for twenty years, and the design is the part worth the time.
Start the clock
The free consultation is the first step, at your home or in the Lake Elmo showroom. If you would rather start smaller, send us a few photos of the yard and what you are picturing, and we will put together a free idea board you can think about over the winter.