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Planting, hardscape, and drainage plans designed and installed by our own Knoxville crew
Most landscape plans go wrong in the handoff. A designer draws something that looks great on paper, then a different crew shows up to build it and finds out the yard slopes toward the house, the soil is solid clay, or the “full sun” bed sits under a white oak. Gladiator SOD and Landscaping designs and installs, so the plan is drawn by the people who will build it.
We started as a sod company, and it is still what we are best known for. That shapes how we design: grading and drainage get solved first, lawn areas are placed where the right grass will actually thrive, and beds, walls, and patios are laid out around them. The result is a yard that still works in year five, not just on install day.
Every design is installed by our own in-house crew, never subcontractors, for homes and commercial properties across Knoxville, Farragut, Oak Ridge, and Lenoir City.
A Gladiator design is a working plan for the whole yard, not just a planting list. Depending on your property, it covers:
Curb appeal for the front yard, a backyard the family actually uses, a fix for the corner that floods every storm. We design around how you live on the property, how much upkeep you want, and what your budget allows this year, then install it with the same crew that drew it.
Office buildings, retail frontage, HOA entrances, and multifamily properties need landscapes that look sharp and hold up with minimal upkeep. We design commercial grounds for durability, drainage, and clean sightlines, then install them in-house. See our commercial landscaping services.
A plan copied from a magazine will not survive a Knoxville yard. What decides whether a landscape lasts here is mostly what you cannot see in a photo:
Plant choices follow your USDA zone (see our Tennessee planting zones map) and how much maintenance you want. For privacy, evergreen trees that do well in Tennessee are usually the backbone of the plan.
From the first walk-through to the final cleanup, one team handles your project.
1. Site visit: We walk the property with you, look at sun, slope, soil, and drainage, and talk through how you want to use the yard and how much you want to maintain.
2. Design: We draw the plan, covering grading, lawn areas, beds, hardscape, and irrigation, with plant and material selections.
3. Review and written quote: We go over the plan together, make your changes, and give you a firm written price. If the budget calls for it, we split the plan into phases.
4. Installation: Our own crew builds it in the right order: grading and drainage, hardscape, irrigation, sod, then planting and mulch.
5. Walkthrough and care: We walk the finished project with you and leave watering and care instructions for new sod and plants.
Most of our Knoxville design-and-install projects fall between $5,000 and $20,000, depending on property size, grading and drainage needs, how much sod and hardscape the plan includes, and plant sizes. Full backyard builds with patios, walls, or outdoor living features run higher. Our minimum for new projects is $5,000, and every project starts with a free on-site estimate and a firm written quote.
For a single project, like new sod or one planting bed, usually not. When a project touches grading, lawn, beds, and hardscape together, a design saves money because it gets the order of work right and keeps you from tearing out new work later.
Yes. Many of our plans are built in stages, with grading, drainage, and lawn first and a patio or planting beds the next season. The plan is drawn so each phase fits the next.
Hollies, boxwoods, hydrangeas, crape myrtles, and native perennials like coneflower and black-eyed Susan handle Knoxville's clay and humid summers well. For privacy screens, see our guide to evergreen trees for privacy in Tennessee. We match plants to your sun, soil, and how much upkeep you want.
Fall is ideal for planting trees and shrubs and for fescue lawns. Late spring and summer are best for Bermuda and zoysia sod. Design, grading, and hardscape can happen most of the year. See when to start landscaping in Knoxville.
Yes. If your neighborhood requires approval, send us the guidelines and we will build the plan around them and give you what you need to submit.
Gladiator SOD and Landscaping designs and installs landscapes from our Knoxville and Lenoir City offices across Farragut, Oak Ridge, Karns, Powell, Alcoa and Maryville, Tellico Village, and the rest of Knox, Loudon, and Blount counties. For Middle Tennessee properties, see our Nashville landscape design page.
All Locations
Mon-Sat (7am-8pm)
Sun (7am-2pm)
6620 Oak Ridge Hwy #102
Knoxville, TN 37931
Phone: (865) 963-1096
179 Belle Forest Cir Ste 103C
Nashville, TN 37221
Phone: (865) 963-1096
402 N B St
Lenoir City, TN 37771
Phone: (865) 963-1096
