Mt. Diablo Landscaping

After Mt. Diablo Landscaping and Maintenance did such a wonderful job building a parking lot and bioretention facility (rain garden) that satisfied rigorous requirements of the City of Alexandria, I contracted with them to remove a dying hedge from my front yard and to recommend new landscaping. Dan Neufeld recommended that I remove a willow tree next to my townhouse that could damage the foundation, and I agreed. His team removed my hedge and willow tree and replaced then with beautiful new shrubs. He also installed a pop-up drain 10 feet from my house after realizing that the old drain caused water to run down the side of my houses foundation. He then replaced my yard of solid weeds with beautiful sod. The final result is beautiful, better for the structural integrity of my houses foundation, and the work was completed in one day at a very reasonable price. I strongly recommend Mt. Diablo Landscaping and Maintenance for similar projects elsewhere. My neighbors thanked me for improving the appearance of our neighborhood.

Having selected Mt. Diablo Landscaping and Maintenance LLC by best-value competition, Alexandrias Christian Science Church contracted with Mt. Diablo to construct a 2,000 square foot paver stone parking lot on sloping terrain, supported by Techo-Bloc retaining walls, with surface drainage channeled through a Nyloplast drain into a bioretention pond (rain garden). Sub-surface pipes were constructed to weep holes to prevent any water from accumulating behind the retaining walls. The parking lot was beautifully landscaped with Japanese Holly, Lil Rascal Boy Holly, Red Beauty Holly, and Carpet Junipers. Large rocks, dug up during construction, were used to add to the beauty of the landscaping.

The bioretention pond was designed by RC Fields and Associates to capture and temporarily store and filter stormwater runoff, using soils and vegetation to remove pollutants. Surrounded by a berm with specified elevations, the bioretention pond has a volume of 1,160 cubic feet with vertical walls 7.25 feet deep. The pond was lined with geotextile fabric, with perforated Schedule 40 PVC pipe near the bottom, and filled with layers of VDOT #57 stone at the bottom, pea gravel, Virginia bioretention mix, and hardwood mulch at the top, then topped with a Gabion stone check dam. The perforated PVC pipe was connected to two vertical observation wells and over 100 feet of PVC pipe through two clean-outs to a blind connection at a large underground public sewer. The bioretention pond was planted with Winterberry Holly and Switchgrass plants. The 19-sheet Development Site Plan (DSP), formally approved by the City of Alexandria, included hundreds of rigorous, mandatory specifications.

Throughout the Citys lengthy approval process (over a year) and 6 weeks of construction, we were extremely pleased with the communications and professionalism of Dan Neufeld, President of Mt. Diablo, and his on-site foreman and construction team. Over 400 emails were exchanged, in addition to dozens of phone calls and text messages, to coordinate and keep each other informed. The Mt. Diablo team arrived daily with many forms of specialized equipment as well as a large Cat dozer and small Bobcat dozer that they operated with the precision of a surgeon. Mt. Diablo used a ZipLevel Pro to ensure that all 24 target elevations were met within 1/4 inch. All technical details of the DSP were executed to perfection, including project cleanup and landscaping. The church was so impressed with Mt. Diablo that we executed a 3-year contract to maintain the bioretention facility consistent with the Citys Best Management Practice (BMP) specifications. Having served 30 years in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, I know a good contractor when I see one. I highly recommend Mt. Diablo Landscaping and Maintenance LLC for construction of complex bioretention facilities elsewhere.