- Mon - Sat 7:00 AM - 8:00 PM
- (865) 963-1096
Retaining walls, grading, and drainage for Forest Hills hillside and wooded lots
At Gladiator SOD & Landscaping, we transform the steep, wooded lots that define Forest Hills into outdoor spaces built to last. With a 4.9-star average across 126 Google reviews, our team is known for quality work, honest pricing, and showing up when we say we will.
Forest Hills sits on some of the most beautiful — and most demanding — terrain in Davidson County. The city is built across steep wooded hills and the Otter Creek watershed, which means erosion control, proper grading, and solid retaining walls aren’t extras here. They’re the foundation of every lasting landscape. Our crew knows this terrain and builds for it.
Whether you’re planning a retaining wall to reclaim a hillside, fresh sod, a custom patio, or a complete outdoor living space, we handle it start to finish with no subcontractors.
Forest Hills is unlike anywhere else in Nashville. Incorporated in 1957 as one of Davidson County’s independent satellite cities, it has stayed almost entirely residential — a quiet community of steep wooded hills, winding lanes, and estate lots tucked into the forest. It’s the kind of place where the landscape came first and the homes were built around it.
That setting calls for a different kind of landscaping. Here, the work is about working with the hillsides rather than against them: terraced retaining walls that turn a slope into a usable yard, drainage that protects a home perched on a grade, and naturalistic plantings that blend into the wooded backdrop instead of fighting it.
It’s more than shaping a yard. It’s about creating an outdoor space that honors the wooded, private, unhurried character that makes Forest Hills one of the most sought-after addresses in Middle Tennessee.
Radnor Lake State Natural Area: Bordering Forest Hills, Radnor Lake was Tennessee’s first designated state natural area and preserves over 1,300 acres of forested ridges and a tranquil lake. Its native woodland plantings and quiet trails are a masterclass in landscaping that feels effortless and timeless. Ideas: Native wildflower plantings · Woodland garden paths · Naturalistic water features
Bison Meadow: This wildflower park on Hillsboro Pike shows how a managed meadow can be both wild and intentional — exactly the kind of low-maintenance, pollinator-friendly planting that suits Forest Hills’ wooded lots. Ideas: Native meadow plantings · Pollinator gardens · Low-mow ground cover
The John C. Lovell Bikeway: Running 1.5 miles from Percy Priest Elementary to Radnor Lake, the bikeway threads through the city’s hilly terrain — a reminder of how good hardscape and grading can make even steep ground walkable and usable. Ideas: Stone steps and terraced paths · Retaining-wall walkways · Hillside grading
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
