Full-Service Landscaping in Chester County & the Main Line

JHL Landscape Design is a full-service, design-build landscaping company serving Chester County, Delaware County, and the Main Line. One team designs, installs, and cares for your entire property, from planting plans and patios to drainage, walls, and lighting. Every project is grounded in a plan you approve and a custom 3D rendering, so you see the finished landscape before work begins. With 20+ years local and ICPI-certified build quality, we deliver a coordinated landscape, not a patchwork of separate trades.

What Full-Service Landscaping Means at JHL

Full-service landscaping means one accountable team handles your property from first sketch to ongoing care. Instead of hiring a designer, then a separate installer, then yet another crew to maintain it, you work with a single firm that owns the whole result. Since 2004 we have built that model around our home studio at 701 S Franklin St in West Chester, and every project starts the same way: a designed plan you approve, backed by a custom 3D rendering.

Because we both design and build, the drawings are realistic and the construction matches the vision. Grades, drainage, plant palettes, and materials are coordinated from day one rather than negotiated between trades on site. This page is the gateway to every part of what we do, and each section below links to the pillar service behind it.

• One team for design, installation, and ongoing care, with one point of contact
• Custom 3D rendering on design work, so the plan is approved before any digging
• ICPI-certified hardscape construction and PA HIC #PA035784 licensing
• 20+ years building for Chester County, Delaware County, and the Main Line

Landscape Design & 3D Rendering

Every full-service project begins with design. We read your site, listen to how you want to live outdoors, and translate it into a plan that resolves layout, grade, drainage, and planting together. Our custom 3D renderings let you walk the design before construction, adjusting materials, sightlines, and proportions on screen instead of in concrete and stone.

Designing in our local context matters. We work in USDA Zone 6b-7a with heavy clay soils and real freeze-thaw cycles, so the plan accounts for how water moves, how plants establish, and how hardscape holds up here over decades, not just how it looks on opening day.

Plantings, Gardens & Outdoor Living

Plantings are the living half of a landscape. We build custom planting plans tuned to clay soil, local rainfall, and heavy deer pressure, layering trees, shrubs, perennials, and groundcovers for four-season interest. From foundation plantings to full mixed borders, the goal is a garden that fills in and reads as one intentional composition.

Outdoor living spaces

We design and build the rooms that make a yard a place you actually use: patios, walkways, seating areas, fire features, and complete outdoor living spaces. Because these are designed alongside the plantings and grades, the spaces feel settled into the property rather than dropped onto it.

• Custom planting plans and garden installation for Zone 6b-7a and clay soils
• Deer-smart, layered beds designed for four-season color and structure
• Patios, walkways, and full outdoor living spaces integrated with the planting design

Hardscape, Patios, Walkways & Retaining Walls

Hardscape gives a landscape its bones. Our ICPI-certified crews build patios, walkways, and driveways on properly prepared bases so they stay flat and tight through our freeze-thaw winters. Where grade changes need to be managed, engineered retaining walls hold soil, create usable terraces, and turn awkward slopes into level, livable space.

Material selection and detailing are decided in the design phase and confirmed in the 3D rendering, so the finished patio or wall matches both the house and the rest of the plan. That coordination between design intent and build quality is the difference between hardscape that looks installed and hardscape that looks designed.

Drainage, Grading & Landscape Lighting

On our clay soils, water is the issue that quietly decides whether a landscape lasts. Full-service landscaping means we handle drainage and grading as part of the plan, shaping the ground, managing roof and surface runoff, and installing French drains and other solutions so water moves away from the house and your investment stays protected.

Landscape lighting

Lighting extends the design into the evening. We layer path, accent, and architectural lighting to make the landscape safe, usable, and beautiful after dark, designed alongside the plantings and hardscape rather than added as an afterthought.

• Drainage and grading designed to move water off clay soils and away from foundations
• French drains and surface solutions sized to roughly 46 inches of annual rainfall
• Layered landscape lighting for safety, usability, and evening curb appeal

Ongoing Design-Quality Care

A full-service relationship does not end at installation. We offer design-quality maintenance for the landscapes we build, pruning to design intent, caring for beds and mulch, monitoring plant health, checking drainage, and keeping hardscape sound. It is curated stewardship that protects the investment you made, season after season, by the same team that designed and built it.

From our West Chester studio we serve Chester County, Delaware County, and the Main Line, including Malvern, Exton, Downingtown, Kennett Square, Chadds Ford, and Wayne. To scope a full-service landscape project, reach us at (610) 422-3474.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does full-service landscaping include? Full-service landscaping covers the whole property under one team: landscape design with custom 3D rendering, plantings and garden installation, hardscape such as patios and walkways, retaining walls, drainage and grading, landscape lighting, outdoor living spaces, and ongoing design-quality care. Instead of coordinating several separate contractors, you get one accountable firm from the first plan through long-term maintenance.

What is the difference between design-build and hiring a designer and contractor separately? With separate hires, a designer draws a plan and hands it off to whichever contractor wins the build, which is where details, grades, and drainage often get lost in translation. As a design-build firm, JHL does both, so the drawing is realistic, the construction matches the rendering you approved, and one team is accountable for the finished result. It usually means fewer surprises and a more coordinated landscape.

Do you handle drainage and plantings too, or only construction? Both, because full-service means the whole landscape. We design and install custom planting plans for our clay soils and deer pressure, and we resolve drainage and grading as part of the same plan, including French drains and surface solutions that move water away from the house. Plantings and water management are coordinated with the hardscape and design rather than treated as separate jobs.

What areas do you serve? We work from our home studio at 701 S Franklin St in West Chester, PA, serving Chester County, Delaware County, and the Main Line. That includes West Chester, Newtown Square, Malvern, Exton, Downingtown, Kennett Square, Chadds Ford, Wayne, and Main Line towns like Villanova, Gladwyne, and Haverford. Call (610) 422-3474 to confirm coverage for your address.

Related design services: Landscape Design · Hardscape Design · Plant Installation · Drainage & Grading · Landscape Maintenance.

Areas We Serve

• West Chester, PA — Home studio at 701 S Franklin St; full-service landscaping from design through care
• Newtown Square & the Main Line — Complete property design-build from Wayne and Villanova to Gladwyne and Haverford
• Malvern, Exton, Downingtown, Kennett Square, Chadds Ford, Wayne — served towns

Ready to start? Request a consultation or call (610) 422-3474.

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About JHL Landscape Design

JHL Landscape Design is a design-build landscape company serving Chester County, Delaware County and the Main Line from West Chester (701 S Franklin St). We design, install, and care for complete landscapes — landscape design and 3D rendering, hardscape and patios, drainage and grading, and plantings — with every project grounded in a plan you approve before work begins.

PA HIC #PA035784 | ICPI Certified | HBA Member — Chester & Delaware Counties | BBB A+ | 20+ Years Chester County

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JHL Landscape Design | PA HIC #PA035784 | ICPI Certified | Licensed & Insured 701 S Franklin St, West Chester, PA 19382 (610) 422-3474